Monday, April 24, 2006

The Potential of Gamer Babes


Hey, Level Up, this is why gamer girl Alodia would make a more effective spokesperson than showbiz celeb Iya as Philippine online markets become more participative.

To start, gamer girls are being eyed as the next generation of booth babes. Given online gamers' inclination towards social media, it can go much further than that. The Edelman trust barometer maintains that "a person like yourself" is more trusted than ever. Hardcore gamers will trust a hardcore gamer like themselves more than they would trust traditional models.


I'm not sure how much sense it makes to spend half a million pesos (about US$ 10,000, a considerable sum in the Philippines) on an expensive traditional showbiz celeb like Iya, when you've got the loyalty of more credible sneezers who are just as cute. Despite my distaste for dead tree media, even your FHM feature on gamer babes is smarter than that.

Alodia's gaming and social media savvy has the nascent potential to approach John Cuneta's. If it does, she could become a powerful Filipino microbrand in those industries. Heck, Scoble boosts Microsoft's image more effectively than millions in PR spending ever could...


...and Alodia's much cuter than Scoble. ;)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

One word for you: FANBOY.

Unknown said...

Don't just blast on Level Up! Games, Mike. Be consistent at least.

PristonTale also uses a showbiz celebrity, Angel Locsin. Does Angel Locsin know anything about PristonTale? I'll bet no. And I'm guessing she has a heftier price tag than Iya.

Bash them too, if you will. At least you're treating everyone equally and you don't look like you're just focusing on one company.

Mike Abundo said...

You're right, Aaron -- especially since NetPlay makes less revenue than Level Up.

Anonymous said...

keep 'em coming bud. i never got tired of this.

YOU ARE A SORE LOSER. CAN'T ACCEPT THAT YOUR JOB APPLICATION IN LUG WAS SNUBBED AWAY BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID IDIOT. *LOL* GET THEM BACK WITH BASHING DON'T WE? YOU'RE FUNNY REALLY!

Mike Abundo said...

At a recent dinner party, I spoke with their COO Ben about the commentary "Anonymous" calls "bashing".

Ben's secure enough to take constructive criticism about his company. That makes me wonder why "Anonymous" is so worked up to the point of allcaps argumentum ad hominem.

Anonymous said...

As a marketing management graduate of DLSU, I'm sure that the marketing managers of whatever company---be it online gaming or not, try their best to justify their reasons for such a marketing strategy. It's not easy to just endorse someone without proper justification to the upper management. Even if a lot of people think that marketing is just "bola" eventually it'll have to be proved by the sales figures after that so you can't really just make "bola" your marketing plans. Sales figures are quantifiable, impact of endorsements aren't as measurable. So I think it would be best if people wait for the effect of the endorsement to occur before commenting. ^_^;;;

Mike Abundo said...

Interesting perspective, Kicks. In the case of online services (gaming), the impact of endorsements by online sneezers (social media darling gamer babes) can be directly measured.

How many new users discover an online service through a sneezer's social media presences? That question can be answered, in real time, with Web analytics.

Anonymous said...

We are in the Philippines, and yes perhaps it can be directly measured but considering our own current IT infrastructure---i doubt that it'll be accurate & credible enough to be used for analysis. I may be wrong though...^^v

distant_sparks said...

"Argumentum ad hominem?"
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF.
The best part is, I can actually prove it to you.

Mike Abundo said...

Analytics are installed server-side, Kicks. Client-side infrastructure quality has no effect.