TOO MANY ZOMBIES! (COPYCATS)
I'M NOT THAT INTO HORROR FIL... whoops, caps lock was on.
So, Walking Dead was a big hit wasn't it? Now what do we have?
There are so many zombie movies, television shows, and video games that the market is positively saturated with them. Sure there were always a few zombie movies and games regularly available to provide for the demographic that enjoyed them, but now it's just crazy.
It makes me wonder just why people try to cash in on that fame with their own brand of zombie nonsense. It'll never get as big as the hit, even if it's technically better. The only way something can make a dent in the market share of a popular product is with loads of cash and loads of time. Movies generally don't have a lot of time or money, same with tv, and same with video games. The only copycats which I can think of that's garnered a lot of the market is android phones vs iphones. Even then, some of that is due to the fact that android is shared by many different phone manufacturers, which probably mitigated some of the costs to google.
There was an interesting report by steamspy, a video game reporting service, searched through the data of different gamers, and essentially it found that most gamers who were considered "hardcore" (i.e. played certain types of games a lot) tended to play a few main games, but didn't branch out to other similar titles. This meant that despite the marketing of video games to that specific crowd, it really did no good as the player stuck to what the knew and liked rather than switching.
There's a nice video from the youtube series called "The Know" which talks about it in more depth here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IEAbxWDMJA
We can probably draw a parallel to other things like this, such as zombie television shows. (I would say movies have it easier, as they aren't as big of a time commitment, so people would be more open to them than tv shows). Those who love the Walking Dead aren't probably going to watch or like an alternate series as much as the Walking Dead simply because they're biased to a particular style.
Notice, please, that I'm talking about people who love the Walking Dead, and I mean love it.
Those who watch the Walking Dead occasionally, say someone who doesn't binge watch it on Netflix, is probably more likely to give another show a chance, and might even like it more because it gives them something that the Walking Dead didn't.
It might (I stress the might aspect as I'm not a marketing person by any means) be smarter to market to those who know nothing about the Walking Dead, and show them what makes the show different than the Walking Dead to appeal to a different demographic.
Let's take iZombie for instance. Unfortunately, I haven't watched it (I'm a Walking Dead fan, go figure) but it looks like a comedic take on the zombie trope. This is a refreshing and stark difference from the Walking Dead's depressing and graphic version, and might attract those who enjoy zombie flicks but don't like the gore and violence.
I don't know how iZombie marketed their tv show, but it seems to be doing well.
There are too many copycats that market to the same demographic they are copying, and it just doesn't ever work the same. An example of this would be the Wii and PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. When the Wii first was announced it was laughed at, then after it came out and was a hit with the older and younger crowd, going on to sell well ahead of it's competitors, the other guys had to make their own version. They stunk, nobody liked them, and all in all they failed.
We're now into the next generation of game consoles, PlayStation abandoned their version of the Wii as far as I can tell, and even though Xbox still has a new Kinect (their Wii copycat) no one is making good games for it. They both tried to target the same demographic with their Wii copycats, and failed.
Maybe if they tried appealing to the audience that is regularly playing their consoles instead of trying to have people buy another version of the same thing they could have done better. I certainly might have been enticed to get a Kinect or a PlayStation Move if it was supported by games I actually wanted to play instead of party games.
I started writing this blog expecting to talk about why people make copycats, and instead I talk about how copycats can market their product better. Life is strange.
So, Walking Dead was a big hit wasn't it? Now what do we have?
There are so many zombie movies, television shows, and video games that the market is positively saturated with them. Sure there were always a few zombie movies and games regularly available to provide for the demographic that enjoyed them, but now it's just crazy.
It makes me wonder just why people try to cash in on that fame with their own brand of zombie nonsense. It'll never get as big as the hit, even if it's technically better. The only way something can make a dent in the market share of a popular product is with loads of cash and loads of time. Movies generally don't have a lot of time or money, same with tv, and same with video games. The only copycats which I can think of that's garnered a lot of the market is android phones vs iphones. Even then, some of that is due to the fact that android is shared by many different phone manufacturers, which probably mitigated some of the costs to google.
There was an interesting report by steamspy, a video game reporting service, searched through the data of different gamers, and essentially it found that most gamers who were considered "hardcore" (i.e. played certain types of games a lot) tended to play a few main games, but didn't branch out to other similar titles. This meant that despite the marketing of video games to that specific crowd, it really did no good as the player stuck to what the knew and liked rather than switching.
There's a nice video from the youtube series called "The Know" which talks about it in more depth here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IEAbxWDMJA
We can probably draw a parallel to other things like this, such as zombie television shows. (I would say movies have it easier, as they aren't as big of a time commitment, so people would be more open to them than tv shows). Those who love the Walking Dead aren't probably going to watch or like an alternate series as much as the Walking Dead simply because they're biased to a particular style.
Notice, please, that I'm talking about people who love the Walking Dead, and I mean love it.
Those who watch the Walking Dead occasionally, say someone who doesn't binge watch it on Netflix, is probably more likely to give another show a chance, and might even like it more because it gives them something that the Walking Dead didn't.
It might (I stress the might aspect as I'm not a marketing person by any means) be smarter to market to those who know nothing about the Walking Dead, and show them what makes the show different than the Walking Dead to appeal to a different demographic.
Let's take iZombie for instance. Unfortunately, I haven't watched it (I'm a Walking Dead fan, go figure) but it looks like a comedic take on the zombie trope. This is a refreshing and stark difference from the Walking Dead's depressing and graphic version, and might attract those who enjoy zombie flicks but don't like the gore and violence.
I don't know how iZombie marketed their tv show, but it seems to be doing well.
There are too many copycats that market to the same demographic they are copying, and it just doesn't ever work the same. An example of this would be the Wii and PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. When the Wii first was announced it was laughed at, then after it came out and was a hit with the older and younger crowd, going on to sell well ahead of it's competitors, the other guys had to make their own version. They stunk, nobody liked them, and all in all they failed.
We're now into the next generation of game consoles, PlayStation abandoned their version of the Wii as far as I can tell, and even though Xbox still has a new Kinect (their Wii copycat) no one is making good games for it. They both tried to target the same demographic with their Wii copycats, and failed.
Maybe if they tried appealing to the audience that is regularly playing their consoles instead of trying to have people buy another version of the same thing they could have done better. I certainly might have been enticed to get a Kinect or a PlayStation Move if it was supported by games I actually wanted to play instead of party games.
I started writing this blog expecting to talk about why people make copycats, and instead I talk about how copycats can market their product better. Life is strange.
No comments have been added yet.
