Plan for Andy Schatz
by Andy Schatz · 04/04/2005 (11:03 am) · 6 comments
Dr. William Willoughby on branding:
The logo and the name for a game is the personification of its brand. As there was significant thought that went into the naming of Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, there was also similar thought that went into the logo. So our brilliant designer/typographer Nicole Anguish put together this beauty:
The Venture brand-word signals small, high-quality games with an outdoor, adventure, or exotic theme. If you might see it on the Discovery Channel, that subject is potential material for a "Venture" game. Every week is Shark Week in the Venture brand.
Not many game companies out there use the idea of branding to develop valuable IP. Blizzard, with their signature artistic style and broad audience appeal for typically hard-core genres, PopCap, with the small scale of their games, and what was once Maxis with the "Sim" line are some of the few to constrain themselves well enough to create an expansive and valuable brand.
Here's hoping the we can develop the Venture brand into something significant and valuable!
Dr William Willoughby, PhD
aka
Andy Schatz
The logo and the name for a game is the personification of its brand. As there was significant thought that went into the naming of Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, there was also similar thought that went into the logo. So our brilliant designer/typographer Nicole Anguish put together this beauty:
The Venture brand-word signals small, high-quality games with an outdoor, adventure, or exotic theme. If you might see it on the Discovery Channel, that subject is potential material for a "Venture" game. Every week is Shark Week in the Venture brand.
Not many game companies out there use the idea of branding to develop valuable IP. Blizzard, with their signature artistic style and broad audience appeal for typically hard-core genres, PopCap, with the small scale of their games, and what was once Maxis with the "Sim" line are some of the few to constrain themselves well enough to create an expansive and valuable brand.
Here's hoping the we can develop the Venture brand into something significant and valuable!
Dr William Willoughby, PhD
aka
Andy Schatz
About the author
#2
Have a look at Scott Miller (3DRealms) blog for some good books on positioning, buzz generation etc.
As for your chosen name, the "tycoon" part is overdone, I'm sure tycoon games have negative connotations these days too.
And in general, its far too long.
04/04/2005 (4:22 pm)
Actually, Andy, there are quite a few companies aware of branding issues with thier games.Have a look at Scott Miller (3DRealms) blog for some good books on positioning, buzz generation etc.
As for your chosen name, the "tycoon" part is overdone, I'm sure tycoon games have negative connotations these days too.
And in general, its far too long.
#3
@Phil -- The GG community is usually an easier crowd than this ;)
I agree, there are lots of companies out there aware of branding issues. In fact, the most successful ones usually do have a strong focus on branding. Just look at EA Sports, EA Sports Big, etc. But you can also look at a number of other companies that don't appear to be focusing on developing a company-wide brand (take a look at http://www.blitzgames.com/, or pandemic). Having a brand means not having to re-prove yourself to the public everytime you release a new product.
Without launching into the full strategy behind the choice of our game's name, I disagree with your criticisms. The word Tycoon is going to make our game more likely to be downloaded on the web than other game names without similar familiarity.
Thanks for the thoughts though...
Andy
04/04/2005 (5:08 pm)
@Joshua -- Thanks!@Phil -- The GG community is usually an easier crowd than this ;)
I agree, there are lots of companies out there aware of branding issues. In fact, the most successful ones usually do have a strong focus on branding. Just look at EA Sports, EA Sports Big, etc. But you can also look at a number of other companies that don't appear to be focusing on developing a company-wide brand (take a look at http://www.blitzgames.com/, or pandemic). Having a brand means not having to re-prove yourself to the public everytime you release a new product.
Without launching into the full strategy behind the choice of our game's name, I disagree with your criticisms. The word Tycoon is going to make our game more likely to be downloaded on the web than other game names without similar familiarity.
Thanks for the thoughts though...
Andy
#4
I skimmed through your other plans and didn't notice this sort of thing being mentioned.
I'm just wonderingif this is a concern or not
04/04/2005 (10:41 pm)
I thought that I read somewhere about issues with the whole Tycoon branding. The point being that some company had to change the name of there game because it too closely resembled the other tycoon games out there.I skimmed through your other plans and didn't notice this sort of thing being mentioned.
I'm just wonderingif this is a concern or not
#5
tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=d2ktdm.1.1 Search US Trademarks for Tycoon, and see what you come up with.
Hopefully that illustrates whether its ok to use the word "Tycoon" in your name. The US PTO office has a handy search tool for questions like this.
*edit* The closest thing I can find to what you are talkinga bout was this court case in 1889, interesting in itself:
50. Tedlow, New and improved, 14. One of the earliest references to "brand" in its modern business context comes from an 1889 Supreme Court case involving a trademark dispute. The plaintiff accused the defendant of violating its trademark by using the word "Tycoon." The defendant argued that the word "Tycoon" could not have been lawfully adopted and used as a trade-mark, because it had long been a word in common use as a brand name for various kinds of tea imported from Japan. The court found in favor of the defendants (Corbin v. Gould, no. 131 Supreme Court of the United States. Argued 22 Nov. 1889; decided 3 Feb. 1890).
04/04/2005 (10:49 pm)
Charlie - I haven't heard of the case you speak of, but I can show you this link:tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=d2ktdm.1.1 Search US Trademarks for Tycoon, and see what you come up with.
Hopefully that illustrates whether its ok to use the word "Tycoon" in your name. The US PTO office has a handy search tool for questions like this.
*edit* The closest thing I can find to what you are talkinga bout was this court case in 1889, interesting in itself:
50. Tedlow, New and improved, 14. One of the earliest references to "brand" in its modern business context comes from an 1889 Supreme Court case involving a trademark dispute. The plaintiff accused the defendant of violating its trademark by using the word "Tycoon." The defendant argued that the word "Tycoon" could not have been lawfully adopted and used as a trade-mark, because it had long been a word in common use as a brand name for various kinds of tea imported from Japan. The court found in favor of the defendants (Corbin v. Gould, no. 131 Supreme Court of the United States. Argued 22 Nov. 1889; decided 3 Feb. 1890).
#6
Pass on my compliments to your artist.
04/04/2005 (11:43 pm)
I quite like it actually. Its got a fun "Safari" feel to it. And you can easily see how it would extend to different exotic locales, "Venture X". I also think anyone who finds the name too much of a mouthful to say will simply leave off the "wildlife tycoon" part, so its not really an issue.Pass on my compliments to your artist.
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