End of the Internship

Things are winding down in my internship at THQ. The Kids group brought in a recent MBA graduate to take over the Ratatouille and Wall-E lines. I have been getting her up to speed and winding down all of my existing projects.
Overall, it was a positive experience. The people are wonderful and the job has more fun moments than pains. I definitely have a good feel for the industry and the issues it faces. Given the circumstances of an internship and THQ's modus operandi, I regret that I was not able to make a more substantial contribution to the organization. While I did keep the Ratatouille lines moving forward, opportunities were scarce to make an impact. I had to turn my research study into such an opportunity. I hope that its findings and methodology may prompt additional studies in the other video game groups.
But this feeling of a lack of opportunity extends beyond myself. When I walk around and I see the education levels and talent at this company, I feel the leadership could do more to empower its talented workers. It is definitely not an easy task for a company going through such growth and radical changes in the way it conducts business, but more can be done. Don't get me wrong. I really like the company. For this one criticism, I could list 10 good things about the company. My focus is always on how to improve. My suggestion is to find more ways to empower the workforce.
But thanks needs to sent out to THQ. They recruited me and welcomed me into the organization. Many people were most helpful in guiding me through the THQ maze. I just hope I returned all their faith and efforts in me.

Helping THQ understand its Customers

As the video game industry matures, it will need to invest in understanding its customers. Sometimes you get the feeling that games are made based on what the people in control of the process want to play (or what their gut tells them other people would want to play). Essentially, it is a glorified guess. For the larger companies, they deeply believe in this process because it got them to that level of success. They ignore the fact that they were lucky; while they guessed a successful game, there were 10 other companies who guessed wrong. Now, as these big video game companies grow and go public, they are subjected to heavy pressure to continue to create new hit titles. Well, they may be able to guess one hit game...maybe two...even three, but when their revenue projections begin to rely on 10-30 solid titles, the odds of guessing will catch up to you.
So what do you do? The initial reaction of a immature industry is to go conservative. They try to find ways to release sequels every year even though it will not move the title forward very much (essentially trading future brand equity for current sales). They look at the hits of their competitors and try to replicate it them. I think you can see every large video game company committing these faux-pas. What they need to do is try to understand their customer.
This past Friday, I completed one of the first projects that was assigned to me back in week one. The project was to analyze data surrounding video games of boy-targeted TV licensed properties. Incidentally, a goal of the project was to better understand the customer. For the project, I amassed an impressive data set that included sales, advertising, TV ratings, and platform install base info and tried to sift through it looking for key lessons about the genre.
It turned out to be a very difficult project. The difficulty was not in interpreting the results, it was finding the proper methodology that would deliver relevant results. To this end, I had to redo my research three times - revising data, finding new data, modifying regression methodologies. On that 3rd go around I was very relieved and amazed to get some solid findings.
Now, I am not going to reveal the key findings (thats why THQ pays me the big bucks), but I can say the results reveal two distinct levels in the target market that dictated different product types and different marketing strategies. I won't be so bold as to claim my results are hard and true facts about how this genre operates, but they are starting point for further observations to test the validity of my conclusions. More importantly, it establishes a methodology for other THQ brand managers to evaluate their markets.
...And that is a step towards better understanding their customers.

Managing the Product Life Cycle

Over the past few weeks at my internship, I have come to appreciate some of the things that THQ does exceptionally well. One of these is managing the tail end of the product life cycle.
Too often video game marketing is all about creating the big splash. How do we generate consumer buzz and awareness leading up to the game's release? While this is incredibly important part of the marketing plan, the area that is oft forgotten is the "how do we generate bonus sales after the release period (the 3-6 month window after the release)?" That is why you often see the sales graph for video games having three distinct stages - 1) the bulk of the sales occur very early; 2) a dramatic drop; and 3) trickle of sales for a period.

THQ (especially THQ kids) is masterful at stage 3. Looking at their sales graph, you see a series of peaks scattered through the 3rd stage where minor marketing strategies deliver increased sales and solid returns for the added expenditures.

Let's look at the example of EA's Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire compared to THQ's Cars. It is safe to say that both of these franchises are popular, but I think it is fair to say Harry is more popular. The Cars video game received a slightly higher rating than Harry (gameranking.com has it at 71% to 68%). Overall, I say its a push and these games should perform equally well. Let's see...

The graph below details their monthly unit sales after their release (data taken from NPD). You can see they both start pretty strong then drop off (Harry's first peak is higher than Cars). But look at how they perform after month 6! Harry levels to around 10,000 units per month and slowly declines to zero. Cars declines; then around Christmas it shoots up to a point even higher than the initial release; then it declines to a level just above Harry's sales; and it even experiences another small peak around a year after the initial release. The final results are clear. Despite having a superior brand and being on the market for an additional 6 months, Cars has outsold Harry Potter by a ratio of 2:1.



Now, admittedly the Harry Potter game was critically reviewed as lesser than the Cars game. And we could argue that because Harry Potter was released in November, it could not take advantage of a Christmas bump 6 months after release, but does that really explain the 2:1 margin in unit sales? I argue that it doesn't. I think it demonstrates THQ's understanding that video game sales go on beyond 6 months from release and a marketing strategy that accounts for these opportunities beyond a simple price cut can reap big rewards.

Life as a Video Game Marketer

I have hit the mid-point of my internship experience as a brand marketer at THQ. It has been an enjoyable and great learning experience. Unforeseen circumstances required me to take over the Ratatouille video games. In addition to handling the domestic marketing side of the titles, I coordinate and support the our marketing teams around the world, and manage the Disney/Pixar relationship.

While there are many cool aspects of marketing video games such as you need to research competitive titles, there are challenges that one wouldn't think would be a problem. For example, one task that is a bit of a bane of a video game marketer and can drain countless numbers of hours are screen shots. First, it is difficult to find that perfect action shot that communicates the fun of a title. Video games are dynamic and interactive by nature. Therefore, finding a static shot that doesn't sell a game short can be challenging. Second, aside from Xbox360, the major video game consoles require special equipment (that often isn't readily available) to take screen shots. That means that you will have limited time to find that perfect shot and often you like to be able to quickly take new shots after reviewing the last batch. Lastly, if your title is a licensed property, the licensor will want to approve every screen shot. So even if you work to find what you feel is that perfect shot, it may be not approved.

Another pain in the video game marketer butt is dealing with ESRB rating. ESRB is the ratings board that decides if your title deserves an "E for everyone" or "Teen" rating. Before it goes on sale, every video game must be rated by the ESRB. ESRB rating requires a detailed application that outlines every occurrence of questionable content (I am not going to list everything, but it is a long list). From what I have been told that generally the game developer completes the application, but at THQ it is the responsibility of the video game marketer. Aside from not being fun to complete, the marketer is usually preparing the application based on an uncompleted test build (it is supposed to be the final build, but timing often does not make this practical) and the game design document (which often has differences from the final product). As this does not give us a complete view of the game (the developer definitely knows every aspect of the game), it raises the chance of errors in the application. The ESRB does not like errors in the application, but they do like issuing fines. Anyways, I think you can get the drift on how pleasurable this is for a video game marketer.

So, there you go. Not everything is fun and games for a video game marketer.

Week Four: THQ Internship

Week Four has gone by trouble free. It was the first time I felt a bit tired at the job. I generally get this feeling around the 1 month mark at most new positions. One takes in so much new information the mind just needs a break. The result is fatigue, but you push through it in a week or two.

This week has been spent better learning how to manage the Disney/Pixar relationship, writing the creative briefs, and summarizing the results of my data project studying "Teen"-rated and "E/E10+" children's games based on TV series. The data study has resulting in some unexpected results that I am confused, but excited to learn more about. As always I can't comment on a public blog, but the results indicate something contrary to conventional thinking.

The end of the week rocked with the Bourne Ultimatum free ticket to the premiere. It was a great way to end a tough week. After four weeks, like anyone, I have learned plenty. The video game industry is a fascinating industry as it is still very young and, only now, some companies, like THQ, are trying to transition to more sophisticated and mature management style. There is a lot of trial and error here, but atleast I can say, right or wrong, it is in the right direction.

THQ Bourne Ultimatum Perk

This past Friday, I took advantage of a THQ perk where we were offered free tickets to a showing of the Bourne Ultimatum on the "release day". I believe the tickets were offered as part of THQ advertising the new "Stuntman" video game releasing this fall (It actually looks pretty cool and heads and shoulders above the first one).
I am a big "Bourne" fan. I love, and have DVDs of, the first two movies. I think they are some of the most intelligent and exciting action movies to be made in a long time. So when the opportunity to get free tickets arose, I jumped at the chance. The movie, like all previous movies, was excellent and action packed, but contrary to other reviews, I think is was the worst of the exceptional series. First, every Bourne movie has at least one amazing car chase seen. I think the car chase in Paris in the Bourne Identity was one of the best car chase scenes ever. Of course there are chase scenes in the Bourne Ultimatum, but they fall short of the scenes of the first two movies. Second, the director decided to heavily avoid using the steady cam for that "The Shield" in your face in the middle of the action feeling. I haven't decided if he either did not use it correctly (ie, made the shots "too" shaky") or if it was just an error to not use the steady cam. At times it felt as amateur as "The Blair Witch Project". From my limited understandign, the lack of steady cam is used to convey a sense of gritty, "on the streets" feel to the viewer. I've always felt Bourne should not convey this feeling. Bourne is not "on the streets". Bourne is ruthlessly in control - analyzing every minute detail of a situation. This controlled manner calls for a precisely controlled camera shot that was used in the first two movies.

Again, I acknowledge I am nit-picking. It was an action packed movie - probably the best action movie of the summer.

THQ Experience

Week 3 is over in my internship. My responsibilities are starting to pick up. One of the full time brand managers unexpectedly departed due to a personal issue (she moved pretty far from the office) and I was honored to be tapped to pick up her responsibilities to manage some of the Pixar titles. The experience has been a rapid engrossment of how a brand manager of a licensed property manages the license relationship. It requires alot of coordination with Pixar and Disney to keep everyone on the same page on how we are marketing the property (I do not want to announce the property due to confidentiality restrictions).

In addition to these new responsibilities I am now creating Creative Briefs for 2 new video games that will be released late 2008. A creative brief is a summary document that informs all key parties (sales, PR, and marketing) about the product, the competitive environment, and how we plan to market the title. I am sure in the grand scheme of things, the creative brief is only a small part of the marketing plan, but right now I am feeling the pressure to do a fantastic job. I am sure after a few are under my belt, they will soon seem routine.

I have also completed my research related to drivers for sales of video games based on licensed TV shows. I am not going to disclose my results (again confidentiality), but at first I was frustrated with the results of a comprehensive data set. After discussions with my supervisor, I began to see some of the benefits of my research and I will be able to pull a number of key lessons from my study. I think this is one of the benefits of deciding to work with a supervisor who has worked with marketing juggernaut Proctor & Gamble.

Another project on the burner: THQ is having a "take your kids to work day" on Aug. 10. Our other kids intern, Anthony, had a great idea to conduct a focus group with some of the kids. He took the initiative to submit a proposal for this study, but I am happy to participate in learning what makes kids tick when playing video games. At a minimum this should be a fun and great learning experience.

That's it for now, but I will try to keep you up to date on my internship experiences.

My Fellow THQ Interns

I just wanted to briefly acknowledge the quality of my fellow THQ interns. I have met four others in total: 2 from UCLA, 1 from Ohio University (not State), and another from Virginia (I think the school is William Mary). All are ambitious, creative, and intelligent, not too mention pretty funny. I have really enjoyed working with them and learning from their experiences. It is great reflection on THQ that they were able to pick up such high quality interns.

Do You Need to Customer to Market It?

During one lunch the topic came up from a non-marketing intern, about how can you market to an audience you don't know. It came in the context that he would be unable to work in Kids Video games because he doesn't know the target market. I responded why would that matter?

While I acknowledge that it is essential for a marketer to know his target market, I do not believe a good marketer needs prior knowledge before accepting a position. One of the first things a marketer should do is identify his target audience and their wants and needs. Sure it helps, but you do not need prior knowledge of the target.

Marketing has very established stages:
1. Identify your target market
2. Identify your value proposition to this market
3. Identify the best marketing mix to reach your target market
4. Evaluate and improve.

By only taking positions with which you can relate, you eliminate a large part of what marketing is and, most importantly, you will be prone to skip step 1 possibly having your perceptions incorporate some detrimental assumptions about the target market.

Bottom line: It doesn't matter if you previous know the market, it matters if you LISTEN to the market.

The "Hardcore Gamer" Hurdle of the Industry

For most lunches at work, I go with three of the other THQ interns. Listening to their passion for video games, I was reminded of the "Hardcore Gamer" hurdle that video game HR departments throw up to potential hires. The "Hardcore Gamer" hurdle is one of the first questions that they look to your cover letter or resume to answer (or at a minimum for you to address in your interview). They want people passionate about video games. Hardcore games have no problem overcoming this hurdle as they seem to eat, sleep and dream video games (I slipped through on a discussion of how I love all types of games). Other people, who would still do a good job and offer a new perspective, often get overlooked by the hurdle.

But sitting at lunch and listening to these other interns talk the hurdle became apparent. All of these guys love video games. This is great, we should all be passionate about what we do everyday, but poses some risks for an industry that is changing like the video game industry. By imposing the "Hardcore Gamer" hurdle, video game companies are ensuring that they do not get the perspective of the customer segment that is growing the fastest in this industry: the casual gamer. The hardcore gamer and the casual gamer are getting two drastically different payoffs from their video game experience; and this is one case where I do not think a party can empathize with the other (see my next post).

The prevalence of hardcore gamers in video game companies delivers a big strategic blinder to these companies. Even if company leadership identifies new casual games as a target, if the majority of the company is filled with hardcore gamers where do you think they will focus the bulk of their energy. I think the evidence supports that they go after the hardcore gaming segment.

I think the video game industry is slowly seeing the removing the "hardcore gamer" hurdle. The question becomes will it come quick enough?

Lessons from America: Never Rely on US Immigration

I was supposed to start work this past Monday, but I have been delayed because my OPT work application has not been approved by U.S. Immigration despite being filed over 90 days ago.

The student (F-1) Visa allows students to engage in work related to their training for up to 1 year full-time. This period may be done in part-chunks (in theory you can work full-time in the summer, part-time during 2nd year, and full-time after school ends). In order to be approved, a student must file an application with U.S. Immigration. For what is essentially a data recording exercise (simply logging when you want to work and making sure you do not go over your limit), the application process is supposed to take a ridiculously long 90 days.

Now, an international MBA has another work approval option for their summer internship, CPT. This is a quicker approval process because it is controlled by the school. CPT requires the student to sign up for a summer course (and pay the tuition) and it essentially makes the summer internship into a class, eliminating the need for Immigration approval. As a class, the student will have to attend some classes during their weekends and complete a project for the class. CPT is a great option for students who want to save their OPT time for after they complete their MBA.

I did not choose this route because the OPT time after my degree is not as important when you are Canadian. We have the option of getting a TN Visa under the NAFTA agreement if we do not immediately secure a H1-B visa. The TN has a same day approval process for Canadians (I am not sure if it is the same for Mexicans). I figured I can use some of my OPT during the summer, some during the school year and avoid extra tuition and the hassle of attending classes during the summer.

The second reason I chose the OPT route was that even if the approval process took more than 90 days, Immigration would issue an Interim Card that would allow you to work while they continued processing. Therefore, in my mind, as long as I filed my application 90 days before I hoped to work, I would have my approval. In retrospect, I definitely overestimated the simplicity of the OPT approval process.

Immigration has a great website that allows you to check what application receipt dates they are processing (They are generally 90 days behind). It also allows you to check the status of your application. Unfortunately, this great feature really loses any form of benefit by only having one status for the entire process ("Processing"). Yes, you read correctly, the immigration website allows an applicant to learn if they are processing the application. Thanks, Immigration.

As I approached my 90 day deadline without hearing a peep from Immigration, I took advantage of another feature of their website that allows you to schedule an appointment with an immigration officer. It is a slick feature. It asks for your ZIP code, then asks what would you like the appointment for? I choose "I have not received my EAD approval within 90 days and I would like to get an Interim EAD card". Then, the online program gives you a wide selection of times to schedule the appointment at an office closest to my ZIP code that can help me. So far, so good, I show up for my appointment and tell the immigration officer that I would like to get an Interim EAD card. To which she replied, "We don't issue Interim EAD cards anymore."

I was rather confused as the website says that they issue Interim EAD cards and the appointment program specifically gave me the option to meet regarding this issue. The officer explained to me that they no longer issue interim cards and that it would do no good to discuss what the websites say because she has no control over it. Bottom line is that I would have to wait for my application to be approved and I receive the card in the mail; my reliance on the interim EAD as the hard stop in the timeline was wrong.

Even more mind-boggling is that UCI's International Center is aware of this change in policy (as I learned when I approached them after my meeting with the officer) and their website still claims that we can get Interim EAD. Their job is to keep the international students up to date about key issues (one of them being work visa issues). They are not doing it. I was pretty blind-sided by this change in policy and it is now affecting my internship.

I could spend a lot more time bringing out every stupid detail of my experience, but this post is already long enough. And I am pretty drained going through the experience. I am used to cutting through tape and getting things done, but no one can be prepared for the experience of trying to get things done in a federal government agency.

As a P.S. to this post, if you apply for your OPT and you do not receive a notice to get your fingerprints taken within 60 days, contact the application service line. Although nowhere in the Immigration website or UCI International Center website indicates that fingerprinting is part of the process, I discovered that they are and your application will not be approved without them. Too bad that online status checking feature does not ever change to "awaiting fingerprints".

Busy Finishing Up Quarter

Posts have been slow because the final quarter has been busier than expected (and I think the attrition of the tough 2nd quarter is impacting me). I am busy juggling numerous projects and extra-curricular activities. Making things difficult is that one class, Business Strategy, is taking up about 50% of my time. As it is strategy and the teacher is a big "Built to Last" fan, he is a believer is stretch goals (BEHAGS for those who speak the lingo). Therefore, it should not be a surprise he is dumping a ton of work on us. The projects are interesting (too bad I do not have more time to enjoy them). The most recent was the evaluation of a real life acquisition opportunity. It walked through anticipating the target's expectations, understanding our financing capabilities (our max price), evaluating the cost/benefits of potential valuations, and valuing the long term value of the different prices to the company's value. It was a very helpful exercise for anyone who could find themselves valuing a new opportunity for their business.

There is other good news for Merage. Internships are starting to come more quickly in the month of May and Merage students have scored some high profile positions. 3 Merage students have accepted positions in IBM's Deep Blue program; a high profile internship for MBA to develop a new product for IBM. The program only offers 24 positions and Merage scored 3 of them! That is 1/8th of Deep Blue is Merage! This is really impressive when you consider that only one student from MIT is in the program. These kind of successes are the true building blocks of Merage's growing reputation.

Internship Search Is Over!

I just found an internship in Marketing for the Children's Game Group of video game developer THQ. First, for those of you snickering "Trevor and kids games - hahahaha", I ask you what is more fun: selling ATM software to bureaucratic banks or games to children. For those unaware THQ is a major producer of video games for all major platforms. It is a publicly traded company with over $1 Billion in revenues. THQ licenses the rights to Nickelodeon and Pixar properties to create video games for kids. Now that my search is over I will comment on my experiences in this process.

The MBA search can become very perplexing. You never know what an potential intern recruiter is looking for. Honestly, after getting my internship I can still say I don't know. There are students in my class who I am dumbfounded that they got great (sure that is subjective) internships and there are others that are struggling who, if had the power and opportunity, I would hire in a minute.

Throughout my search, I continuously tweaked my resume and cover letter trying to find that magic combination that would get through the initial filters of many HR specialists. I think I faced a "brand recognition" hurdle as I was from Canada and only had worked with small Canadian companies. I am convinced that in their first sweep, HR specialists do not look at accomplishments as much as name recognition of schools or employers. This hurts me as a person who has gone into some companies and made more significant impacts in four months, than some people have made in four years. By being filtered out early, I don't get to take advantage of my interviewing strengths as I am used to selling my abilities after four years of working for myself. It is one of those cases of how I wish the world should work vs. how it really works. So back to reality...

Thus understanding this cold fact of life, one of my major goals in this internship search was to work for a large company with some name recognition to get through those initial filters when I begin my full time job search. I was really lucky to somehow get through the filters and get the attention of a team of people at THQ! I interviewed for a marketing position with the Kids Video Game Team. The interview went well. I was able to avoid the traditional interview and move it to a conversation about the challenges the kids gaming area is facing. The whole experience was really positive where I felt that we were on the same page about many issues.

That same day I was contacted to arrange a second interview in person at the THQ head office in north L.A. A lunch was arranged with me and most of the kids marketing team. While I expected a bit more tough questions, they seemed more interest in talking about what we are doing that weekend. I really liked the team. They were very intelligent, yet very fun. They were people who, if I take advantage of the situation, I can learn a great deal.

The main drawback is that they are located in Agora Hills, north of L.A. This means either I must accept a 2 hour commute each way or subletting a room in the area. Anyone who knows my love of traffic will understand why I prefer the latter option. I figure it is only 3 months, it will allow me to completely focus on practicing my skills during the week, and I can come home on the weekends.

The decision came down to "Am I here to get the perfect internship" or "Am I here to move my career forward after my MBA". In those terms the decision was easy. Especially, if the only downside is location.

My internship shows the amazing opportunities that have arisen from this dramatic change in my life. Everyone who knows me, knows that I love games of any kind. A year ago, I would have never thought that I would or could be working for a video game developer!

Best of all, the search is over. This frees up a minimum of 3 hours per week of work dedicated to finding an internship allowing me to focus more on school work, extra-curricular activities, and maybe even Lindsey.