Alright, we’re at the halfway point! I hope that you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them.
To recap, we’re looking at ten of the tenets Brand Development uses with HeroClix. I may do another piece featuring ten more tenets after the holiday break, as I believe there is no shortage of pontification on the subject of HeroClix. It’s enjoyable communicating our thought processes with the fans.
So far, we’ve tackled the tenets:
#1- First, Do No Harm.
#2- Fans should take an instrumental role in Brand Development.
#3- The game of HeroClix inherently should reward offensive game play over defensive game play.
#4- Special powers should remain special.
Today, we move back to more wide reaching philosophical conversation, and back to the realm of comic books. The tenet that we look at today (with a key couple of nouns switched) is popularly attributed to comic progenitor Stan Lee.
Brand Tenet #5
Every HeroClix set is someone’s first.
HeroClix has the rare luxury of having a diehard, dare I say rabid fan base. This fan base is the reason for WizKid’s existence. Our loyal customers support core hobby retailers, play in organized play events, collect our stuff, and have strong opinions on what they want out of our product.
They are awesome, and at one point, they were all newbies.
They asked rules questions that they would laugh at now.
They traded away figures that they still kick themselves for “giving” away.
They wanted to see what Spiderman played like and what the highest Defense value was in the game.
After their initial n00b-ness faded, they learned the insides and outs of the game. They developed incredibly specific tastes for figures to appear in the next set. They balked when a character appeared in two consecutive booster releases.
Are they wrong? No, not really. Their tastes and understanding of the product has developed. The brand of HeroClix resonated with them, and they love the game.
One of the trickiest parts of Brand Development is retaining your customer base, while you solicit for new fans. Brand Development must walk the razor thin line of satisfying our player base’s demand with exciting new first appearances of characters in booster releases, while making sure we have the nucleus of figures that new players to our game crave.
Simply said, if new players don’t pick up a game, it dies. The churn and attrition that any product faces is inevitable. It’s a company’s duty to get new people into its products.
Brand Development and Marketing are currently planning how best to get people into the game, while making sure our current fan base stays into our stuff. A fan may have started the game with Arkham Asylum, or may start with Hammer of Thor. They may walk into a comic shop, and see their favorite comic character gracing a booster box. A friend or coworker may recommend that they pick up a new set. They may see one of our ads, or a sculpt sitting on someone’s monitor. Perhaps, they’re at a comic shop and walk by a “live” table of HeroClix fans shouting and having the time of their lives.
Multiple triggers exist for getting players into the game. It’s our job to have a compelling product ready for them when they pick up their first booster release. Are all of our products compelling? Yes, but the question remains, who are they compelling to? I want to satisfy existing demand, but also make sure that if the set is called Marvel HeroClix, you can bet that Spiderman is in it.
The canon of required characters per brand is pretty short, but in my mind, is mandatory. Will we get into who those characters are? Not here, but eventually.
The histories of Marvel and DC are so storied and exciting that even seven years into the brand of HeroClix, dozens of incredible ideas exist for character designs. I believe we can do new twists on existing characters to bridge the appeal of the figs to both audiences.
Alright, I think that’s about it for today. Have an enjoyable weekend, and happy clicking.
-Jake
