Advertising and Media Firms

[mwyeoh]

I think too many advertising options will make the game too complicated.
Really, at the moment the only difference between any of the advertising options is the effectiveness.

Currently, the effectiveness of the contect for an advertising firm is only the amount of money to be spent per month on it.
Although this will complicate things, perhaps you could introduce research for advertising/marketing (Along with the monthly spending costs already in place)?

I believe another improvement that could be added to media firms to distinguish them, is to also implement a 'brand awareness' and 'brand loyalty' for media firms too. This could then be tied into the market effectiveness for the media firm. To make it more balanced, perhaps the costs of improving the awareness of a media outlet should be x10 more than other business types. The loyalty could then be a function of monthly spending and brand awareness

Also, at the moment, I dont think there's an option to found your own media outlet. If this could be allowed, even at a high cost, being able to eventually compete with established media outlets would be a high capital investment.

This then allows the possible introduction of 'media' focused AI (Ie- Rupert Murdoch)

[Bigcat]

To make fun in the game for running advertising, I suggest to add a game spot call "Exhibition Centre / Expo Hall".

For example, COMDEX was a computer expo held in Las Vegas, Nevada, each November from 1979 to 2003. It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually second only to the German CeBIT, and by many accounts one of the largest trade shows in any industry sector.

With the Expo Hall, different product class will hold exhibitions on different month.

Click the Hall, we can pay a promotion fee to attend the exhibition.

To make it funny, it will be a competition game between different company's products about the combination rating of tech and brand name.

At the day of Expo, the winner of product will increase 5 points of brand name loyalty; the second will increase 4 point;.....

For example, a COMDEX will hold on 1st Jun. Every computer companies will attend the exhibition, and put all resource to research new tech and advertising before D-day. After all, the exhibition will hold on the target day, and the game programme will compare the combination rating of the Computer, Notebook, PDA, Printer products. Finally, the winner will be promoted on free media and get 5 point loyalty.

This game can encourage player to input resource to tech research and promotion, and make a deathline to it as like as an examination. To make the game more exciting.

[Bigcat]

David said: "3) The magazine is an interesting concept but it may be too complicated. The player may not want to go through the trouble of finding the right magazine to advertise each time, when there are so many products to advertise."

To handle this problem, I suggest to add a game spot call "Magazine Union". Magazine Union will like another media, TV, Radio, Newspaper station to receive advertising fee, but sale "Advertisement Essay". The factory, which purchase " Advertisement Essay", will be paid money for it.

The magazine manufacturing process will be "Purchase Unit - Advertisement Essay" + "Purchase Unit - Paper" link to "Manufacturing Unit", and then link to "Sale Unit - Magazine".

To use this method, it will be solve the technical problem of too many products to advertise.

The fun of this setup, will be the advertisement efficiency based on the magazine sale. Also, it can activate the semi-product - paper.

[David]

AI corporations may acquire media firms. (In original Capitalism 2, AI corporations will not acquire media firms.) And the media firms are now more challenging to run and their profitability is more reasonable.

The below screen shows AI controlled media firms in the firm list.

[David]

You can now build new media firms (TV stations, radio stations and newspaper publishers) by accessing the Build menu. See the below screenshot.

[mwyeoh]

Awesome. And coupled with the AI's ability to want to buy media firms, this could start a new media war!

Will the AI build new media firms too? Or only buy existing ones?

[David]

Yes, AI will build new media firms as well as buying existing ones.

[David]

The following screen shows the AI media firms. See "Operating since <year>" for the year in which an individual media firm was built.

[baz]

I like the sound of different media been available and I think that the internet option could run along the same lines as the newspapers, radio or tv. I personnaly think that it could operate in the same manor but from a different buiding. I don't think you need to worry as to how or what the internet uses, it's just another way of advertising. The more budget the more ways you can advertise. I mean TV now uses product placement and you can't really add that to tv station. TV companys and newspaper companys advertise on the radio and vice versa but if I say owned a tv station in Cap 2 currently I can't advertise via another media comapny. Well I could, but if I was only a media company I wouldn't gain anything. ( If that makes sense )

I've mentioned this in my post, but currently and this could really happen, media companys may only be able to own a certain % of media groups or market share. IE. In the UK, the leverson enquiry is looking at the possibility of stopping media empires from owning more than a certain % of media. This is more due to politics keeping a democracy healthy than any other one thing. But this now has now raised questions about the Murdochs wanting to buy BSkyB ( Major satelite company in the UK) owner of many media comapnys on the US, Austrailia and other countrys. Cap Lab could have the same control's maybe as an event like whats occuring in the UK or buy pure design to stop someone from just buying all of the media companys and holing the CAP LAB world to ransome if you feel that thats an issue . Although my own expereince in Cap 2 was that when I owned every media organisation it became so difficult I had to sell quite a few as they all ended up in direct competiotion with each other and started forcing the price down, which ended up with me reducing the budgets so less people in the end bought, listened or watched the adverts. But that too was a brilliant concept as it kinda self policed itself.

I would like to be able to appoint a specific person to look after the media sides of things as I did find that I was forever having to adjust prices and budgits untill I owned all of them, and then like I said before, they were then in direct competion with each other that drove the price down.

In this country we have leafleting via the postbox, on the high street and all other various forms but I don' think you need to really worry about the minor details of advertising as it's only a tool to sell. If you were thinking of allowing say people to just be a meida comapny say, then maybe considering these alongside the internet ideas would be good but I don't personaly want to see murdochs and maxwells in my Cap games, unless you can have a B52 or stealth bomber mode too