Ah, what a great vacation that was. So relaxing. I can still hear the sounds of the waves crashing on the white, sandy beach, tropical birds singing their alluring songs in the lush forest behind me. I really meant to update the blog from my cabana, but the resort was having problems with their wireless intern– ah, who am I kidding? The muses just weren’t watching my back. I try to keep updates here interesting, and have to wait for inspiration instead of just picking a random topic out of a hat.

So I was listening to the always-entertaining Mobcast last week, and the guys got to talking about “staying on message” and I went through a series of emotions — first, excitement about the onslaught of inspiration. Then I grew very, very angry, remembering meetings about messaging and training game developers how to stay on message for hours and hours before trade shows and media tours. Then I laughed because my dog was trying to hump my other dog. Then I grew sleepy. And so the weekend passed, and I’m finally getting around to writing this post.

I don’t remember which of the handsome Mobcasters said it, but he cited an example of a PR rep being visibly upset during an interview in which some sports guy or developer just wouldn’t use the exact phrasing the PR team had decided on prior to the press event. Whether you see it or not, this happens all the time — PR reps around the world are probably about to blow a gasket at this very moment because their finely crafted corporate messages are being shredded by staff who — how dare they — just don’t get how important it is to executives.

Allow me to explain briefly for those unfamiliar with the concept of messaging: when a company is getting ready for any sort of press engagement — a product launch, trade show, media tour, press conference, investors meeting, etc. — the executives and the PR team — or the PR team alone — will sit down to come up with “key messages,” which will then be used to draft a guideline for responses to queries. These usually use very specific wording about a product’s features and why they’re important, the company’s stance on a controversial issue, corporate plans or any number of other topics. Straying from the exact wording often means not sticking to the message and is frowned upon.

Establishing key messages is an important part of any PR plan, and while it might seem like fiendish megacorporation territory, sticking to those key messages in most cases is also very important. Most importantly for those outside of the organization, it allows the product/company to maintain a consistent brand, so that consumers aren’t confused. I’ll invent a conveniently relevant scenario: imagine a movie studio promoting it’s latest film based on a Stephen King novel. In one interview the producer says the movie will be a suspenseful thriller. At a simultaneous press junket across the country an actor calls it a bone-chilling horror flick. If those people had both stuck to the message, the consumer who’s seen both interviews wouldn’t be confused. That’s a very simplified example, but I think you get the point.

When someone doesn’t stick to the message and an unapproved and often somewhat incorrect statement hits the enthusiast news scene, the PR team has to scramble to resolve the confusion. Maybe that person talked about a feature that hadn’t yet been announced — the always-awesome unintentional leak — and the execs need to start getting involved. Particularly in a publicly-traded company, the ramifications of someone straying from established messaging can be rather significant.

I’ve eschewed the virtues of messaging enough; it’s not all Skittles at the end of the tasty rainbow (what?). Most “corporate” companies — you know the ones, most commonly associated with fearlessly arrogant fancy-pants executives and utter inaccessibility — take “sticking to the message” to extremes. I’ve gone through email interviews written by game developers, for example, into which I’ve been urged by execs to insert more key messages to ensure the company’s brand is sufficiently represented. Whether we actually answered the question or not was, ultimately, irrelevant, as long as most of our company’s core philosophies, competencies and product features were presented at every single opportunity.

I think that if you have a good relationship with a journalist, you should feel comfortable straying from the company line once in a while, though (almost) never on major company issues that could cause harm. If those off-the-record comments make it to print, you’re screwed. In a trusting relationship, though, the journalist will appreciate the difference between something that is fair to print — a more subjective version of the message or a freely shared inside scoop — and a bit of knowledge that could cost someone their job.

Messaging won’t go away. I’m sorry, journalists, but if you’re in an interview with one of my clients, I hope they’re sticking to the message. They can have opinions, you guys can talk all day long about some unrelated topic… but as soon as you start asking questions about business practices, why our product is better than the competition or whatever, I want them to say what they’re supposed to say. If they stray from messaging and it’s wrong, I’ll speak up right there — I may ask you not to print something because it’s a feature we haven’t talked about. If you still print it, you’re a jerk. But then I have to deal with that. And I’ll probably be upset because some guy just couldn’t stick to the message.

Left, Dragon Age package. Right, Guild Wars 2 logo. Everywhere: Firey blood dragons.

I have to say I like the Guild Wars 2 dragon better — the styling is solid, and it actually looks like a 2. Dragon Age obviously had the head start, though. I’m sure none of this was intentional, of course. As a marketer, you want to ensure that you can present a strong brand — a logo or general style that persists in all of your marketing materials — that is immediately identifiable to your fans and potential fans while standing out from the competition. Are Dragon Age and Guild Wars 2 direct competitors? Probably not — they offer different gameplay experiences, and Guild Wars 2 isn’t coming out for a while (Dragon Age, presumably, will be out in December… ?). I’d still be a bit iffy about how similar the imagery is.

We recently (not so recently) went back and changed the Witcher logo at CD Projekt RED for the currently-on-hold The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf. We felt that the original logo was a bit “me-too” in the fantasy realm, and that it could use a facelift to stand out and really present the console version as a striking new product.

Left, before. Right, after awesomeification.

Does branding impact you at all? Does it bother you when two brands use similar imagery? Am I just a filthy marketing snob for even noticing?

Or something like that. I really don’t like being in the position of having to apologize for a lack of updates… so I won’t. Forget it, you jerk; you’ll get no apologies from me. Truth is that all of the EoPR contributors are incredibly busy people, so getting everyone to commit to regular updates has proven a bit more difficult than initially expected. In light of that, I’m going to repurpose this blog a bit.

I’ll still welcome updates from the “outsiders,” but I’m going to essentially turn this into the official site for Evolve PR, a.k.a. this guy. I’ll keep posting random thoughts, stuff that catches my eye and whatever else I feel like… but I’ll probably also push some of the work I’m doing. Over the next few days I’ll be fleshing out content on the site and rearranging stuff, so your patience is appreciated.

I can’t guarantee I’ll update the site as often as I should, but when I do it’ll be magical. Pure, unadulterated awesomesauce. Or something like that. I promise. Maybe.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

The gruff stealth-action hero is back, and this time he’s Jason Bourne! Or Emo Sam Fisher. But that’s okay. I was never big on the Splinter Cell series because of the patience required to sneak around effectively, so the shift to a more action-oriented style of gameplay suits me just fine. This trailer shows off Ubisoft’s ever-increasing cinematic talents, and I, for one, welcome our new French overlords. This is how you break your media silence on a game, and coupled with the accompanying gameplay demos it seems to have effectively renewed interest in the franchise. Sure there are some people bitching that, “this isn’t Splinter Cell,” but to those people I say, “go play Metal Gear, you jerk.”

Verdict: B+

Crackdown 2

I’ll set myself up for a caning with this statement: “I’ve never played Crackdown.” It just hit while I was playing too much other stuff, and I’ve never been one to go way back and clear our my gaming backlog… there’s always something new coming down the pipe. That being said, this trailer didn’t magically spark my interest. The fact that you play as some sort of superhero-style dude comes through a bit, though perhaps the glut of games with superhero-style dudes is to blame for my lack of excitement about the whole concept. Okay, so I can jump really high, cause explosions and whatnot… fantastic. What else? Here’s to hoping that the new dev team at Ruffian can take over the reins from moved-on-to-APB Realtime Worlds and deliver something that gets me interested with gameplay footage.

Verdict: C

Crysis 2

Uhh… Shards? I have to assume that Crysis 2 isn’t too far in development, because showing off these little flecks of game footage in little bits of metal(?) just doesn’t scream, “our game is almost finished and we’re going to show it to you now!” I understand that this is just a teaser trailer, but that’s a real kick in the nuts. Crytek is going multiplatform with Crysis 2, but this trailer looks much more like fan service than anything intended to excite a wide audience. People who played Crysis to death: does this video actually show anything of interest? I can get burning buildings in a lot of other games.

Verdict: D

Assassin’s Creed 2

Oh, Ubisoft, can I have your babies? A lot of gamers lament the industry’s ongoing shift to more film-like qualities, but I welcome it. These cinematic trailers — which admittedly lack any form of gameplay — are effective mood-setters, and we do get a solid idea of what our sneaky cloaked assassin is capable of. I love the Venetian setting and the atmosphere it brings, despite the fact that the fireworks-and-noise-in-crowded-place scene reminds me of a variety of movies with similar cover for murders. I suspect some of this content will be used in what is sure to be a huge TV ad campaign when the game ships.

Verdict: A

The Beatles: Rock Band

Another caning is in order: I consider myself Beatles Agnostic. I’ve just never really cared for their music… until I watched the trailer and realized that, yes, I do actually like some of their stuff. And it does look damn cool to be able to go through their evolution from cuter-than-pie rockers to acid-tripping maniacs. The visual aesthetic is there, the music is there, the gameplay is there… yep, indeed, this trailer delivers what you would expect. And that’s a good thing. It surely won’t win over anyone who’s not enamored with Rock Band or The Beatles, but I don’t think Harmonix ever had delusions of such an event.

Verdict: B+

I shall be back with more thoughts on more videos, and if I can pry some of my fellow contributors away from the show floor for a minute, maybe someone else will chime in, too.