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A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

polygon.com

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Re: A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

#4

Post by bluedino »

What is that format/style called? I remember reading all the late 70's to early 80's magazines in my our basement as a kid, and all the ads had that look to them. Take for example this Ford ad for a car:

http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/201...

The style kind of goes, big headline, then 2-4 fairly detailed paragraphs about the product. You never see that any more. The video games always followed the same template:

CAN YOU HANDLE THE ACTION

Are you ready for craziest alien battles on the Frobozz Computer System? Then play Foobar 2000, the ultimate adventure! You'll face dastardly demons and high speed challenges, sure to make you ask for more!

Re: A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

#5

Post by noelwelsh »

bluedino wrote: post #4

What is that format/style called? I remember reading all the late 70's to early 80's magazines in my our basement as a kid, and all the ads had that look to them. Take for example this Ford ad for a car: http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/201... The style kind of goes, big headline, then 2-4 fairly detailed paragraphs about the product. You never see that any more. The video games always followe…

I believe it's a style that David Ogilvy popularised. Take a look here, particularly the Rolls Royce ad: http://www.ogilvy.com/our-history/

Re: A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

#6

Post by alanfalcon »

He could have asked a graphic designer. Those screenshots aren't "as small as possible" - they're as large as possible! You've given this poor designer a 256x240 pixel image and asked him to "make it look good" in a full page print ad. Even at a less than ideal 150ppi, that screenshot is going to be less than two inches wide. Now you have 90% of a full page ad to fill up, so what follows is pretty natural.

(I bet there was some Frogger marketing guy who kept insisting, "can't you make the screenshot just a little bit bigger?" And the hand-drawn mock screenshot was the eventual compromise to make him shut up.)

Re: A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

#8

Post by edkennedy »

alanfalcon wrote: post #6

He could have asked a graphic designer. Those screenshots aren't "as small as possible" - they're as large as possible! You've given this poor designer a 256x240 pixel image and asked him to "make it look good" in a full page print ad. Even at a less than ideal 150ppi, that screenshot is going to be less than two inches wide. Now you have 90% of a full page ad to fill up, so what follows is pretty natural. (I bet the…

I get what you are saying, but this is not an issue in this case. Most screenshots were done with analog film cameras pointing at a CRT. So resolution is not a limiting factor. See: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/back-when-screenshots-really...

Re: A board game company defined video game ads for 20 years

#9

Post by edkennedy »

noelwelsh wrote: post #5
bluedino wrote: post #4

What is that format/style called? I remember reading all the late 70's to early 80's magazines in my our basement as a kid, and all the ads had that look to them. Take for example this Ford ad for a car: http://www.classiccarstodayonline.com/wp-content/uploads/201... The style kind of goes, big headline, then 2-4 fairly detailed paragraphs about the product. You never see that any more. The video games always followe…

I believe it's a style that David Ogilvy popularised. Take a look here, particularly the Rolls Royce ad: http://www.ogilvy.com/our-history/

Long form copy I believe it was called
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