Learning from Experts in Electronic Delivery

Few modern day platforms have created the exposure delivered by Apple’s iPhone.  It’s a tool itself, and a vehicle for distributing what’s “in” – including some of the hottest games.  Among them is the game sensation Archetype that hit the U.S. market in July.

The game is a model of innovation and effectiveness that financial institutions can learn from.  A multiplayer, first-person shooter game, Archetype was Apple’s “App of the Week,” chosen as the one application featured on iPhones and Apple’s website.  Produced byVILLAIN and developed by MunkyFun, the game hit #6 in “Top Paid” apps and #3 in “Top Grossing” apps, out of ½ million applications offered.  It is an elegant meld of software, the interactive web and the art to produce a runaway hit in its market.

Timothy Nice (son of Ron Nice of Nice Enterprises, Inc.) is Art Director at MunkyFun and took time from his busy schedule to share what’s behind the game’s success.  His insight has import into how credit unions can win in the electronic world and beyond:

FOCUS

Do one thing amazingly well. Game development is a high risk, high return endeavor.  Either a game is a hit and everyone wins, or it’s not and everyone loses significant money, time, and reputation.  As such, doing one thing amazingly well is essential.

Archetype is rigorously focused on one thing.  The game is an archetypal, multiplayer first-person shooter game, adapted to the controls and environment of the iPhone.  It is a community-only game:  Gamers play on a five-person team, competing against another team for wins, points, and medals.  Game statistics are posted and players advance as they’re promoted from Cadet, up through 35 ranks, to 1st Circle Dreadnaught, based on their performance.

The visuals are fantastic, game play is solid, and the game is well built.  In fact, when the iPhone 4 launched, with a much higher resolution screen only weeks before the game’s launch, the team made adjustments to the game but not wholesale changes.  Both the game and team were robust, so the team could adapt quickly.  How good the game looks on the iPhone 4’s Retinal Display is now a major selling point. Archetype nails its category, plays well on older iPhones, and is absolutely amazing on the iPhone 4.

What was most difficult about making the game?  “The last 20%,” states Timothy Nice.  “Starting was easy.  Moving through game development was easy.  But polishing and testing were a big challenge.  They’re also the added touch that made Archetype strong enough to win mass audiences and profitability.”

Application: Your organization needs an arena for R&D that drives innovation.  It may be led by marketing, member service, technology, or a cross-functional team.  Decide who it will be in your organization.  Next, they need a laser-like focus.  Should they create a new delivery channel, a new approach for member experience, or a new product offering?  Be sure the team’s “charter” is incredibly well defined, focused, and written.  Launch them with the task of doing one thing amazingly well.

More broadly, now more than ever FIs must focus.  Most of the credit unions with high profitability consistently have a great degree of focus in their business model and strategic plans.  The models include technology-intensive models, rigorous-adherence to specific target markets, and/or uniquely different models for engaging members.  In fact, you could argue these leading CUs do one thing amazingly well. Are your plans and offerings extremely focused?  To test this, just ask stakeholders at many levels of the organization.  If they all identify the same focus, it’s probably real.  If they don’t, it’s time to get serious about applying focus that changes everything about your organization.

Be sure everyone can answer the question in the same way:  What is the one thing your organization does amazingly well?

When you’re rolling out a new offering or convenience tool, how much attention and focus do you place on perfecting the last 20% (the finishing, polishing, marketing, user interface, etc.)?  In our experience, few financial institutions apply the needed attention to the last 20%.  Often, some IT guy builds the action plan and nails his area of implementation.  Everything technology-related is detailed out in the plan.  The marketing folks hate action planning, so there are few bullets in their area, which are often limited to “build marketing plan” and “implement marketing campaigns.”  Operations and HR may include a bit more detail such as “schedule training,” “ensure frontline understands new offering,” etc.

This is the unfortunate reality, that last 20% is almost always under-done.  It is like taking the time and effort to cook an elaborate, gourmet meal and then serving it on paper plates and realizing you forgot to invite over your friends and family.  More forethought and rigor are needed for the last 20% of new products, new technology and automated delivery tools, new branches, new promotions, public relations, etc.  The organization as a whole needs to “nail” the last 20%.

It is incredible how many “me too” offerings there are in financial services.  It seems like organizations are always saying, “We need that too.”  But they don’t take the time to do it well.  They roll out the same old thing…  Same average online banking.  Same average marketing promo.  Try again. Nail the last 20% by tailoring the offering and interface so it is notable and better than other providers.  Do it amazingly well, or don’t do it at all.

MARKETING

Marketing blitz. In addition to ascending the success lists, Archetype sold 160,000 apps in the first week of U.S. sales.  What has made Archetype so successful, and why so quickly?  In addition to ensuring the game’s focus, VILLAIN effectively positioned and marketed the game.

Archetype targets the market of original Halo players.  It converts the magic and game play of that game-console classic into the iPhone environment.  To get user input and create pre-launch buzz, Archetype originally launched in the Czech Republic.  This gave them the opportunity to work through the normal start-up challenges in a live, but market-safe, environment.

For the U.S. launch, marketing was incredibly strong and focused.  Most of the marketing dollars spent was in a three day period near the launch date.  Compared to similar games, the marketing budget was large.  The extensive spend focused on gaming thought-leaders and communities.  Much of it was invested in advertising on gaming forums, technology blogs, and iPhone websites.

It worked.  The game quickly reached opinion leaders in the gaming community and created editorial accolades.  The game climbed the charts even before being highlighted as APP OF THE WEEK by Apple, which isn’t common.

The iTunes distribution model is attractive and the market is huge:  Apple sold 24 millioniPhones in 2009 alone.  Apple may sell over 40 million iPhones in 2010.  And the cost of distribution of a game through iTunes is better than other platforms.  Paying Apple 30% is cheaper than the costs for other consoles, and is far lower than creating your own delivery system.

The game’s value proposition is strong.  The developers set out to create a console-caliber experience on the iPhone.  The value proposition is based in equal parts on content, technology, and price.  It nails all three (like Halo did), and there are no holes:

• The content; the game itself, is one of the best.
• The technology; the iPhone, works well as the platform, using the touch screen “joy stick” for moving and turning your player, with vivid screens and audio feedback.
• The value; unbeatable (at $2.99) when compared to games on other platforms, and is in the range of competing games on the iPhone.

For the game’s back story, tactics, and related information visit the Archetype Wiki.

Application: Unfortunately, our industry has few highly successful marketing professionals and marketing organizations.  While some select credit unions do excel in this area, it’s not the norm.  Our industry’s history is with core sponsors and clearly defined (and connected) groups.  This led to our widespread strengths in service and relationships, but it also led to marketing weakness, since historically, we didn’t need much marketing.

Today, marketing plays an essential role toward numerous outcomes – to spark word-of-mouth, create a loud public “splash,” or to win over thought-leaders in your membership.  Marketing must be laser targeted on a specific market and purpose.  It is essential that everyone in your organization (including marketing) know the key “pressure points” that will make your current or upcoming product launches successful.  What are they for your organization?  It is also essential to know when and how to “blitz market” in order to build major awareness.  How strongly is that built into your competencies and plans?

TALENT

Know your strengths and weaknesses. The game’s developer, MunkyFun, is a small team of gaming industry veterans who collectively contributed to over 60 games, including the hit console game, Star Wars:  The Force Unleashed.

As a team of AAA content developers, they know their strengths:  Creating great games.  But they also know and addressed their weaknesses by outsourcing the rest. To match their developer talent, they searched out the best talent for other aspects of the project.  To do this, they went online and found the best deliverables in the categories they needed.  This included contracting with experts to make the game’s introduction movie and itswebsite.  It wasn’t cheap, but getting the best in each area added needed polish and contributed to “the last 20%”.

Application: It’s essential to know thyself, so you can play to your strengths and find others who fill your weaknesses.  Too often, credit unions take the extremes of either doing a new endeavor all in-house – where projects can take way too long and results are sub-par – or fully outsourcing the undertaking – where a vendor drives the entire offering and drastically cuts into its long-term profitability to the organization.  Find the balance by knowing your strengths.  If your organization is strong in member service and technology development, do that in-house and find key contractors to lead other aspects like marketing and user interface.

Is your organization and its leaders strongly self-aware of its strengths and weaknesses?  If so, list out a concise statement of what those strengths are:  That’s where you should be putting your energy.  Next, list out the areas that are not your strengths:  That’s where to outsource.

For example, if one weakness is online banking and your e-branch, then task several team members to scour the Internet for “best-in-class” organizations who have achieved great results in those areas.  Contact them, find out who developed their e-channel, and hire them to contribute to your web offering.  To be clear:  Don’t just find a good CU website and hire your same old CU vendor to do your job – unless you are sure they are the missing link in your development continuum.  In our experience, many of the top-tier (technology) offerings are not being created by the traditional CU providers.

AND BEYOND

Innovate around the core. Archetype’s current game is focused:  A multiplayer, first-person shooter.  They nailed their core deliverable and quickly created a name for the game.  But there’s more to come that will leverage the game into a franchise.

Players are continually asking for more and the team is egger to deliver.  Some logical extensions are new maps and downloadable content.  This builds the franchise, extends and reinforces sales and provides additional revenue streams.

The game will have legs well into the future.  As shown in Jim Collins’ findings, the best companies keep innovating around the core.  That is what’s planned for Archetype.

Application: It is essential that you keep innovating around your core.  In a member-experience model, this can mean experimenting with new ways to engage and please members.  In a technology-driven model, this can mean experimenting with new efficiencies, creating greater simplicity and self-service options.  Challenge your group to answer the question:  How can your organization or department innovate around its core?

Let’s say you’re rolling out business services.  You won’t likely nail every top tier attribute in your offering in the first phase.  Instead, find one aspect of your business offering that will make a big splash – one thing to do amazingly well.  Make the most out of that attribute – with a marketing push, member feedback, etc.  As you progress from there, find another way to make the offering stand out – another “one thing” – that relates to the core, but creates additional momentum for your product line.

The underpinnings of Archetype’s success can spark innovation in our sector.  Take a break from worrying about regs, corporate assessments and your current ROA in order to invest in your future through focus, marketing, talent management, and beyond.  We challenge you to become an archetype of effectiveness in our industry.