Maple Story Ads

Some folks at work yesterday were talking about the new Maple Story TV ads which have been cropping up on cable. They are certainly attention-grabbing, although their effectiveness is debatable. (Hmmm, reminds me of an ad campaign for a certain all-you-can-eat games subscription service.)

Snails:


Fish:


Pig:


Despite the weird-for-the-sake-of-being-weird vibe, I have to admit that there's a certain charm to the line, "Is that pig wearing a gentleman's hat?" But: the fact that we do not see even one image from the game in these ads -- to tie it back to the live-action silliness -- is a shocking creative error in my opinion.

The ads can also be found here, on the Nexon site that launched in conjunction with the ad campaign. Wish them luck!

More MMO

A few choice articles in the mainstream press worth looking at:


CNN Money talks Webkinz and Club Penguin and why stuffed animals and flightless waterfowl are both stickier than YouTube. (See chart.)

BusinessWeek profiles Maple Story and mentions Sony Home while still falling upon the journalistic cliche of "Hey, they met in the game and got married in real life! And then they got married in the game!"

Nerds!

Target Targets Gamers

In case you don't play Maple Story (and Dear Lord, why wouldn't you?), there's some pretty sweet in-game advertising to be found in the little burb of Kerning City:


I guess Target is interested in going after potty-mouthed prepubescent cosplayers. Makes total sense. When one gamer saw me (in screenshot, above) standing next to that nifty Target kiosk, he proclaimed, "hahahahah he wants noob lewtlololol!"