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[Sam Colt]

I'm going to throw my hat into the ring for applying for this position, I would be very interested in join the Goldeneye: Source team in a public relations capacity. Competition does, after all, drive innovation.

You know me as Sam Colt, but my real name is Julian Weiss, and I've been active in this community for several years now, since Beta 3 I believe. I'm 24 years old and a recent college graduate. The job market being as it I'm not able to move right into a career, and instead work two  part time jobs at the opposite ends of the day. In consequence I have a large block of time everyday in which I can be productive.

There are several assets I can bring to the Goldeneye: Source team, and the strongest is my writing. I've been writing for half a decade now, and although I'll be the first to admit that I do not have much journalism experience, unless you count a highschool journalism class, my abilities to write are strong. In proof of this I'm submitting, as an attachment at the bottom of this post, a short story, and two sonnets I have written. More stories and an analytical are available if requested.

The second asset I bring is that I do have some limited experience in creating and polishing videos. They've all been AMV's (don't shoot me). I do not currently have the technology to make and produce videos for Goldeneye: Source, but I can acquire them for one easy payment of $39.99, which I am willing to do. Links to the AMV's I have made are included below this paragraph. A note on the third video: This is not hosted on my youtube account, and I created it in late 2001 or early 2002. I thought it lost until it surfaced on youtube 5 years ago (originally submitted to residentevilfan.com). My apologies for the sometimes spotty video quality, I'm working with Windows Movie Maker at this time.





The last asset I can bring I have already brought once, and that is exposure at PAX East. Last year I handed out roughly 250 Goldeneye: Source business cards to gamers and spoke to dozens of news media outlets ranging from blogs to Adam Sessler of G4's X-Play.

Thank you for your consideration,
Julian Weiss
a/k/a Sam Colt [1138]

[killermonkey]

At the very least, we need to work with you to coordinate the PR arm at PAX East, since you are so gracious to help already!

I like your stories, btw

[Sam Colt]

At the least, I agree.

And thank you. I believe I can bring these skills over to journalism easily enough.

[terps4life90]

You sly dog you!

[Sam Colt]

Here are some limited thoughts on what I feel would be the correct course of action to take in promoting Goldeneye: Source. I can expand and enumerate.


I. Social Media. We need a proactive social media campaign. Although our social media capacity exists, it is not fully functioning, and we're losing a lot of potential coverage. This is how I propose we go about remedying this problem.
 
II. Indirect social media sites, such as Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and 9gag need to be mined for their potential.

III. Press releases. As stated in numerous topics.


IV. Gaming, comic and anime conventions are prime areas for pounding the pavement to get the word out. Unfortunately this cannot be covered by one person, but considering that we have die hard members of the community, and devs, in major US urban centers, and across the world, we can really beef up our presence at these events.

[Jonathon [SSL]]

I'm liking this.

[Rick Astley]

Here are some limited thoughts on what I feel would be the correct course of action to take in promoting Goldeneye: Source. I can expand and enumerate.

IV. Gaming, comic and anime conventions are prime areas for pounding the pavement to get the word out. Unfortunately this cannot be covered by one person, but considering that we have die hard members of the community, and devs, in major US urban centers, and across the world, we can really beef up our presence at these events.

actually where i am this march we are getting our first ever Comic Con...so i was thinking i could try handing out GESource cards to randoms but the problem is i dont know if its legal to advertise gesource...i mean what happens if "Enemy" rivals notice it and try to make a move if you catch my drift

[Emilia]

Maybe, this PR business needs to have different arms, because one person can't do everything.

We have:
Wake: Leader of PR, who talks to the huge gaming influences like PC Gamer, etc
Major: In charge of media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter
Me: (On trial): PR Writer: I would be doing the writing for the updates/anything else needed

If I fail my trial, of course, we will need someone to take my place. But I think getting out into the community, that HASN'T had a taste of GoldenEye Source would be an excellent idea. So, my idea would be someone to write, create pictures or video for people who have never seen GoldenEye Source before. Someone who has the skills to catch that person's eye and say hey, check out this game.

Of course, everyone can do this in their own way. This game could be successful by word of mouth. But, they can help do this by saying, have a read of this; or, have a look at this video, which could be made by someone like you.

I'm just throwing my ideas out there. It is just important that the team doesn't get too segmented. It is about working together, with the other arms of the team to produce top quality content.

[Sam Colt]

It is a bit of a sketchy area, but considering that the mod isn't making money, and doesn't pose any real threats of drawing attention away from panels, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Of course the rules at every convention, and every cities police force, is different. There's a solution though, I assume you're comicon will run several days. Go one day without advertising to get a feel for the place, and of you think it'd be cool to hand out cards go back the next day and do it.

On another note, I have a page and half strategy to increase our presence. I'll post it when I get home from work in 2 hours, as well as respond to you Emilia, and any other posts that show up in the time in between.

[Rick Astley]

i think i will just stick with YouTube Videos unless bloody SOPA is passed...i talked with Emillia yesterday about a possible trailer

[Sam Colt]

@Emilia.
You know I had never really considered just how many people are actually working PR. A PR team definitely needs to be coordinated.


These are my thoughts on how to improve Goldeneye: Source's PR.


I. Social Media. We need a proactive social media campaign. Although our social media capacity exists, it is not fully functioning, and we're losing a lot of potential coverage. This is how I propose we go about remedying this problem.
 
A. Following
     
      a. Twitter.
Goldeneye: Source needs to follow more people and companies – signficant ones. On Twitter I see that we follow PC Gamer, Black Mesa Devs and Steam Support. This isn't enough, it's barely a drop in the bucket. We should be following, gaming news media such as IGN, Kotaku, 1Up, Joystiq, and GiantBomb. It wouldn't hurt to follow significant developers – Gabe Newell, Miyamoto, Hideo Kojimo, etc.. We should be tweeting once a month to these people. It shouldn't be overt advertising for the mod, but funny or insigtful comments on things they've tweeted. Lastly, befriend indie studios, such as Team Meat. A lot of these guys and gals are really friendly, and since a lot of them are of the N64 generation, they've likely played GE64 and would be willing to check out Goldeneye: Source.
     
      b. Facebook
The idea here is the same as it is in Twitter. We follow, or “Like” the same people, we keep to the same regiment of once a month posts. Except when it comes to Facebook we can be more proactive in our advertising. We could post to Joystiq's wall something like, “Goldeneye: Source, a total conversion Half Life 2 mod, is now out of beta. We are one of the best made, absolutely stunning, Half Life 2 mods out there. Would you be willing to spare us some coverage? Www.goldeneyesource.net. Thank you for your time.”
     
      c. Google +
I don't use it, but apparently all the “nerds” do. A campaign similar to our Twitter and Facebook one on Google + would be just as beneficial. Considering that it is not widely used, the campaign would be aimed at the core base of gamers and media most likely to give Goldeneye: Source a shot.
 
B. Followers
     
      a. If we do all of the above, our exposure will skyrocket, which will in turn garner the interest of gamers following those twitter and Facebook accounts. The ultimate goal, of course, getting coverage by these news sites, which WILL happen if we can get enough people interested in Goldeneye: Source. The more exposure we get on the web, the more people will become interested in the mod.

 II. Indirect social media sites, such as Reddit, 4chan, Tumblr, and 9gag need to be mined for their potential.
 
          A. I've heard it said that Reddit has always been good to Goldeneye: Source, and when I went and searched for topics on it there 40 someodd topics. However only a handful had over 100 upvotes, and only one had over 1000. This is a start - but it's only a start. I prose a new topic along the lines of “Goldeneye: Source – Drinks on Us/The Martini Update” which will include information on the Martini Update; yet, more will also feature links to the level videos made by markpeterjameslegg, preferably towards the topic of the topic so they will be immedietly visible to those entering the topic.

         B. As for 4chan, tumblr, and 9gag, I suggest a dispersed campaign featuring screen shots and the above mentioned videos post every few days. Over a period of time this increases exposure substantially.

III. Press releases sent to major and minor gaming news sites and blogs. Pretty self explainatory. I think there should be a special effort to keep sources which have covered the mod before up to date with our progess. Kotaku comes to mind.
 
 
IV.  Conventions, where the community pounds the pavement. There are some risks, but the pay off is immense. We have die hard community and devs members across the country and world. If you're up to it go there and promote the mod. ComiCon, PAX Prime, PAX East, various anime conventions, maybe even E3. This is the tried and true method for getting your game/product out there and there's no substitute for it.


I also have a bat-shit crazy idea. Gabe Newell is known to respond to every email he receives. Send him a short press release and request a 2-3 word plug. It's a long shot, but it'd be huge.
 

[terps4life90]

We need more then a few people running the PR title, 4 plus people will have major impact of the mod, and if we all work together, diligently, we could have a huge player base, and all of the attention you could possibly dream of.

[Sam Colt]

Darn it Roger, I went and posted my strategy and you went and claimed "Last Post By." *shakes fist*

[Rodney 1.666]

*hates that shit*

[Wake[of]theBunT]

I like basically every thought that has been mentioned by both the applicant and by our newest trial, Emilia.

Seems as though this would be the big 4 assault - with myself oversight.

* News (writing for moddb/forum)
** Community (publishing news + other things to social media)
*** Outreach (strategize all the stuff sam mentions)
**** Video (one word. xanatos)