Mistborn: House War
We handle all aspects of marketing and logistics for the line of games based on Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn novels, all published by Crafty Games. For Mistborn: House War, we managed the Kickstarter and shipped all backer rewards, and continue to handle all aspects of marketing and logistics.
Mistborn: House War Kickstarter
Preparation for the Mistborn: House War Kickstarter began more than 18 months before project launch. We focused our initial attention on public playtests and media outreach. As the launch date approached, we shifted our focus to pre-promotion through earned media, as well as email and social media marketing.
A game like Mistborn: House War not only has to be good, it has to resonate with the core fan base. Thus, we focused our campaign design on things that would excite Mistborn fans and board game enthusiasts, alike. Whenever possible, Stretch Goals included new game content in addition to 'something cool' - best represented in the ones that added new playable houses. Almost every goal upgraded the game for everyone, current backers and future customers alike.
In the end, the campaign was so successful we ran out of things to offer! Crafty Games was able to include everything they'd dreamed of offering in Mistborn: House War, thanks to the success of the Kickstarter.
Results: 3,528 backers pledged $339,973 on Kickstarter.
Mistborn: House War Fulfillment
Our goal when fulfilling this project was to ensure that customers received accurate orders, and that we removed as much friction from dealing with VAT & other duties as possible. With over 3,500 backers in 50 different countries, it would not have been practical to handle worldwide fulfillment from our warehouse in the USA, so we decided to work with our logistics partners in Canada, Europe and Australia.
Worldwide, we had less than a dozen shipping errors, for an error rate of less than 0.3%
Working with reliable partners around the world has also allowed our client, Crafty Games, to floor product in multiple regions. This makes fulfillment of ongoing orders both easier to achieve, and less expensive for customers.
Misprinted Tokens: This project presented an additional logistics problem. All the tokens in the original manufacturing run were misprinted. As such, the publisher needed to find a way to get new token sheets to customers, as well as a method of repacking all copies that remained after Kickstarter fulfillment. We were able to help them solve this issue in an economical way, arranging for nearly 3,000 units to be repacked and resealed.
Mistborn: House War Marketing
Gamerati handles all aspects of ongoing marketing for Brandon Sanderson' Mistborn: House War, as well as the tabletop RPG (Mistborn Adventure Game) and accessories (Mistborn Dice). This includes managing all advertising buys, sourcing all earned media through press and other influencers, working with paid placements on networks such as Geek & Sundry, and assisting with event marketing - both at events we run and at larger conventions where Crafty Games has an official presence.
As a brand with a very loyal fan base, we have focused heavily on trying to get the game in front of as many people as possible - at conventions, in the hands of media, and demonstrated by trusted influencers. For the Mistborn line of games, this continues to be the best strategy.
