Marketing Challenges: Developing a new Board Game (Essay Sample)

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Developing a new Board Game
A board game refers to a game that engages counters, which are moved on pre-marked surface according to laid rules. Games may be founded on pure chance such as rolling dice, strategy, or the two. The player usually has a goal, which he or she aims to achieve. Past board games depicted a battle amid two armies whereas latest board games are based on winning position, beating resisting players, or accrual of points (Euromonitor International). The most important thing when developing a board game is identifying the age and gender targeted. For example, if designing the game for small children, it should be simple, fun, promote camaraderie and learning, and easy-to-understand. On the other hand, games for adults can be more exciting as well as competitive.
Product development involves creation of new brands, which target particular market groups. For board games, the young sports market is a chief target for this kind of marketing. Numerous views have been tabled concerning the morality of marketing brands because certain young individuals can be enticed into a cycle of yearning to be seen with the current brand name or logo (Cresswell, Attwood, Goodier, & Lambert 42). In this regard, the appropriate age for the board game is male children between eight to 13 years. Boys at this age are curious and knowledgeable, and thus the design of the board game is level two and should last 45 minutes. Boys at this age can concentrate on a board game for this time. The theme for the game is general human rights and the group size is two to six boys per board. This is to make the game interesting and ensure that the players have a mission to accomplish.
Steps of Designing the Board Game
The first step is developing a theme, which as mentioned earlier is general human right. This will be through eliminating the players in certain fashion. Second is creating the rules of the game such as no quitting before the game ends. The first design is on paper and then deciding on the number of spaces to appear according to the expected six players. The next step is making the actual board with cardboard and addition of playing pieces. The playing pieces are dices, cards, a sheet with instructions, a neutralizing rights’ list. The next step is to gather to try out the new game. An important factor is to ensure they have fun while playing.
Marketing Issues
The main problem of developing a new product is challenges in marketing. This is not exceptional for developing a board game. To begin with is the problem of buyers; there is no guarantee that the target group will buy the game. The target group is age 8 to 13, which means that the parents are those to purchase the board game. Therefore, the game should convince the parents to purchase it for the children. Notably, the board games market has a profound recurring bias toward Christmas (Mintel). This is in terms of the patterns for consumer purchasing. This is an appropriate time for marketing the children board game because many parents buy gifts for their children, and the game is one important gift. Therefore, I must plan the trade selling before the consumer selling. Cash flow planning will also be thorough before the season. Similarly, I will obtain a license and launch the board game before the season.
It is hard to quantify the market size for board games; however, in the United Kingdom, the retail price is about £50 million annually. In the United Kingdom, most board games are sold through the large retail groups such as Argos and Woolworths. Smaller firms encounter difficulty while providing the margins, range as well as product support required by the large retailers. Therefore, since my consideration is to launch my board game, I must establish the retailers to distribute the board games. Similarly, I must establish if these retailers are possibly to sell adequate volume to profit my projected enterprise.
Obviously, the player of the board game will not be the purchaser. Here, parents are the purchasers whereas children the players. Therefore, my board game must appeal to both the parents and children to be successful. The board game will be completely childproof; it will be harm free. A disclaimer box will be included and most of the pieces will be brightly coloured plastics. The nature of the board will entice the parents and avoid deterring hypothetical messages. The size of market is also important and the target initially will be one percent although it may appear too ambitious. However, with the UK market in mind, the size is achievable and can provide the postulated return.
In terms of sociological factors, more children are not playing similar games and therefore, the market is vast for the new board game. However, the issue of technology is a threat because of its fast development. The target group, which is children, is more interested in online as well as console games. However, with the health issues generated by the computer as well as TV, there is an open dimension of opportunity for board games (European Commission). These games are a catalyst and enhance interactions. Similarly, the Internet could come in handy as a reference for conducting marketing research. The Internet also can be a distributing channel for the new board game (Searchwap). Economically, money to spend on capital is scarce because of the current economic hardships. The global economic crisis has affected cash flow, and the purchasers may consider the board game a luxury that they may postpone. This is because the economic hardships have affected the prospective clients (BBC News). Politically, the United Kingdom is a favourable market for the upcoming board game because of t...