Stranger Things & Eggo: When Cross Promotion Goes Wrong
Here’s a marketing tip: cross-promotion is your friend. In the small world of board games especially, getting into the habit of helping each other out is a great thing. But even more selfishly than that, cross promotion can give you access to people in your target demographic without paying for ads. Any time you invite another brand to be a part of your content or vice versa, that’s a cross promotion. It may be sponsored content, or two companies just rubbing each other’s backs. Even something as simple as tagging a company you do business with in a tweet is a cross-promotion. If they retweet it, you’ve gained access to their audience, and they get to legitimize themselves by showing their audience that someone is talking about them. Basically, a cross promotion is a temporary audience trade that results in a mutual benefit.
That’s what makes the Stranger Things/Eggo Waffle card game so baffling. Without even knowing anything about how good the game is, this seems like a disaster.
1) I’m Confused As To What The Actual Product Is
If you aren’t familiar with the show, Stranger Things is a nostalgia trip disguised as a riveting Netflix series in which a young magical girl named Eleven teams up with a bunch of rag-tag kids to defeat an evil monster and an evil corporation. It’s pretty good. If you aren’t familiar with Eggo Waffles I pity you, but the reason they are relevant is because Eleven eats them in the show. It’s one of those “ET & Reese’s Pieces” moments, where the character from another world is introduced to the pleasures of American processed food products and it becomes an iconic moment.
Now, a board game based on Stranger Things actually makes a lot of sense. The kids in the show regularly play D&D, and even name the Big Bad Monster after a character in the game. There’s tons of fun characters and an interesting sci-fi setting that would be perfect for an adventure game.
A box of Stranger Things limited-edition Eggo waffles ALSO makes a lot of sense. Breakfast companies have been doing cross promotion like this for decades, and you would definitely turn heads in the aisle with Demogorgon-shaped pancakes.
Here’s what they actually came up with.
The main problem here is that there is no clear indication as to what this box actually is. We’ve got 4 different trademarks (Stranger Things, Eggo, Netflix, Hasbro) competing for space on the front alone, a joke about how they are fortified with vitamins (What? Was that a line from the show?) and Eleven standing over to the side Hawkin’ waffles like Boo Berry. You could be forgiven by thinking this is a literal box of waffles. Sure it would stand out on a game shelf, but only because it looks like you left your groceries there by accident.
Now look at the top panel. What is this actually called? It clearly says “Eggo Card Game”, right? So is this a game about waffles, or a game about the show? Because an Eggo Card game with a Stranger Things theme slapped on it sounds boring as Hell. Who the crap wants to play an advergame about waffles?
2) The Cross Promotion Has No Value On Gameplay
It’s only when you read about the gameplay that you realize it’s primarily a Stranger Things GAME with an Eggo waffle theme, literally the opposite of what it looks like on the box. The cards are “waffle-shaped” but the plot of the game involves getting your characters out of the upside-down nether world where the bad guy lives. So what does this gameplay even have to do with waffles? Waffles, waffles, waffles. Damn, I even hate saying that word now
The fact that waffles are a small joke in the show is not a compelling enough reason to build the entire branding of the show’s official game around it. The original tie-in may have been an official marketing ploy, but at least it felt organic. Eleven was fed waffles by her friends, and since it was the only food she had since she escaped magic prison, she grew fond of them. Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter what that product was. The script could have said “And then Eleven eats [insert a food company that gives us money]” and you wouldn’t even know the difference. Going back to ET, this would be like shaping the DVD case like a bag of Reese’s Pieces. You’re just confusing the people who ultimately want to know what’s inside.
3) I Can’t Imagine The Audiences Overlap As Much As They Think
To be clear, the tie-in in the actual show was pretty smart on Eggo’s part. They were able to subtly insert themselves in a piece of relevant pop culture, assuming they paid for the privilege. But this is cranked up to…well, Eleven. This is them taking over the conversation. This is Eggo doubling down on a hand that they thought was stronger than it was. “Get it? Eggo Waffles!” doesn’t work any better in larger font.
I can’t believe that these three audiences overlap in any meaningful way, to the point where a fan of the show would even want this. You’d have to a) love the show enough to purchase some licensed products b) also love Eggo waffles enough to be OK with displaying what is basically an ad for a tangentially related promotional product on your game shelf and c) be a fan of Uno-style light card games. Damn, that is a LOT of potential audience mismatch. It seems more likely that a fan of Eggo waffles will appreciate a Stranger Things-themed pack of waffles, or a game collector would be interested in a more hardcore Stranger Things game, since the show is practically about Dungeons & Dragons. Eggo could have simply been a part of the process, instead of the main product (what if there was an officially licensed Eggo power card?).
Overall, (again without knowing anything about the game’s quality) this seems like a mess. I don’t understand who this is for and it looks bad. But now I really want a waffle.
