Market Research Insight

Discover some of the market research that our Marketing Directors have conducted.

Market Research for our first product - Evol

Competitors (Product):

Many of the most popular children’s card games do not explicitly teach a specific subject or topic - they teach basic skills such as strategy/memory etc, and so are not marketed based on their educational properties. There are other, more educationally orientated, card games or family games which we are more directly in competition with. Our game has the features which make a bestselling fun card game educational but also specific, relevant knowledge of the world and other geographical information. In addition to this the game can be played by those who have limited English and so can be used as a tool for practicing the language. It is aimed at 7+ with all games being short enough in length that their relatively short attention span* is a limiting factor on their enjoyment of the game.

*14-35 minutes according to redcrayonimagination.com

Popular Children’s Card games

• Uno - Memory, Strategy, Arithmetics - 8+ - varying length but usually 5-25 mins ‘shedding type’

• Sushi Go - Strategy, Probability, Recognition. - chose best sushi combinations - 8+ - Fast paced (title and pick and pass game)

• Zeus on the Loose - Strategy, Addition, Subtraction - Greek mythology gods and numbers to climb Mount Olympus. - 8+

• Too many Monkeys - Strategy, Counting - Flip and swap cards in numerical order to get monkey back into bed - 6+

Closer to Globe Decks

• Brain busters - 10 packs of varying topics (e.g geography, pets, sports, dinosaurs) each with 150 trivia questions. Answer question keep card, winner is one with most cards. - 6+.

- Have to buy collection of 10 packs for £12.99 minimum - may not want other 9 packs. Cannot buy from trusted sellers such as supermarkets or amazon. Random websites.

- Trivia questions are not interactive because you do not ‘play’ cards and are therefore not as engaging as something like Globe Decks - children get bored.

- Can only play a certain number of times (maybe only two or three times) because you remember the answer to the questions.

• BrainBox - The World, Cities of the World, Around the UK, US states. - Similar to brain busters, study card for a few seconds (sand timer) then roll dice and ask questions. If correct then keep card. - 8+ - £11.99 their price. Sold by others for £8.75 lowest.

- Not as interactive as ours - purely questions.

- Run out of questions.

• BrainBox - around the world snap - Cards with details of countries on different cards (map, name and flag on different cards) have to match them. - £4.99 on amazon - 7+

- Slightly younger age range - very basic - no facts or monuments, earthquakes, green power plants etc. Less information.

• Who Knows Where? - Board game with questions on cards asking where certain things are e.g Capitals, Andy Murray first major, famous monuments, pictures. - 2 to 4 players, 12+. - Amazon sell for £29.00

- Limited number of players.

- Again limited number of times you can play.

- Expensive

- Not as accessible or portable as cards.

We concluded that trivia type games have a finite number of times one can play them because the game play is based on ones knowledge of the card facts, and so if two players both know all the facts nobody can win. Our second observation was that games requiring one two memorise facts in order to win are nothing but dressed up flashcards and this means that they are less fun to play. Our game (using standard rules) can be played ignoring the facts. This means that the players can read them while waiting for their turn but that the gameplay remains exciting and just as good no matter how many times you play it.

Market Struggles

Usually educational games are not bought by those who want to learn but for those who want someone else to learn something. Is a ‘game’ that is forced on you really a ‘game?’

A game that looks good to parents and teachers but not to children has become known as edu-tainment. Mizuko Ito (expert in Anthropology) wrote that edu-tainment was caused by parents’ anxieties about their performance in a competitive world. To meet these needs, firms create and sell uninspiring products which end up fading away because of the lack of interest from the children. According to survey, by Field Agent, of 523 parents of 5 -12 year olds, 85% said they buy games/toys for their children because of the child’s wishes.

Our product has a genuinely interesting, fun aspect to it, as proven by the popularity of other shedding-type card games e.g. UNO or Mille Bornes (we need primary research still - children to play our game to back this up - primary schools/ prep schools) therefore we will avoid this overarching problem.

The other end of the spectrum is the other way around when the game appeals to children but the parents cannot see the usefulness for it. This is a stumbling block for games which are about subjects not taught in schools such as ‘21st century skills’ or ‘lateral thinking.’ (This may be relevant to the remaining 15% in the previous statistic). Card games that are not explicitly educational, such as ones that help with memory, are also not bought by parents or school as educational tools because they do not have visible educational aspects.

Our game will avoid this issue because the topic is relevant and taught in schools and so parents/teachers will see what we are teaching as a real subject, while our game remains unstuck to a curriculum so that we can give a more wholistic and general education. (The goal is to spark the children’s interests as well as give them a broader general knowledge base that can help with school.)

Pricing:

1. Competitors - Compared to BrainBox snap and around the world cards, our product has more educational features* and offers longer lasting enjoyment. *Not necessarily more educational - difficult to measure. BrainBox around the world cards are priced at £11.99. UNO on amazon for £5.30. Mille Bornes is hard to find online roughly 20 from 3rd party sellers.

2. Cost - our price per unit is £5.60

3. Demographic budget - parents and schools have large budget

4. Test out different prices to find correct price - crazyegg; optimizely; Visual Website Optimiser

We are a startup so low prices may be required to gain first clients and build some reputation/ customer list. Parents seem to spend more on their children – especially if it will help their education.

Buyer Demographics (Place):

Educational games are generally not bought by those who want to learn but by those who want someone else to learn something.

• Local prep schools - Pilgrims waiting to test them.

• Local primary schools

• Probably not children because educational games are generally not bought by those who want to learn but by those who want someone else to learn something? Could we ask someone doing primary school CS to take in the prototype and ask the children if they would genuinely like to play with it/ want their parents to buy it?

• Parents of young children - likely to find out about it through their children playing it at school, or potentially through advertisement (Business cards handed out on the street) - Would the primary school children tell their parents about the game?

- Mothers - 58% of mothers (with children aged 6-17) work full time. 16% part time.

- 230,000 stay-at home fathers compared to 1.8 million mothers.

• Older siblings

- Those staying at home may be harder to target with marketing face to face so online advertising may be the best approach.

Reasons for parents to buy

• According to survey by Field Agent of 523 parents of 5 -12 year olds,

- 85% said they buy games/toys for their children because of the child’s wishes.

- 72% Price promotion/sale

- 48% Online ratings/ reviews.

- 41% Friends’/family members’ experience or advice

- 29% Ads or commercials.

- 17% Teachers’ advice

- 15% Social Media

Motivations for various demographics:

27 total answers from people in Winchester and Eastleigh. Including siblings, single children, parents, grandparents and a teacher.

To help someone else learn: 1 teacher, 7 parents, 2 grandparents

Wouldn’t buy it: 1 single child, 5 parents

Fun game: 3 parents, 3 siblings

As a present: 2 siblings; 1 grandparent

Enjoy geography: 2 young children (around 7 or 8)

Responses from those who were asked ‘Why Buy Globe Decks’ (see graph above) excluding those who answered ‘Wouldn’t buy it.’

Christmas: 4 siblings, 2 grandparents, 3 parents

No Particular Time: 1 teacher, 2 young children, 5 parents

For a birthday: 1 sibling, 1 parents, 1 grandparent

To help revise for tests/exams: 1 parent

How to Target the Various Demographics (Promotion):

Plan to take this research forward to improve our promotional tactics:

So far we have produced a series of posters and promotional photos, we have opted for a mix of the educational and the enjoyable aspects of our game to be showcased on these promotions because we feel this is our unique selling point – as discussed before too educational is boring and only saying how fun it is does not sell.

We aim to continue these poster / Instagram post style ads but use families and schools playing the game to better target those groups respectively. We feel that seeing people playing will help build trust of our new product.

We will primarily target the ‘older sibling’ 13-17 age bracket through Facebook and Instagram. This is where we will be able to engage with them most effectively. We will change the promotional posts based on the feedback and interaction we get with them.

The age category below 13 are legally not supposed to be on Instagram. We have deduced that this age category is unlikely to buy our product (despite them being the main users). We will still target them through face to face interactions with local schools and through teachers. The side effects of this marketing will be that we gain valuable market research at the same time as well as making our product known to parents and schools.

Facebook, and to a certain extent Instagram, will be important for reaching parents, the educational side of the game may be pushed a bit more in relation to them as we want to instill confidence, that our product is not a gimmick, in the buyer. We will use testimonials from customers – parents and schools – to achieve this effect. Parents may also hear about our product from their children. Causing as little or no harm to the environment we will put advertisements in shops and other places that may display a poster of ours (we will use our school’s logo on these when displayed within Winchester to further the consumer trust in our product).

Grandparents and more senior relatives are harder to reach. Ideally we would run radio or printed adverts, but they cost too much. We will be limited to advertising in shops that we have access to, such as PG Wells (bookstore) and to interacting with them in the local Winchester area.

Friends, family and school parents. To help us get off the ground we will be selling at school events. The parents and family attending will not only be our prime target market but also empathetic to our start up and willing to support us (even if their child does not want to play the card game – feels too old- then the game makes a great gift).