I think unfortunately what we consider "higher quality marketing" might not provide significant ROI in today's market. Especially when it comes to the cooler elements of things they did back in the day (interactive websites, etc.) If they're trying to attract more gen pop to the event, and all gen pop requires is brand awareness for select properties (IP logo, relatively generic vids and press pieces), why go through the trouble of building something cool? Especially when the cool thing is going to be more expensive, more labor intensive (effort from creative, MOps, and tech dev)? Why do all that when you can just get a quick video series spun up and ready to go? AND, if i can make a fully digital video in less time than it takes to shoot a commercial with actors and crew and etc etc etc, why go through the hassle?
I mean we know why - it rocks, and it's awesome, but if the goal is for marketing to hit KPIs or else, it unfortunately doesn't matter sometimes.
During Oddfellow's year, they had a scripted podcast for nearly every original house and some zones, I think. Last year they had maybe 2? And they were nowhere near as good (IMO). I'm guessing the numbers weren't awesome, even though the content was great. I'm curious to see what they do this year.
I mean, an unplanned announcement that wasn't super specific (FNAF "experience") and a quickie graphic probably got more traction than a number of videos and posts from the past. (I haven't looked for sure, but IIRC engagement was high).
As a product marketer who once made a custom mobile video game to collect target leads, I don't like it. I don't like the "dumbing down" of creative driven by the almighty algorithm. But I learned those lessons the hard and expensive way, and I get it. And unfortunately, especially in today's world where AI is invading social media like the plague (and hanging over advertisers heads like a sword about to drop) creative campaigns are often eschewed for whatever gets a fast and steady return.
That said, I really loved the marketing for Epic. The steady drops for each portal, the digital land flyovers & website. I thought they did a great job and were a bit hamstrung by ticket sale confusion & timing. But again, if they're not seeing the numbers they want for Epic (and IDK if they are/aren't, just as an example), marketing is always one of the first to get the "why did you do/spend this and not that?" in retrospectives.
I'm rambling, and apologies for being off topic, but clearly marketing is personal for me lol. And obviously B2C/consumer highly different than B2B or traditional product marketing, so a lot of this is my experience with absolutely 0 knowledge of HHN/Universal actual drivers and strategy.