Dead Space Market Research

In class today we went over the concept of market research and simulated and example of it using cookies and flat coke. The exercise brought up issues that one would encounter if they were to do market research, however the idea of using market research as a form of marketing itself was never brought up. This idea of using market research as a form of marketing, was demonstrated to me through an ad for a video game that I have been interested in called Dead Space 2. The ad used market research as a facade to gain the opinions of mothers on the particular video game, embracing the idea that if a mother disapproves of something, it is “cool”. The video shows their reactions after viewing clips of the video game:

After viewing the ad and watching the reactions of the mothers, I saw that the ad took a step in a very interesting direction in using market research as a form of marketing itself and the use of others dislike of the product to market it. You may think that I’m sadistic but, I found it quite humorous to watch the reactions of the mothers even when some looked like they were on the verge of crying. While I don’t agree that the disapproval of a mother determines how “cool” something is, I think that the ad provides an interesting and daring perspective of marketing an already successful product. This ad is one of many for the product which is being heavily marketed even after the release of the game using viral videos and more traditional ads such as this one.

Because of its marketing, the game has become fairly well known and is one of the most successful horror video games to date.