Andrewlewis multilib-phase2-report3-rbwm-2006-10-11

Multi-Lib Phase 2
Report 3:

Pilot 1
Marketing the Reading Voyage
July – August 2005:
• Using computer games to deliver cartoon trailers

• Automated capturing of user-behaviour
information using game data

Andrew Lewis
October 2006

Library and
Information Services
The Royal Borough of
Windsor and Maidenhead

Supported by a Research and Development grant
from MLA South East.

Reading Voyage July – August 2005:

Executive Summary

In this pilot a combination of animated films and interactive computer games were used
under controlled conditions to market reading to children, to demonstrate these media’s
usefulness in automated data collection of user behaviour, and to investigate the efficiency
of such methods.

The pilot was successful in achieving its objectives.

A measurable impact of getting children onto the annual Summer Reading Scheme using
these media was demonstrated. The level of impact per unit staff resources was
comparable in scale to other traditional promotional methods, and results indicate that a
proposed model of distributing content to large audiences could make these methods an
efficient marketing tool as the size of the target audience increases.

The pilot also successfully demonstrated the use of computer games to affect users
physical behaviour in a library, and their use to record data about children’s behaviour in
an automated way without using staff intervention.

The results demonstrate simple but clear practical illustrations of how game technology
multimedia can be used as a serious tool in libraries for marketing to children, as a means
of measuring user behaviour in a non-intrusive way and as an efficient method of providing
data about customers and services for planning development.

Contents

Scope ...................................................................................................................... 4
Background ............................................................................................................. 4
Objectives................................................................................................................ 4
Resources used....................................................................................................... 5
Method .................................................................................................................... 6
Method used for cartoon trailer 6
Method used for computer games passwords 9
Results .................................................................................................................. 12
Results for cartoon trailer 12
Analysis of results for cartoon trailer 14
Results for computer games passwords 19
Analysis of results for computer game passwords 20
Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 21
Success against objectives 21
Overall conclusions 21
Appendix A – Reading Voyage Vocal recording scripts for voiceovers ................. 23
References ............................................................................................................ 24

Library and Information Services The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
MultiLib Phase 2. Report number 3 Pilot 1: Marketing reading using computer games

Page 3

Scope
The report is not presented as a detailed case study, but as practitioner research is offered
to the professional library community for use when considering the use of multimedia
within libraries.

Background
The use of cartoon-type advertisements had previously been used during the 2004
summer reading scheme (Reading Rollercoaster) to promote reading, and to test the use
of multimedia as a means to record user activity in an automated way.

This pilot builds upon the limitations of these earlier investigations by adding a more
focussed level of data recorded, and comparing impact for use of resources with other
staff work on the scheme.

This work is described in more detail in works detailed under references.

Objectives
Animated films and interactive computer games were used under controlled conditions
with the intention of:

• Marketing the summer Reading Voyage scheme to children across Borough libraries

• Demonstrating the use of automatically collected data as an indication of predescribed
user behaviour in this marketing campaign

• Comparing the level of resources required by this method with other marketing
methods used in this campaign.


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Resources used
The pilot was delivered using the library’s popular children’s computer games service,
which are provided to develop children’s ICT basic skills and confidence. These games
are available on all library public computers.

The games, aimed at a target audience of 5-11, are very popular, and average about 5000
downloads each month. Because of this existing popularity, they offered an ideal vehicle
for attracting children in the target group for the Summer Reading Challenge.

The main resources produced were an animated trailer that played before the games were
loaded, and a new game provided specifically for the pilot, and only available during the
Reading Challenge, which required special codes to unlock extra content. Supporting
printed marketing material was produced with special codes on, that were needed to
access the content.

The standard reading scheme registration cards provided by the Reading Agency were
adjusted to allow children to more specifically indicate where they found out about the
promotion.

In addition, a diary was kept throughout the pilot, of the time spent for creating the media
and for making it available as required. For comparison, the time librarians spent
physically promoting the service by traditional means was obtained from their separate
documentation.


Page 5

Method
The pilot lasted for two calendar months, from 1st July 2005, about 2 weeks before the
Challenge started, until 31st August 2006, about a week before the Challenge ended, and
consisted of two main methods, one using cartoon trailers the other using games
passwords.

Method used for cartoon trailer
The first part of this pilot exposed children to an advertisement trailer to raise awareness
of the Reading Challenge. The success of this
was measured by the number of people who
indicated that they had found out about the
scheme from a library computer. This was
measured by adjusting the standard Reading
Challenge registration card. In Fig. 1, the area in
the box was added.

Figure 1 Adjusted feedback section on TRA Reading Challenge registration card

When they launched the games children normally saw the standard interface listing what
games are available.

Figure 2 The standard games interface on public computers in 2005


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For the duration of the pilot, an animated promotional cartoon trailer, lasting about 30
seconds was displayed every time a child accessed the games.

Key to the pilot was the fact that every child accessing the games was exposed to this
trailer before they could see the interface.

The trailer animated marketing combined images from the Reading challenge, with
additional specially created material and vocal recordings. The design was full screen
colour with bold graphics, stark headline facts and key messages delivered in a comic and
striking way. The storyboard is below.

For a full transcritption of this trailer see Appendix A.


Page 7

Do you find the summer holidays.. BOR – ING!! Do you need some… ADVENTURE!

BOOOM!.. Or maybe… you’re in the mood for… luuurrve Then you need the Reading Voyage Escape with a book to…

romance… adventure… not only that, but prizes too… The Reading Voyage, starts, etc

Figure 3 Outline storyboard for the Reading Voyage

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Method used for computer games passwords
After the trailer had played, an amended version of the games interface was visible with an
optional extra game, available only for the duration of the pilot

Figure 4 Games Interface in 2005 with new game option displayed

The number of accesses of the main interface was recorded which gave the total number
of time the trailer was seen in the pilot.

The game itself was a simple music making game, which allowed the player to turn on
sound effects by pressing keys on the keyboard. Each letter key when pressed would
start a repeating sound effect. By pressing different combinations, the user could make
their own music play using the sequenced effects.

Figure 5 Music game with restricted content showing how to get the extra content

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Although the game was playable with the top row of letter keys (Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P) the
other sound effects controlled by other keys were only accessible by entering a special
code.

The game told children to ask staff in their library for a password if they wished to access
the extra content. (see fig. 5)

Each library was issued a set of tickets to give out to any child who reacted to this
incentive. A fixed number of tickets were issued at each different library, and these tickets
had a unique code identifying that library. (see fig 6.)

Figure 5 Marketing leaflet (front and back views) showing marketing messages and password

Staff were issued with instructions about how to issue the tickets. These told them to
issue a separate ticket for every child who asked, and to count the total number they gave
over the period of the whole pilot.

A separate ticket was issued every time. This was strictly enforced to measure exactly
how many times the incentive caused a child to react, and ask for marketing material.

Once a child had entered the code from the ticket into the game, they were able to play
the full game. This made available sound effects for all keys, and also displayed stick
figures that danced in time with the music, the children created. Different steps were
linked to different sound effects.

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Figure 6 Music game shoing full version unlocked by passwords

Although the extra content made available looked the same in each library, a separate file
was downloaded for each separate library, corresponding to the code for that library. The
number of downloads for each file was recorded. This indicated how many times the
distinct codes had been entered corresponding to that library, and this was compared to
the number of tickets given out.

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Results
Results for cartoon trailer

Timings

Event Date

Date media went live: 1st July 2006

Date media was removed: 31st August 2006

Reading Challenge started: 16th July 2006

Reading Challenge ended 5th September 2005

Resource inputs recorded to promote the Reading Voyage

Task Input

Time spent designing and creating the promotional trailer: 17 hours

Time spent by librarians promoting Reading Challenge in traditional activities: 254 hours

Time spent by volunteers promoting Reading Challenge in traditional activities: 104 hours

Total spent promoting Reading Challenge in traditional activities: 358 hours

Time spent on Reading Voyage that is independent of scale of operation (admin, etc) 232 hours

MultiLib Phase 2. Report number 3 Pilot 1: Pilot 1: Marketing reading using computer games
Page 12

Time spent on Reading Voyage that is dependent of scale of operation (events etc.) 126 hours
Reading Voyage Material Resources spent £1,176

Equivalent hourly rate used to compare material costs with staff time costs (RBWM 2005 scale 6): £11.31

Equivalent staff resource used based upon materials spent (£1176/£11.31) 104

Number of schools visited: 8

Impact of promotions as indicated by children on Reading Voyage registration cards

Means of promotion: Numbers joining

School: 352

Library: 72

Library (staff): 310

Library (computer): 6

Cartoon trailer file downloads (how many times the trailer was viewed)

month number

Jul-05 1259

Aug-05 1536

Total 2795

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Analysis of results for cartoon trailer
The amount of staff time it took to create the cartoon trailer promotion was 17 hours, which
was designing, recording and delivering the media content. The results show that the trailer
did have a measurable impact on uptake of the reading scheme with 6 children who
undertook the scheme directly attributing this to finding out about it from the computers on
their registration cards. However given that the overall uptake was 1047, this represents just
0.6% of people who took part did so because of this method of promoting it.

Traditional methods of promotion included administering the scheme, managing school
visits to 8 schools, organising 35 events in libraries, and distributing posters and materials to
libraries. It is however difficult to be sure about how far these methods can be exactly
attributed to the feedback options available to children on their registration cards. There is
no way of telling exactly whether a child who indicated they found out from “staff “ meant
extra promotional staffing or operational staffing (not counted). In addition the cost of
materials is an extra resource on top of the staff costs.

To compare return on investment between the two methods, some adjustments were made
to the raw data for traditional methods. Firstly the cost of traditional promotional materials
was converted to an equivalent cost in staff terms. Then three separate figures were
created as benchmarks: unweighted impact, weighted impact upper limit, and weighted
impact lower limit

Unweighted impact assumed that all impact except the option “computer” was attributed
purely from the traditional promotional staffing input (non-operational) involved. The
limitation on this was that potentially significant factors such as word of mouth, having done
it last year, and operational staff alerting children are discounted. No allowance for cost of
materials was included.

Weighted impact lower limit assumed that all impact was attributed to traditional activity
except that from the options “computer”, “staff” and “posters”. This was on the assumption
that “staff” meant operational staff. “library” was included as being for promotions in the

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library. Posters were put up by operational staff. In addition an equivalent staff resource
weighting was added for the cost of materials.

Weighted impact upper limit made the same assumptions as weighted impact lower limit but
it was also assumed “from staff” meant promotional staff rather than operational staff.

As well as creating three possible figures for comparison, a separate factor to be compared
was the extent of which the input resource was dependent upon the scale of operation. For
the cartoons the work to create and distribute the content was a single task that was the
same no matter how many times the resource was used. For traditional methods, this was
true for administration, but for running events, and providing materials, the resource input
increases as the size of promotion increases

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The following table is a comparison of the cartoon promotion against the traditional methods based upon the overall findings in this study with
a scaling factor to indicate the effect of scale of promotion on return on investment

impact return independent dependent total
method % independent
on investment input input input

games 0.35 17 0 17 100.00%

traditional
2.91 232 126 358 64.80%
unweighted impact
traditional
1.8 232 230 462 50.22%
weighted impact upper limit
traditional
1.13 232 230 462 50.22%
weighted impact lower limit
This table shows the effect of economy of scale as the scale of promotion increases
promotion size
(multiples of sample) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

games 0.35 0.71 1.06 1.41 1.76 2.12 2.47 2.82 3.18 3.53 3.88 4.24 4.59 4.94 5.29 5.65 6.00 6.35 6.71 7.06 7.41 7.76 8.12 8.47 8.82

traditional (unadjusted) 2.91 4.30 5.12 5.66 6.04 6.32 6.54 6.72 6.86 6.98 7.08 7.16 7.24 7.30 7.36 7.41 7.45 7.50 7.53 7.57 7.60 7.62 7.65 7.67 7.70

traditional (adjusted
1.80 2.41 2.71 2.89 3.01 3.10 3.17 3.22 3.26 3.29 3.32 3.34 3.36 3.38 3.39 3.41 3.42 3.43 3.44 3.45 3.46 3.46 3.47 3.48 3.48
higher)

traditional (adjusted
1.13 1.51 1.70 1.82 1.89 1.95 1.99 2.02 2.04 2.07 2.08 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.15 2.16 2.16 2.17 2.17 2.18 2.18 2.19
lower)

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Impact return on investment relation to audience size

10.00

9.00

8.00
Return on investment (impact per unit input)

7.00

6.00
games
traditional (unadjusted)
5.00
traditional (adjusted higher)
traditional (adjusted low er)
4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
audience sam ple scaling factor

This analysis shows that for the scale independent model of a single piece of work distributed to as wide an audience as possible the return
on investment (cartoon method) overtakes that of models where input is dependent on extra work (traditional methods).

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Using figures in this in this study increasing the promotion size by between 5 and 9 times would indicate that the cartoon method would be as
efficient as traditional methods. Even with no weighting the efficiency will still be overtaken at a scaling of around 22.

Assumptions made about attribution of impact of promotional methods to input

Method indicated Assumption
School A proportion of staff time could be directly attributable to staff time indicated as 8 school visits were
conducted – could range from 0 to 352.
Library (not attributed) Not attributed as most likely to be operational staff or posters put up by them.

Library (staff) Not attributed to project staff time as this likely to mean told by operational staff

Library (computer) Directly attributed to cartoon trailer production input, as no other promotion of the scheme appeared on the
computers
Library (poster) Not attributed to project staff input as provided by separate operational staffing

Assumptions made about relation of input to scale of audience
Method indicated Assumption
Administration, co-ordinating ordering of packs, receipting are assumed to be independent of scale of
Reading Voyage operation.
traditional staff resource Materials, and staff resources needed for running events are assumed to be dependent of scale of operation
In this analysis, promotional activity subsumed within general operational staff time is not included.

Cartoon trailer resource Creation of media content is a one off piece of work and independent of scale of operation

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Results for computer games passwords

total total % who
accesses accesses accessed old
ascot cookham container datchet dedworth eton etonwick maidenhead sunninghill windsor
of music extra extra windsor
game content content
Jul-05 289 45 15.6 10 2 1 9 1 1 1 7 1 2 10
Aug-05 281 46 16.4 0 9 1 11 2 0 12 6 0 2 3
Total 570 91 16.0 10 11 2 20 3 1 13 13 1 4 13
tickets handed out 3 7 0 3 1 0 9 11 1 4 0

Indicated joined scheme 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0

The total number of tickets handed out over the 2-month pilot was 39.

Assumptions about methods used in computer password pilot

Method Assumption/limitation

Handing out tickets That each ticket was issued to a separate child (this cannot be guaranteed, as staff work shifts, but where
known staff indicated this was the case)

games downloads That the number of downloads is not necessarily the same as the number of users (this cannot be known)

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Analysis of results for computer game passwords
It was clear that the incentive of obtaining extra content did measurably cause children in
libraries to act in the predicted way, by asking for the marketing material that was created
for the promotion. Over the 2-month period, the game was accessed 570 times in total,
and in 16% of these accesses, the player also accessed the extra content, which required
the password from the marketing ticket.

The actual number of children who asked for the tickets was 39, and they accessed the
content 91 times in total, and average of 2.33 times per child. Because as far as was
reported by staff, each ticket was issued to an individual child, this meant that the child
was keeping hold of the ticket between accesses.

It is not possible to say if this meant that they took the ticket away with them, as they may
just have played twice on the same visit, but it was possible that they took the ticket home
and brought it back in next time. This raises the intriguing possibility that the incentive
could be used to cause children to distribute the marketing material outside of the library,
for example by passing onto their friends or a family member

There were some anomalies in the results in that some libraries reported that no tickets
were handed out, yet the game download data showed that the passwords had been
used. This was never explained, although it was possible that staff had given out the
passwords without handing out the tickets.

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Conclusions
Success against objectives

Marketing the summer Reading Voyage scheme to children

The cross-promotion of the reading scheme using cartoon trailers was successful in
demonstrating a measurable impact upon uptake of the scheme. Although the modest,
there was conclusive evidence from children’s direct feedback on their registration cards
that this was how they found out about the Reading Voyage.

Comparison of resources involved in marketing methods

Although the impact in absolute numbers appears very small relative to the traditional
event based marketing methods used, by comparing impact per unit of staff input the
difference was much less, at about a quarter as effective as the event based promotions.

In addition the data collected indicated that by scaling up the audience size of the
promotion by a factor of between 5 and 8, the efficiency of this method could be predicted
to match that of traditional methods.

This is a positive concept requiring further investigation, but some caution may be
advisable in these results, as the effectiveness of this scheme relied on a pre-existing
computer game service already well used on library computers by children customers of
the library. They were easy to identify and target, and this is likely to have been a factor in
the success of this pilot.

Automatic data as an indication of predrescribed user behaviour

The data derived from the password-controlled game showed that customer behaviour
that had been predicted in advance had successfully been demonstrated to have
occurred, and in a significant number of children.

The incentives to gain extra content in the promotional game had caused approximately
16% of all children who played the game to approach staff and ask for marketing material.
In addition the data indicated that there was repeat use, and that this may have meant that
the marketing material had been further distributed outside the libraries.

Overall conclusions
Computer games are a complex and powerful medium. Although the scale and scope of
this pilot is modest, various aspects of the medium’s significant potential have been

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demonstrated. These include their ability to deliver movie-like content, the use of game
incentives to influence behaviour, and the use of game data to record activity in unobtrusive
ways.

The creation of multimedia content can be labour intensive, but once produced the content
can be most effectively used by distributing to as many customers as possible. This model
offers a scalable efficient vehicle for promotion.

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Appendix A – Reading Voyage Vocal recording scripts for voiceovers

Character Script Vocal notes on screen imagery

Narrator Do you find the Summer Holidays… Prim, and formal text

Child BORE-RING! Loud obnoxious text

Narrator Do you need some… Prim, and formal text

Voiceover ADVENTURE! IMPACT, Hollywood style text

Narrator Or perhaps some.. Prim, and formal text

Voiceover DANGER! IMPACT, Hollywood style bomb

SFX Loud explosion noise Immediately after previous explosion flash

Narrator Or maybe you are in the mood for.. Prim, and formal text

Voiceover LUUURVE! IMPACT, Hollywood style Heart + text

Narrator Then you need some… Formal blank

Voiceover Books! IMPACT, Hollywood style books

Narrator Go on a Voyage this summer and leave boredom behind Purring, smoooooth Boat sails through
with… fading bookpile

Voiceover The Reading Voyage Hollywood style - warm logo

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Narrator The Reading Voyage. Efficient, Official, Fade to image of boat
professional with waving flag
Escape with a book to adventure fun, or wherever you like
to go.

Not only do we have thousands of great reads, we’ll give
you prizes too including, including fridge magnets, stickers
and more.

Starts July 16th at your local library…ask staff for details

References
LEWIS, ANDREW. Review of Multi-Lib Phase One. Maidenhead: Library and Information
Services, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, 2005.

LEWIS, ANDREW. Marketing Library Computers To Young Children Using Multimedia. In:
New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship. vol 11(1) Routledge, April 2005.

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