Task Force Hail Mary

Speaking of Plan Z for City of Heroes, Mercedes Lackey and a bunch of other people have put together a 31-page proposal for Disney Interactive to acquire the license for City of Heroes.

I'm going to cut and paste this, because 1) folks might not follow that link, and 2) word of mouth is important so I know she won't mind.

Today a 31 page pitch package aimed at persuading Disney Interactive to acquire City of Heroes arrived for both the CEO of Disney Productions and the CEO of Disney Interactive via Express Mail.

Ammon, Rae, Quinch and I--Internet Marketing Specialist, UK Journalist, Senior IT Tech and writer, Mercedes Lackey--put together a 31 page pitch package aimed specifically at Disney, to attempt to persuade the Mouse that picking up City of Heroes is in their best interest as well as ours. We had the advice and oversight of two senior members of the former Paragon Studios team--mostly to tell us what we could and could not say. Should there be an answer, it should be directed to Brian Clayton, the Paragon Studios manager, since we specified that we four had no power to do anything, and he is the man with all the answers.

Now it's your turn.

We have to impress the 900 lb gorilla--The Mouse himself--that buying the City is going to be good for them. We have to show them that we are loyal, passionate, dedicated, and mature. And we have money to spend. Remember, these are executives who are not impressed if genuine movie stars approach them with a pitch for something less than amazing.

We have to show the Mouse that in the right hands, City of Heroes can become the crown jewel among their electronic games.

We need you to write, avalanche with cards, letters, screenshots. We need a letter writing campaign that is ten, twenty, a hundred times bigger than the one we fired at NCSoft.

Go big, or go home, right? We have to go big.

Senior VP, Global Production, Disney Interactive Media Group
Jean-Marcel Nicolai
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

Chairman of the Board of Directors
John Pepper Jr.
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521

CEO Walt Disney Company
Robert A. Iger,
SaveCoH
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

CEO Disney Interactive
John Pleasants
SaveCoH
500 South Buena Vista Street,
Burbank, CA 91521-8139

We are asking you to put "SaveCoH" in the address, because we want the mail clerks to be able to sort out our letters quickly. We want them to see the ever-increasing pile, but in a way that helps the clerks do their jobs too.

Remember, these are people that get thousands of emails and letters. We have to impress them. We have to show them the City is something special. Write letters, recruit your friends, your relatives, anyone who might be sympathetic. Write as if this is our only chance. And good luck to all of us.

But don't think that we're done if nothing happens. Should we not hit the mark here, we've only started, and we have a second target in our sights.

Original post at the Titan Network Forums.

This part is also important:

Above all avoid ANYTHING that looks like a form letter. Each of these men has a specific role in the company. Tailor your letters to that role.

Iger is the head of the company. What does HE want? Possibly he wants to drive adults (who hold the wallets) to the Disney site?

Pepper and Pleasants are Disney Interactive. What do THEY want? Disney has no game to fill the teen-to-adult demographic. Disney has no game the whole family can play. Emphasize our community. Relate it all to you, and how you are then likely to spend money at the Mouse Lair.

The Chairman of the Board wants to hear how this will affect the stock price. Point out the positive buzz this would generate, and that taking on something relatively small after the Lucas purchase shows Disney is still attending to the details.

"Gee I'd love to see some Portal Mishes with Kingdom Hearts characters!"

"It would be great to have alternate universe mishes with Spiderman, or with the Jedi!"

"I'd love to see some kid-specific content I could play with my 5 year old on my lap!"

Be creative, and above all, always relate it back to yourself and your story. Disney markets itself to family. We need to bring them the whole family.

We are heroes. This is why we fight. This is what we do.