ZNGA: SHAKES UP ITS MARKETING, WILLING TO MAKE,TOUGH,CALLS,A,BIG,NAME,IN,GAMING,AGAIN
• DOUG SCOTT, NEW HIRE FOR CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER (CMO)
• AN ADVISOR WITH YOUTUBE MUSIC
• THE CMO FOR BANDPAGE
THAT COMPANY GOT ACQUIRED BY GOOGLE
• PROVES IT WAS MARKETED SUFFICIENTLY WELL, GOOGLE'S HEARD OF IT
• spent ALMOST SIX YEARS WITH ELECTRONIC ARTS.
ZYNGA SHAKES UP ITS MARKETING WITH A SEASONED NEW HIRE
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
BY STEVE ANDERSON
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Zynga hasn't exactly had the greatest run as a game maker, with frequent accusations of plagiarism and general chicanery tossed in its direction. When “Penny Arcade” portrays you as an angry dog named “Lord Zyngis,” it's seldom good, like having your company name stamped on the slug in a political cartoon. ZYNGA ISN'T TAKING THIS SORT OF THING LYING DOWN, though, and has RECENTLY BROUGHT SOME NEW—BUT RATHER SEASONED—BLOOD IN TO TAKE THE REINS AT MARKETING with a NEW HIRE FOR CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER (CMO), DOUG SCOTT.
SCOTT HAS OVER 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN MARKETING as far as VIDEO GAMES AND INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT go, having BUILT MARKETING STRATEGIES AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS.
He's also had a hand in the development side of things as well, including product design. Scott also spent time as AN ADVISOR WITH YOUTUBE MUSIC, which offered some marketing help toward musicians looking to make revenue with YouTube. Plus, he was THE CMO FOR BANDPAGE, and since THAT COMPANY GOT ACQUIRED BY GOOGLE, it PROVES IT WAS MARKETED SUFFICIENTLY WELL THAT GOOGLE'S HEARD OF IT. He even SPENT TIME AS VICE PRESIDENT FOR MARKETING AND REVENUE WITH JAPANESE MOBILE GAMING COMPANY DeNA, and even, ironically, spent ALMOST SIX YEARS WITH ELECTRONIC ARTS.
Scott steps into A POSITION THAT'S BEEN HOTLY CONTESTED OVER THE YEARS; he's replacing Jennifer Nuckles, who left Zynga for Doctor on Demand recently after serving as Zynga's CMO for a little over two years. Nuckles was part of a hiring spree staged by former CEO Don Mattrick, who hired Nuckles and several others to replace several hires made by other former CEO Mark Pincus, who came back after Mattrick left in 2015 before Pincus in turn hired another former EA executive in Frank Gibeau.
That's A LOT OF BOUNCING AROUND AT THE TOP, WHICH THANKFULLY HASN'T HAD A LOT OF IMPACT ON THE STOCK PRICE. The per-share value has been HOVERING AROUND THE $3 RANGE FOR MOST OF THE LAST THREE YEARS WITH ONLY MINOR FLUCTUATIONS, down from it’s long-ago HEIGHTS OF APPROACHING $15 A SHARE BACK IN 2012. On the one hand, it suggests that the company is frantically trying to find an executive mix that will actually do it some good and scrape its stock price off the floor, and it honestly has no idea who these people are so it's just trying things at random now. On the other hand, it suggests A COMPANY WILLING TO MAKE TOUGH CALLS THROUGHOUT THE BUSINESS and REPLACE THOSE WHO AREN'T WORKING.
The final outcome of Zynga's personnel moves won't be clear for some time, but IF IT'S FINALLY FOUND THE RIGHT MIX of people, it may well BE ABLE TO PUSH FOR SOME BIG NEW CHANGES to let it make a push toward BEING A BIG NAME IN GAMING AGAIN, and FOR THE RIGHT REASONS.
Source:
www.madmarketer.com/topics/news/articles/425529-zynga-shakes-up-its-marketing-with-seasoned-new.htm
