On August 7, 1919, Broadway stage actors went on strike. A rising entertainment medium, the motion picture, got the undivided attention of the country for the first time. The rest is history – and when was the last time you saw a play?
With all the recent hand-wringing over the current Writers Guild of America labor strike, I can’t help but ask, “what are videogame companies doing to capitalize on it?” The timing of this strike couldn’t be better for the industry. AAA titles have just shipped for all 3 home consoles, the PSP and DS both got sexy hardware refreshes in the last year, and the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 both saw a much needed price adjustment and new SKUs aimed at more casual gamers.
The problem is, all these developments are still below the radar for most non-gamers left in an entertainment desert once their shows run out of taped episodes. Chances are, there are a ton of “24″ fans that used to play quite a bit of NES back in their college days. Now that the strike has Jack Bauer MIA, can’t we convert them into Mass Effect fans? And anyone that follows “CSI” will have at least a passing interest in Assasins’ Creed.
I think it’s going to take a lot more than placing the same basic TV spots into these shows’ rerun blocks. 
A blitz campaign aimed squarely at the snubbed TV audience should’ve been in place yesterday. Nintendo’s obviously got the most drawing power for the uninitiated, so why not bundle Brain Training: Wii Degre AND Wii Sports with the hardware this season? Or throw a “buy Super Mario Galaxy, get 2000 Wii Points” coupon into TV Guide? For God’s sake, it can’t be that hard to get a an ad for Rock Band onto the “American Idol” fan sites.
Television, the industry’s biggest rival for entertainment mindshare, is down for the count. A smart campaign taking advantage of that fact could bring in audience (and revenue) that we weren’t counting on this holiday season. And quite possibly a big win for anyone smart enough to call out to them.
