I just finished talking to Karena Karas – she was asleep earlier, not ignoring me – about the sponsorship for the Karas Cove : Survive game. She claims that the players backed out as their partners were eliminated from the game, basically leaving no one and thus having to shut the game down early. The prize money of L$ 20,000 was distributed to the few players that were left. When it comes to the sponsorship deal, she says : “No players = no traffic”.
While that is a fair assumption to make, here is mine : “if I sponsor a game expecting (and being promised) a ton of traffic during the month of April, and I get some extra traffic for a day or two, I feel very tricked”. Also a very fair assumption to make.
Anyway, Karena blames Kiana for racking up extra sponsors while the grand prize was covered for, while Kiana blames Karensa for shutting down the game early. I don’t want to know who’s right and who’s wrong. The truth – probably – lays somewhere in the middle.
The cost to learn that some things just don’t work out, that partnerships are easily broken, that communication is essential and not everyone is as professional as they claim to be is L$5,000. At least for me. Several other sponsors were involved and while I was able to track some down, I doubt all of them already know what’s gone wrong. I’ve contacted the original author of the article on SLNN as well, giving her an update. She may be following up on it, depending on what their editor says.
The press that Karensa Karas and Kiana Writer are getting now may not be the kind they were hoping for, and while I understand that not everything can be controlled, I think that pointing out flaws and unfulfilled expectations is equally important. That way others don’t have to learn the same lesson I just got, nor do they have to pay in cash for it.
Note : Let it be clear that I’m not able nor willing to point the finger at one person in particular. I signed up for the sponsorship deal with Kiana Writer, and Karensa Karas was running the game. I had talked to them both (briefly) before the game started. I also talked to both after the whole game was ended early and I found out about their part of the deal not being honored. I’ll be steering clear of the both of them, that’s for sure.
Tags: advertising, disaster, expectation, failure, promotion
