Growing an Internet Cult: 'Cult of the Lamb's' Social Strategy

In this GDC 2023 talk, Jared J. Tan, Devolver Digital's Community Strategist, discusses how the development team created meme-able moments and an iconic art-style by thinking about marketing from the start. He details how he harnessed those elements while blending creative content and social media analytics to grow a culturally relevant gaming brand.
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[@hikaruyoroi]

Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro by "Reverend" Jared J. Tan 00:01:32 - Growing an Internet Cult: 'Cult of the Lamb's' Social Strategy 00:01:39 - How to tell people about your cult? 00:03:13 - Social Media - My Job (Speaker Biography) 00:03:55 - What is 'Cult of the Lamb'? 00:04:50 - How Big is Our Cult? 00:06:33 - Big Takeaway: "Games Go Viral" 00:07:00 - Outstanding Games 00:09:26 - Benefits of Social Media 00:10:00 - Does Social Media Convert? 00:13:57 - How to Tell People About Your Game? 00:15:40 - Grab Attention for Discovery 00:17:40 > Tiktok Discovery 00:19:50 > Steam Discovery 00:21:31 - Convert Attention into Interest 00:24:04 > Twitter Interest 00:24:57 > Tiktok Interest 00:26:32 - Designing Content for the Platform's Goal 00:26:36 > Tiktok 00:30:14 > Steam 00:31:45 - Reward Attention with an Emotional Response 00:34:47 > Link to a Concept 00:36:11 > Link to a Trend 00:37:27 - Content Efficiency: Recontextualizing Assets for Different Media 00:38:21 > Link to a Trend (cont): Anticipating Trends 00:39:44 > Link to a Personal Story 00:42:33 - Recap 00:44:10 - Contact Jared 00:44:34 - Conclusion 00:46:50 - Questions 00:47:19 > 1. Where would you recommend focusing animation [art] budget so that it can best serve marketing? 00:48:54 > 2. How would you market Cult of the Lamb if it had realistic graphics (vs. cute animals)? 00:50:33 > 3. "Do you have advice for someone trying to make a business case to leadership like: 'Hey someone should invest more in our Tiktok?'" 00:52:31 > 4. How did your team assess risk when featuring things like Scientology or parodying Rovio IP in your marketing? 00:54:20 > 5. How should you juggle linking your game to a familiar concept (like another game) without also linking to associated expectations that may be inaccurate? 00:56:59 > 6. "To what extent do you use SEO tools and focus groups to determine the content of your messaging?" 00:57:58 > 7. "Did any of your marketing involve the music? [...] Does music have the same impact as visuals in Tiktok videos?" 00:59:31 > 8. "Did you use content creators to promote your game at all?"

[@dusandragovic09srb]

Thanks! ❤

[@captainnoyaux]

wow the goat, thanks

[@TheSoulHunter69]

Determination ( I hope u get the reference )

[@TheGhostPanel]

This guy looks like he should be playing keytar in an 80s synth pop band. Aspirational drip.

[@Nikkuuu69]

Honestly the art direction of this game is top notch. And the UI design is PERFECT. Both me and GF had a blast playing this

[@hikaruyoroi]

Devolver isn't paying this guy enough. I don't know what his pay is, but Devolver you gotta double it. At least. It's hard to make a good presentation. It's even harder to make it make it palatable, engaging, and dare I say funny. Kudos

[@pinto5012]

As another fellow accountant, this was a really cool presentation 👏🏽😃

[@JustDaZack]

Very informative and fun to listen to presentation 😁

[@walidrahman9508]

Praise be!

[@cloudshifter]

Seeing this video and experiencing the suberb quality of the game itself, it's no wonder that the game saw a massive success all round. The entire aesthetic of this game feels like the Animal Crossing X Doom Eternal trend ecapsulated into one being.

[@spookyanimator4695]

Great talk!

[@matthewmorrison3745]

The title is so good.

[@ijerofei]

at first, I accidentally read like "growing an Internet sl#t"

[@SaraCarrera-yf8tr]

Holy crap this guy is so likable wtf!

[@captainnoyaux]

This dude is hilarious 🤣

[@isbestlizard]

That game looks cool. I hope soon we have super smart AGis to play the role as cult leader and see what hijinks emerge when they accumulate loyal followers and resources :D

[@tomo8940]

What's the TLDR?

[@hikaruyoroi]

Speaker gives one at 42:33

[@Rose-xu6lq]

Mormons play family board games