Play Meter

Issue: 1980 May 01 - Vol 6 Num 8

UPDATE EDITION
Volume 6, Number 8
May 1,1980
Game Plan, Tournament Soccer
join for marketing effort
By RAY E. TILLEY
Allying marketing efforts is the object
of adding the Game Plan Inc . pro-
duct line to the sales program of
Tournament Soccer and Tourna-
ment Eight Ball under Tournament
Marketing International.
Innovation in Game Plan's pinball
line and stimulation of player interest
are the hoped-for benefits from the
"marriage" of the Addison , Illinois·
manufacturer's product line to the
pool and table soccer lines of
Tournament Marketing , based in
Seattle .
Ken Anderson , vice president /
marketing at Game Plan told PLAY
METER , "We certainly hope foosball
and pool players are pin players . It's
a natural marriage , really ."
Distributors' feedback on changes
wanted in the quality of product is
• also expected to be gained by the
combined Tournament and Game
Plan sales forces . The "localized
attention to the sales trail should help
both firms , said Anderson . "The
consumer is the location owner , the
guy who has the product on his
premises at all times . The location in
Alabama has different demands from
one in California , for instance ."
With more personal attention to
each level of marketing , the two
companies' games should realize
"prolonged income" from the exist-
ing lines of Tournament Marketing
and Game Plan , said Anderson .
A Game Plan pingame oriented to
the tournament circuit will be added
in the near future by his company ,
sa id Anderson . He offered no further
description of the product.
The tournament play stimulus
should fortify the multi -level market-
ing approach , in Anderson 's view .
Tournament Soccer and Tourna-
ment Eight Ball engage some 5 ,000
to 10 ,000 persons a year in
new things , a player can tell you
what he 'd like to see . The Tourna -
tourneys , he noted . "Certainly ,
tournaments are one of the single
ment Packet will get a lot of input ,"
most needed tools to prolonged in -
said Anderson .
come in the cash box ," said the
Tournament Marketing currently
Game Plan vice president.
polls 120 ,000 persons for feedback
From players' stimulated interest
by mail , he noted .
in pingames , changes in manufacture
Of the added numbers for the
are expected to follow . 'To innovate
sales force to serve distributors ,
Continued on page 2
t
. l
.
\I-tt ''~.l Ste ve Collins , 15. of Thunder Bay , Ontario , receives his trophy embedded
with gold lettering and the symbol of the 1980 Winter Olympics from Jack
Le Hart , upstate New York vending operator. Steve was the winner in the
Lake Placid tricathelon of arcade games and Jack implemented the game
room for Olympians . Winning attention of the world's athletes , obviously ,
we re the amusement games . [ See story on page 7.)
UPDATE
EDITION
Vol. 6, No.8
May 1, 1980
staff
C ontinued from page 1
And erson had no firm figure of the
effect of the marketing marriage.
Spokesmen for T ourna m ent Interna-
tional co uld not provide details for
UPDATE by press time .
In related news , AES T echnology
Systems, Inc . , of which Game Plan is
a subsidiary com pany , announced
recently that record sales and
earnings were achieved in its second
fiscal quarter and for th e six months
ending December 31, 1979. Martin
T . Abram s. AES chairman , an -
nounced earnings of $540,000 , or
eleven cents per share , for the
quarter on revenues of approximate-
ly $5 million.
For the six months, operating
revenues for AES were up 133 per
cent from the $3,600,000 reported a
year earlier. for an $8,400 ,000 figure
in the second half of 1979 .
A brams attributed the sharp in -
crease in sales to the acquisition of
Game Plan , which manufacturers
pingames and slot machines .
Publisher and Editor:
Ralph C. Lally II
Editorial Director:
Stern pins to lure heart funds
David Pierson
Managing Editor:
Ray E. Tilley
International Editor:
David Snook
Editor, Coin Slot
Technical Editor:
Zac Oliver
Correspondents :
Pat Matthews
Roger C. Sharpe
Randy Fromm
Charles C. Ross
Art Direction :
Katey Schwark
Circulation Manager &
Classified Advertising :
Valerie Cognevich
Illustrator:
Mars Walker
Advertising Manager:
David Pierson
European Representative :
Esmay Leslie
Stern Electronics will contribute to
the Am erican Heart Association by
luring Am erica's college fraternities
and sororities to use their heads to
benefit heart research. Stern will offer
twenty Mohammed Ali flipp er games
to the " Greeks" who present the
most creative efforts to raise funds for
heart research .
The top twenty fraternities and
sor0 rities in the April competition
w ere to be announced this month by
Stern . according to a spokesperson
for TRG Communications , th e firm
handling the promotion .
The Heart Association promotion
wa s to be outlined in New Orleans at
PLAY M ETER's Amu sement Opera -
tors Expo . The next issue of PLAY
M ETER will carry more details of the
youth -orient ed Stern campaign con -
necting pingames to Heart Associa -
tio n fund s raising .
The promotion has the participa-
tion of "The National Lampoon "
humor magazin e. which will provide
" lifetim e
subscriptions"
to
fifty
runn er-up college organizations in -
volved in the effort .
PLAY METER , May 1, 1980. Volume
6, No. 8. Copyright 1980 by Skybird
Publishing Company . PLAY METER
( ISSN 0162-1343) is published twice
monthly on the 1st and 15th of the
month . Publishing offices : 320 Old
Hammond Highway, Metairie La .
70005, P. 0.
Box 24170, New
Orleans 70184 . Tel. 504 / 838-8025 .
Subscription rates:
U. S.
and
Canada - $25; Europe and Japan -
$45; elsewhere - $50 . Multiple sub-
scription orders : 2 -9, $20 each;
10-24, $17 each ; 25 or more, $15
each. Advertising rates available on
request . No part of this magazine
may be reproduced without ex-
pressed permission. The editors are
not responsible for unsolicited manu-
scripts . Second class postage paid at
Metairie 70002 and additional mailing
offices . Postmaster: Send Form
3579 to PLAY METER, P. 0 . Box
24170, New Orleans , La . 70184.
European office : PLAY METER Pro-
motions , " Harescombe" Watford
Road , Northwood Middx . England,
Northwood 29244 .
Pierre Laniel. left. president of Laniel Automatic in Montreal, and Jean
Coutu. vice president . display their pride in the silver trophy cup presented
at the Gottlieb National Distributor Sales Meeting in Oak Brook . Illinois .
Laniel Automatic was the only Gottlieb distributing ho use outside the
U.S .A. in North America to receive the cup for "more than 25 years of
outstanding service " to the Gottlieb line . Laniel Automatic has been in
business for 45 yea rs in Montreal and at Laniel branches in Canada .

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