Play Meter

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.)