School Bells Ring, It Must be Christmas
As Summer '06 draws to a close many households like mine are squeezing out every last bit of fun before school starts. We are keeping our boys home from day camp for the last full week of summer. This decision is partially practical (their day camp is only open for the first half of the week), but I think that there's a bit of nostalgia in it also. My memories of summer as a kid took place at home, not shuttling to or from camp. So I can at least offer the kids a little taste of what I remember by giving them a week to sleep in, roam around the house and scrape up a knee or elbow playing baseball in the street.
However, after I've sent the kids outside to play I make my way up to the office where Christmas is in full swing. Lately I've been consumed with all things Christmas. Of course, that's Christmas through the eye of a game publisher. Rather than thinking about presents and trees, I've been spending my time finishing production runs, planning order fulfillment and PR campaigns.
Having spent the first 15 years of my professional career working in a non-seasonal industry, I still have to make a conscious effort to start my Christmas planning in August. Of course, I actually started planning for this Christmas last August when the planning for our new game line began. The calendar for consumer products is certainly one with many different twists and turns. For example, the mass market retailers start their Christmas buying 14 months prior to holiday, while smaller independent stores buy as late at September or October. Catalogs? Their deadline is in March. And then there's the media, with magazines starting work on their Holiday issues in the spring, while daily newspapers can still be writing gift guides in mid December.
All of this can keep the head of a game entrepreneur spinning like a top!
As Summer '06 draws to a close many households like mine are squeezing out every last bit of fun before school starts. We are keeping our boys home from day camp for the last full week of summer. This decision is partially practical (their day camp is only open for the first half of the week), but I think that there's a bit of nostalgia in it also. My memories of summer as a kid took place at home, not shuttling to or from camp. So I can at least offer the kids a little taste of what I remember by giving them a week to sleep in, roam around the house and scrape up a knee or elbow playing baseball in the street.
However, after I've sent the kids outside to play I make my way up to the office where Christmas is in full swing. Lately I've been consumed with all things Christmas. Of course, that's Christmas through the eye of a game publisher. Rather than thinking about presents and trees, I've been spending my time finishing production runs, planning order fulfillment and PR campaigns.
Having spent the first 15 years of my professional career working in a non-seasonal industry, I still have to make a conscious effort to start my Christmas planning in August. Of course, I actually started planning for this Christmas last August when the planning for our new game line began. The calendar for consumer products is certainly one with many different twists and turns. For example, the mass market retailers start their Christmas buying 14 months prior to holiday, while smaller independent stores buy as late at September or October. Catalogs? Their deadline is in March. And then there's the media, with magazines starting work on their Holiday issues in the spring, while daily newspapers can still be writing gift guides in mid December.
All of this can keep the head of a game entrepreneur spinning like a top!
posted by Rob Mathewson @ 9:45 AM
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