I had this idea bouncing around in my head and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts, like "don't do that, it's illegal".

What I was thinking of is once my new game is done, burning a bunch of CDs with all of my companies demos on it, printing out nice labels for them and then ... going to various computer stores and "losing" them. You know, leaving them in various stores in various places. On racks, in bins, etc.

The discs would be clearly marked as "Free game demos!", etc.

I have a feeling that's illegal ... littering or something along those lines. Anyone know for sure? :)

of course its illegal. If I run a shop, I want to control what's on my shelves.

besides, given a 1% conversion rate, you are going to buy and burn 100 CDs to get one sale?
doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me.

I think it'd probably be classed somewhere between flyposting and industrial espionage...and could land you in serious trouble!

Of course there is nothing wrong with you asking the store owner if you can leave a bunch on his counter top. Print up a nice cardboard cover, get a nice looking disk label, and do some cold canvassing.

Some independents in the music industry do a similar thing, though they do this to spread the word rather than make a direct sale. There's a website on droplifting (http://www.droplift.org/pressrelease.html).

Right, the idea wouldn't be to turn every CD into a sale, but more to spread the word about the company/games/website to people who buy games.

I'll check out that link, thanks!

I've done a similar thing but didn't leave them in shops. I created a CD called a "Pass it On" CD which had all our demos on in a simple case. The front cover had text explaining about the CD. The idea was to leave the CD's in public places - on trains, buses, planes, boats, petrol stations, cafe's etc. The front of the CD explains that the idea is to take the CD home and play the games. When they've installed the games on their computer it asks them to place the CD back in a public place - hence the name "Pass it On".

The front cover of the CD was kept purely text so that if someone saw it on say a seat of a train then it would grab their attention. I gave them to friends who were going on holiday so that they would get the most coverage. I didn't make many Cd's but there are about 30 out there today in places like New Zealand, London, Turkey, Cyprus, Liverpool, Australia, Tokyo, Spain, Portugal, France, Norway and a few other places.

So did it increase exposure?? Well out of 30 CD's I think it did.
For example a friend dropped a CD in Sheffield, UK - 2 days later a sale from Sheffield.
I left one in Bergen in Norway when visiting for a few days - over the following week about 10 sales from Norway came in, some specifically from Bergen.
The same can be said for a number of other places where CD's where left. Maybe it was coincidence? Maybe I was just lucky?

I haven't left any CD's around for a good few months now but with a lot of people going on their holidays I think it's time to get them out there :)

This is an interesting idea, it's like those travelling books (or whatever they're called). Another idea - with those travelling books, you can report their location back to a website which tracks them in their travels. Which could make your marketing effort into a fun game for people (as well as providing useful statistics...)

What I was thinking of is once my new game is done, burning a bunch of CDs with all of my companies demos on it, printing out nice labels for them and then ... going to various computer stores and "losing" them. You know, leaving them in various stores in various places. On racks, in bins, etc.

I do this a lot, and it seems to be moderately sucessful. Doing it with CD's is a tad on the expensive side (both materials and time invested), but is fun to do at conventions.

The least expensive way I do it (we call it 'Drop Shopping') is to print up little business card size pieces of paper with the DIY Games logo on it and some little catch phrase. I'll then go to stores and insert them into magazines, place them next to/in games, and so on. I also walk around neighborhoods and put them in front door jams and such with the other advertisements. Another thing is to create a flyer and staple it to various surfaces around town with little paper pull-tabs on them that have the DIY Games url on them, like those "work from home" ones you see. The best thing about doing it this way is that it costs next to nothing (or is completely free if you print it from work!), and it's easy to print up a ton of them.

Another idea - with those travelling books, you can report their location back to a website which tracks them in their travels. Which could make your marketing effort into a fun game for people (as well as providing useful statistics...)

We tried this also. Each CD had an individual number assigned to it. We asked people to email us where they found the CD and it's number. Unfortunately nobody has let us know where they have now ended up though :(

We tried this also. Each CD had an individual number assigned to it. We asked people to email us where they found the CD and it's number. Unfortunately nobody has let us know where they have now ended up though

It may make it working by encouraging people to report by promising some kind of bonus to them.