I’ve had high hopes for WuChess since first hearing about it in the planning stages. Now that it’s officially launched and getting coverage in places like the NY Times, I’m wondering if initial decisions about both pricing and marketing will cripple this promising enterprise.
I first started hearing about hip hop and chess from Adisa Banjoko, cofounder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, back before they started their events in the Bay Area. Despite Adisa’s intense enthusiasm about chess and hip hop, I remained somewhat unconvinced until hearing about and seeing photos from their first event.
What convinced me were the anecdotes and descriptions of moments throughout the first day of just how humanly real people in hip hop can be when brought together over a chess board. Some of that spirit is communicated in various pictures and videos in circulation but most of it came through tales that didn’t appear in public.
That said, I have two big concerns about WuChess.
As discussed at both TechCrunch (racist comments alert) and at the hiphop-ads discussion group, pricing is clearly an issue.
WuChess is basically a hip hop branded edition of Chesspark.
WuChess has one pricing option, a $48 annual subscription with reports indicating that some charity action will happen via the Hip-Hop Chess Federation.
By contrast, ChessPark has multiple membership options including a free trial of some sort and a monthly fee of $4 with discounted 6 month and 12 month subscription feeds. The 12 month fee goes for $40, $8 less than WuChess.
The only way to rationalize such an approach is to assume that hip hop and RZA bring a premium quality to WuChess that justifies eliminating all options other than full commitment at a higher price.
Unfortunately, just as simply adding hip hop to a product does not ensure its success, adding a hip hop celebrity to a social website isn’t working out so well either. Celebrities help provide an attention boost but don’t seem to contribute to significant ongoing involvement with online communities.
The WuChess site doesn’t give you much info and jettisons the one thing that really makes this project plausible. No, not the Killa Bees! What seems lost is the love of chess among so many people in hip hop that got the idea going in the first place.
And where is that love of chess best revealed in this particular history?
We can find it in the actual events organized by the Hip-Hop Chess Federation that included the participation of RZA in a focused community setting.
ProHipHop’s Suggestions for WuChess:
Fix the pricing. It should be as good as ChessPark’s at the very least with multiple options to allow folks to be drawn in. The multiple levels of pricing approach, whatever the technical term, is based on years of actual experience of getting people involved with paid services. Leverage that knowledge!
Market the realness, not the celebrity. At the end of the day, WuChess will succeed if they draw in folks in hip hop who love chess, not due to celebrity appearances in the NY Times.
The pricing part should be easy though apparently it was not obvious to those in decision making positions.
The marketing part is not so easy but does have an ace in the hole with the Hip-Hop Chess Federation’s history of involvement with all the participants.
Donating money to the HHCF isn’t going to cause people to subscribe. Featuring scenes from HHCF events at WuChess or creating such scenes for WuChess that include celebrities but focus on the human exchanges that occur in relationship to the game in a hip hop setting would get people a lot closer to subscribing.
It was good to see RZA actually playing chess in the NY Times video. That’s a step in the right direction but you’re unlikely to ever play RZA at WuChess so that doesn’t reflect the user experience.
1) Fix the pricing.
2) Focus on the human community of hip hop chess players.
It’s not about RZA and Chesspark. They are basically a means to an end.
It’s about faciliting the encounters of people that are into hip hop and chess and, by so doing, becoming an indispensible part of their lives.
Great focus on “people that are into hip hop and chess” and stand-up suggestions. Thanks for the great chess links, too.
I may have some official statements from somebody involved with WuChess marketing but my impressions are that they actually feel the same way about the draw of WuChess.
It’s not just RZA, it’s the community.
My concern is that the all or nothing pricing option will keep them from reaching a range of people that might become good customers or, at least, have good things to say whether they stick around or not.
Time will tell.
The author made valid points of contention when writing this commentary. I can appreciate that both pros and cons are weighed and explored in the rationale. Now, I hope that WuChess will reconsider their terms of agreement and perhaps be a little more flexible if they desire to retain membership.
My understanding is that they are promoting WuChess on the Bobby Digital tour and that will be a good test run for whether or not this will work.