Episode 396: General Michael Grant of the Stern Army

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·19m 12s·analyzed·Apr 8, 2024

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.027

TL;DR

Michael Grant discusses Stern Army's explosive growth and Insider Connected expansion.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews Michael Grant, Senior Manager of Global Location Entertainment at Stern Pinball, who oversees the Stern Army global street team and brand ambassador network. Grant discusses the exponential growth of Stern Army locations (300 new locations expected in 2024), the expansion of Insider Connected achievements and badges across global venues, and upcoming shows including Midwest Gaming Classic and Pintastic. The conversation covers the evolution of location pinball over the past decade and Stern's efforts to promote inclusivity and women's pinball leagues.

Key Claims

Stern Army is on pace to add 300 new locations in 2024
high confidence · Michael Grant stated directly that 'We're on pace to add 300 Stern Army locations this year.'
There are hundreds and hundreds of Stern Army locations around the world
high confidence · Michael Grant: 'There are hundreds and hundreds of Stern Army locations around the world.'
JAWS had nearly 400 official Stern launch parties
high confidence · Michael Grant: 'For JAWS. We had nearly 400 launch parties, which is something I'm very proud of.'
Approximately 20% of JAWS launch parties were women's events
high confidence · Michael Grant: 'A significant portion of those launch parties are actually women's events. So about 20% of those are women's events.'
15 countries hosted JAWS launch parties
high confidence · Michael Grant: 'We had 15 countries host JAWS launch parties.'
Stern Army locations include bars, FECs, dispensaries, cake companies, record shops, and comic book stores
high confidence · Michael Grant describing diverse location types: 'We're seeing all types of locations. It's not just your traditional arcades. We're seeing anywhere from bars, bar arcades, FECs, family entertainment centers... dispensaries... record shops, comic book stores.'
Stern has hired Lloyd Dorton from Sieben to manage Stern Army and Insider Connected in Europe
high confidence · Michael Grant: 'We've hired a gentleman, Lloyd Dorton, who came from Sieben, who's our distributor in Belgium.'

Notable Quotes

“We're on pace to add 300 Stern Army locations this year. It's really incredible.”
Michael Grant @ ~11:50 — Direct statement of Stern's aggressive expansion strategy for location-based pinball in 2024
“For JAWS. We had nearly 400 launch parties, which is something I'm very proud of, and we're seeing growth with each release.”
Michael Grant @ ~21:30 — Demonstrates dramatic growth in launch party infrastructure since early days (~50-100 parties)
“About 20% of those are women's events. So I'm very, very happy to support women's pinball leagues and clubs.”
Michael Grant @ ~22:20 — Highlights Stern's deliberate support for women's pinball initiatives
“We had 15 countries host JAWS launch parties.”
Michael Grant @ ~25:50 — Demonstrates truly global reach of Stern's location entertainment strategy
“Pinball is for everyone. So come on in. There's plenty of room. The water is great.”
Michael Grant @ ~24:20 — Explicit statement of Stern's inclusive positioning for pinball culture
“I rediscovered pinball about 10 years ago when I was on a date at an amusement park in New Hampshire. We were walking around, and I saw a pinball arcade.”
Michael Grant @ ~37:00 — Personal origin story explaining how Grant entered pinball community
“The leaderboards are fun... it's also promoting the location. So pinball goes hand in hand with supporting these local businesses.”
Michael Grant @ ~17:30 — Frames Insider Connected and Stern Army as mutually beneficial for locations and Stern

Entities

Michael GrantpersonStern PinballcompanyStern Armyorganization Insider Connectedproduct Jeff Teolisperson Midwest Gaming Classicevent Pintasticevent

Signals

?
business_signal: Stern Army's rapid expansion may indicate market saturation pressure or aggressive territorial capture strategy to prevent competitor location networks
medium · 300 new locations/year growth rate suggests either market expansion opportunity or defensive market consolidation; no explicit competitor mention in interview
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business_signal: Stern has invested significantly in European market expansion by hiring dedicated regional manager (Lloyd Dorton) and expanding ground operations
high · Michael Grant: 'We've hired a gentleman, Lloyd Dorton, who came from Sieben... to help promote Insider Connected and Stern Army in Europe' and Grant's Paris Games Week participation
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community_signal: Stern intentionally supporting women's pinball leagues and clubs through dedicated event programming (20% of JAWS launch parties were women's events)
high · Michael Grant: 'A significant portion of those launch parties are actually women's events. So about 20% of those are women's events. So I'm very, very happy to support women's pinball leagues and clubs'
?
community_signal: Stern Army has established itself as dominant location entertainment infrastructure with 300 new locations/year and hundreds of existing locations globally
high · Michael Grant: 'We're on pace to add 300 Stern Army locations this year' and 'There are hundreds and hundreds of Stern Army locations around the world'
?
event_signal: JAWS launch party expansion (400 parties across 15 countries) represents dramatic infrastructure growth compared to early Stern Army era (<50-100 parties)

Transcript

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0:00

it's time for another pinball profile i'm your host jeff teolis you can find everything on pinballprofile.com we're on facebook twitter and instagram you can email pinballprofile at gmail.com and if you'd like to show your support on patreon don't worry the show will always be free, but it's very kind. Some of you have showed your support and I do appreciate that. Thanks to wonderful people like Rodney C., William M., Jake C., Fox Cities Pinball, David M., and so many others. Thank you so much. Patreon.com slash pinball profile. So right now, going to Wisconsin, and the only time I've been to Wisconsin has been the wonderful District 82, but the one place I'm dying to go to, and again, on this calendar year, it's just not going to happen. It will, but I've got somebody who's there and not just there, really doing a big, big Stern presentation as he does everywhere. He's Michael Grant. Michael, how are you? I'm great, Jeff. How are you? Good. So I got to know, I mean, I know you're there, you're at TPF, you're at all the big shows, but it's kind of your job, the Global Location Entertainment Director, if you will. What does that mean? Yeah, so as Senior Manager of Global Location Entertainment, essentially that means I'm the head of Stern Army, so I oversee our global street team. That's my primary focus, brand ambassadors who run monthly IFA-sanctioned pinball tournaments at designated public locations. In addition to that, I support our show tour. We set up both enthusiast shows as well as commercial and consumer shows, so I enjoy helping plan and promote those as well as attending them and helping execute them. So it's a lot of fun getting out there and meeting fans of pinball and introducing pinball to new people. You know, I've only been into pinball for really 10 years as far as like, okay, really both feet in to pinball. And I know Expo is celebrating its wonderful 40th year this year. So that's obviously been a big thing. There's been shows going on. When you talk about arcades and the Stern Army and things like that, 10 years ago, for me, depending on where you are. I know you're in Chicago there and of course Logan Arcade and wonderful places like that. You can find arcades in maybe some of the bigger places, but arcades were hard to find. So I couldn't imagine something like the Stern Army 10 years ago and just how much it has evolved over just a short period of time. I remember when it first started and I thought, okay, I wonder how this is going to go. How many will there be? Well, you have a better idea of how many Stern Army locations there are. Absolutely. Sounds like we've been into pinball for about the same time, I got into it pretty heavily in 2014 when I just turned 30. So yeah, it's a great time for location pinball. We're seeing a significant boom. There are hundreds and hundreds of Stern Army locations around the world. The demand is exponential. We're on pace to add 300 Stern Army locations this year. It's really incredible. We're seeing all types of locations. It's not just your traditional arcades. We're seeing anywhere from bars, bar arcades, FECs, family entertainment centers. We're even seeing other places like cake companies. We're seeing dispensaries, lots of really unique locations, as well as record shops, comic book stores, all types of locations that are adding pinball to elevate their entertainment experience. Yeah, I've noticed a lot of breweries, certainly in the last few years. You said dispensaries. I'll be quite honest, I was surprised that wasn't happening a long time ago. I've seen some of the players. I'm just saying that. But the wonderful thing about these Stern Army locations, and you say you're going to have another 300, what that means is arcades are thriving. People are seeing the benefits of this. And Stern's a big part of that, too, because you have the incentive of Stern Army. You have Insider Connected, which is a whole other ballgame. That didn't exist 10 years ago, and I'm a lot older than you are, and when I hear about achievements and trophies and badges and things like that, my kids tell me, oh, that's kind of a video game thing. I'm like, oh, okay, that's very appealing. Uh-uh. People my age are obsessed about things. You see all the badges available for April and people trying to get the spider badge, the robot badge coming up, this, that, and everything. It's addictive. It's a monster you've created. I assume it's all you, Michael. No it a team effort I happy to be a part of it and help promote the awareness of it of Insider Connected So yeah Insider Connected is our online gaming platform as we all know You know it does a lot of things It helps people stay engaged and you know find more ways to play And, for example, at Midwest Gaming Classic here, you come in and scan in and play a game at the CERN booth with Marco and Kingpin. You can earn an event badge that will forever commemorate your participation of Midwest Gaming Classic 2024. Then, of course, you've got in-game achievements you can earn. And when you attend an official Stern Army launch party, when you participate in that, you can earn a launch party event badge as well. So it's been very helpful to help encourage, in fact, newer, younger players to see what the fun is all about. I got my Jaws launch party one last week. I know all about this. But two, another thing I enjoy about Insider Connected is the ability to find other locations because maybe we're traveling and we don't know the city we're in. And all of a sudden you're on the app and you're like, okay, well, look, there's stuff here. And here are the games. Here are the connected games. So it's been a real lifesaver in that way as well. Absolutely. You know, we're helping promote awareness of pinball and helping people find the games. And, you know, it's also promoting the location. So pinball goes hand in hand with supporting these local businesses. So it's, you know, we're doing a few different things. We're elevating the entertainment experience at the location. It gives people a reason to want to come and hang out at this location and have a few drinks and have some food and separates these locations from the rest. So it's very fun. The leaderboards are fun, like you say, at Midwest Gaming Classic where you're at right now. There'll be something there. I know you're going to be going to Pintastic next week, kind of a homecoming for you because you're from Maine. So people do like those badges. I think I've got a couple on my Insider connected too. It's easy to do. You never know who you're going to see there, and especially at these big shows, you know, you're there with Marco and stuff. There's probably, especially since it's so close to Chicago, you're going to have a few Stern employees there. So a good chance to meet them, whether it's this weekend at Midwest Gaming or next week at Pentastic, too. So lots of fun, and again, just something we didn't see existed 10 years ago. And in fact, I wonder how, not underdeveloped, but just how grassroots it was before you got to Stern, because I don't know if that position existed before you got there. It certainly has grown, and the staff dedicated to, again, Stern Army and Insider Connected has grown probably even since you've been there. Yes, it's been pretty incredible. We're seeing, just to give you an idea, the first few cornerstones that we did launch parties for, we had a few dozen launch parties for JAWS. We had nearly 400 launch parties, which is something I'm very proud of, and we're seeing growth with each release. And a significant portion of those launch parties are actually women's events. So about 20% of those are women's events. So I'm very, very happy to support women's pinball leagues and clubs. Yeah, that's great. That's an area we certainly need to see more involvement with. And if these clubs, the Bells and Chimes and all these wonderful women's organizations, they keep doing this, again, it just evens the playing field. And next thing you know, fingers crossed, we're going to have just as many women as men and even more children, too. It's just it's ever growing. And I like seeing that you've developed these things to help increase that awareness, that activity and inclusiveness as well. Absolutely. Pinball is for everyone. So come on in. There's plenty of room. The water is great.

8:23

The chum water, as in Josh. You said 400 launch parties. You know, I don't remember the first launch party I went to. I've been to so many of them. Whatever it was, we're talking probably eight years ago. And you would see the list of official stern launch parties. And it was certainly under 100, maybe under 50. And this was mainly in North America. You can't get those 400 all on one page. You don't see those posters anymore because there's just so many. And another thing I want to know is it's not just the United States. It's not North America. It's globally. When you talk about how many Stern armies there are, how many countries are we talking? It's incredible. We had 15 countries host JAWS launch parties. You know, it's continuing to grow. And to that point, we've added boots on the ground in Europe. So we've hired a gentleman, Lloyd Dorton, who came from Sieben, who's our distributor in Belgium. And he's joined the team to help promote Insider Connected and Stern Army in Europe. So very happy to have Lloyd on board helping promote pinball and place more games out in the field and promote everything we doing Yeah you have to expand the field for sure because there are so many of these But you know the one side of me is thinking wait a second you the global location entertainment director If you didn't hire Lloyd, you'd be the one going over there. Missed opportunity, Michael. You might have had a trip there. Oh, I'll be joining him on a couple trips this year for sure. I did have the pleasure of joining him late last year in France at Paris Games Week. We had a lot of fun out there. So I'm looking forward to more of those opportunities. That wasn't your only Europe trip. I mean, this is more of a personal trip, but you were also in Italy last year, and that looked like a lot of fun, a wonderful country. Did you manage to get in any pinball, or was it all just the delicious foods and sights? You know, we didn't get too much pinball in, but I did manage to meet up with a good friend of mine, a sub-dealer of ours in Italy, the Angelo Genetampo, and we joined him, my partner and I joined him for a nice evening out in Naples. We had some fried pizza, and we talked to Stern Army, and he's an operator, and he's going to be opening a Stern Army location at some point in the near future. So happy to work with him on those projects. Okay, that's good. Slow down on the hiring. Make sure you at least pick the exotic places. You know, yeah, we definitely shouldn't hire anybody in Hawaii. No, no, don't worry. I'll go. I know it's a long way from O'Hare's to get to Hawaii, but I'll do it. The perks of the job. It sounds like you're busy. I'm not going to ask you, but I know, obviously, Stern's going to have more cornerstones this year. So when do you start planning these launch parties? Obviously, you have some dates in mind. Are you planning the next one, even though the game hasn't been released? Oh, sure. You know, we're always thinking about how we can incorporate the theme into the parties. So, yeah, as we get closer, I'll send out the communication to my network of brand ambassadors, and we'll hit the ground running. So when you have a big show like you're at this week, Midwest Gaming Classic, and let's just pretend it didn't happen, but it has happened in years past where that actually was the launch of a new Stern game. That was the first time we saw a few recent titles. You have this wonderful setup with Marco, and you have to get that ready, kind of bang, bang. The turnaround time might be a week from the time the game's released, or maybe even a couple weeks, to, okay, we have to go full scale. I've seen what you've done for Jaws there. You've got the nice Amity Beach big poster. You've got the big Jaws mouth. You did a wonderful job with Venom, and really all your titles, too, at these big shows. So I guess in one way, it's good that there isn't a new game right now for you to have to launch, because that probably means more work for you for the setup and everything else. Well, absolutely. But I must say that initially when I joined Stern, trade shows were more of one of my major responsibilities as marketing manager. But in my new role, I'm more of support. I'm not doing most of the planning. My esteemed colleague, Roper Fuentes, who is director of Insider Connected Operations, he's the lead on coordinating with Marco and Emoto and her team there. So I don't want to steal their thunder. They do a fantastic job, and I'm happy to support them and set up all of these great shows that we do. It's really incredible. It's a lot of fun. The team puts a lot of work into the shows and to give our fans the best experience we can. You do a good job, and it's always well turned out for sure, whether it's this weekend at Midwest Gaming, next week at Pentastic and whatnot. Okay, again, I haven't been to Midwest Gaming. It's not just pinball. It's all gaming, really. Tell me about it. Sure, yeah. It really is all things gaming, tabletop gaming, board games, card games, retro PC gaming, retro console gaming. There's even wrestling. You name it. If you're into gaming or pop culture, it's a great time. In addition to all the games you can play, there's vendors, there's cosplay. It's a very fun experience. Okay, back up a second. You talked about wrestling and maybe the squared circle. Are you saying there's an actual wrestling match at Midwest Gaming Classic? The last two MGCs I went to, there was wrestling. The ring and everything. It's fun, yeah. I like that. I know another show I've been wanting to go to for years, Southern Fried Gaming Expo. They've also been known to have wrestling. You know what? Some way, somehow, and I certainly do it locally with my league friends and my buddies, more contact in pinball. Why should you give people the elbow room? You know, if somebody's about to hit a jackpot, why not a good elbow drop? Be on guard. If you're going to make us hit an action button in the middle of a lock bar, there should be some action in the pinball. You need to defend on all sides. I not saying four on one but just mono a mono maybe a couple of people duking it out You know I taking notes Maybe this could be a new tournament format Oh I love it I love it I mean not for me just for the entertainment to watch it I've got my other tricks up my sleeve, but we'll leave those for another day. No, this is great. So Midwest Gaming Classic, yeah, this weekend. Next weekend, Pintastic. I finally got back to it. It was wonderful last year. That's where I saw you last. Well, I think I saw you at Expo too, but great new location for Pintastic. wonderful hotel, and as we mentioned earlier, a bit of a homecoming for you. It is, yes. So I am originally from New England, grew up in the Boston area, and I rediscovered pinball about 10 years ago when I was on a date at an amusement park in New Hampshire. We were walking around, and I saw a pinball arcade. So we went in there, and that's where I rediscovered pinball. So I joined the league, joined the New England Pinball League, joined tournaments, And then from there, I was just hyper-obsessed with pinball. And for me now, having relocated out to Chicago to work in pinball full-time, Pintastic is a great show for me to return home and visit all my friends and family. I've been to, I think, every Pintastic except for the first one. So this is going to be a lot of fun visiting. And again, yes, they do have a new hotel, so it's a much better location than the previous one. and we're looking forward to it very much. Gabe does a wonderful job, and I'm sure he will again next weekend too, so that'll be good. You know, I think when I saw you, to the shock of many, I was even wearing a Boston Red Sox hat. I think Ray Day called me out on it, one of your other colleagues there at Stern, and he goes, what are you doing wearing that? And I said, listen, I have every hat. There are some I'll never, ever, ever wear. And it was October last year. They were way behind the Jays, so I was okay wearing it. I was showing that fake support. I mean, honest, sincere love for the New England area by wearing a Boston hat. But if they are ahead of the Jays, you'd never see me wear it.