Topic: Nintendo: Marketing genius

[SixthAngel]

In the past Nintendo has gotten a lot of flack for their marketing.  A search for older marketing threads brings one made a year ago saying they are terrible at pr and marketing.   Recently they seem to be spot on with what they are doing.  The whole "non-games" vocab seems to be entirely made up by them and it is exploding.  In the past the "non-games" would have been put into a genre such as a music game or puzzle but the new vocabulary really does make it more inviting.  "Non-game" has now become a standard term people use and they created it simply for marketing purposes.  You even have hardcore gamers talking about whether something is a "nongame" as well and may actually be changing perception of games to people.  Strangely enough I think having the so called "kid" image may have hurt them past generations but keeping an overall friendly image like this has helped them become more mass market today.  A hardcore image in something like videogames would hurt the effort to expand their customers.

Wii Sports being packed into North American systems is pure marketing.  They knew the game would sell in Japan regardless but have helped Wii to explode in North America with basically viral marketing by including Wii Sports.  Their constant talk about making games inviting has given them the attention of the mass media as well.  They continue to pound home the message that games are for everyone in every event/press release.  I think the Wii is great but lets be honest even something great needs that marketing push to gain the attention of all the customers.    

[Deguello]

I think success is the best spice for any opinion of marketing.

How quickly would the PSP's god-awful marketing be lauded as "hip to the jive" or whatever if the PSP and DS leadership roles were switched?

[nickmitch]

Exactly. Success of the marketing can only be measured by the success of the product. However, sometimes a bad product will good marketing can sell. Also, there can be cases where the ads are memorable, but the product is a flop. This too would be an example of bad marketing.

[NWR_pap64]

Not to brag here, but I called that Wii sports being vital in the Wii's success back in September, and S_B developed this further with his "The never ending viral chain" thread.

I would post the link, but I am on my Wii right now.

[IceCold]

The marketing for the DS (with the exception of that Nintendogs ad) has been excellent (think launch theatre ads, Advance Wars, Tetris etc) and so far the Wii is following that up well.

The Cube era, on the other hand, was completely opposite in most cases.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: pap64
Not to brag here, but I called that Wii sports being vital in the Wii's success back in September, and S_B developed this further with his "The never ending viral chain" thread.

I would post the link, but I am on my Wii right now.

I believe I expressed the importance of Wii sports as well. So that makes 3 of us .

[IceCold]

Oh, as soon as WiiSports was shown, I remember a few people on the forums predicting that it would be very important, and I think one or two even predicted that it would be packed in.

[odifiend]

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix

Quote
Originally posted by: pap64
Not to brag here, but I called that Wii sports being vital in the Wii's success back in September, and S_B developed this further with his "The never ending viral chain" thread.

I would post the link, but I am on my Wii right now.

I believe I expressed the importance of Wii sports as well. So that makes 3 of us .

Not to take anything away from anyone, but back in the days before 'hardcore' gamers, games used to be packed in.  It made a difference - you got an experience right out of the box.  Mario Bros. was vital to the NES's success, Sonic was vital to that of the Genesis and while you could argue the SNES could still be big without Super Mario World - it sure didn't hurt.  I really don't know why companies moved away from this in the first place, but it a no brainer.  Consumers immediately have good things (hardcore buy first) to say about your product.

Sixth, you're right - their kid image has completely been transformed into an everyone image.  I'm a student at NC State who's been gaming for his whole life.  My department head of Biotechnology, a 60 year man, got his wii before I got mine.  So did another Ph. D in Biotech.  The NCSU Library, also has a Nintendo Wii now.  Anytime I go to the store to buy Wii stuff, it is couples looking at buying things together.  The Wii does not have any of the problems the cube has.  I doubt even think Playstation had it this good.  The active play is infective and not just to 7-15 year olds - it does all Nintendo's work.  The product sells itself.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: IceCold
The marketing for the DS (with the exception of that Nintendogs ad) has been excellent (think launch theatre ads, Advance Wars, Tetris etc) and so far the Wii is following that up well.

The Cube era, on the other hand, was completely opposite in most cases.

I don't know about that.  I thought the Kirby: Canvas curse ads with the thumb and Kirby were pretty bad.

[Adrock]

I think Nintendo's image is still a work in progress. Wii isn't as easily dismissed as N64 or GCN. A classmate of mine, this huge-ass body builder type has been looking for a Wii for months. Another classmate, a girl who professed that she doesn't play videogames, said "I love the bowling game." Everyone is looking for the console. However, the games from 3rd parties don't reflect this "everyone image" yet. The image is getting there. I just wouldn't say it is there yet. Nintendo needs a wider variety of titles. Yes, there's Godfather and so on, but I'm saying that Wii needs more of that, just all around.

Sony and Microsoft are finding it harder and harder to convince people that Nintendo is for kids. MS, in particular, has almost stopped trying as shown in most interviews from execs.  

[couchmonkey]

I think Wii is a lot easier to sell than traditional game consoles.  You just need to capture the excitement of playing the thing.  It's going to make selling certain games that don't use much motion control a bit harder (the Super Paper Mario ad isn't as exciting as others)  but overall it's really easy to show people having a ball with Wii, and that is the best possible selling point for a game.

In the past it was basically "make up a goofy/dramatic sketch, and squeeze in some gameplay movies".  You can't really make playing The Legend of Zelda or Halo look that exciting (maybe if the players are drunk).

Edit: Uh, my point was, sometimes having the right product makes a big difference.  Subway's whole "Gerod" series of ads worked because they found something that set themselves apart from the dozen or so burger joint ads.

[Ceric]

I think the Super Paper Mario ad is clever though.  Sort of drives the point home.

[Nintendawg]

I think Nintendo has finally got it right after a couple years of oops and uh-ohs! They finally have a system that has the same appeal as the DS Lite and even more so. Now with the Pokemon Battle Revolution coming out, the Wii is about as untouchable as the DS is.

[mantidor]

I'm probably the only one who hasn't seen a huge change at Nintendo, they have pretty much followed the same path all the way through, easy to use, access to everyone has always been their philosophy and the software reflects that. They just have learned the little differences the regions have. The console would sell no matter what, its real marketing isn't in commercials or even in the pack-in game, is in word of mouth of what the console is about.

[couchmonkey]

Word of mouth has definitely been the big thing pushing Wii forward, but the TV/movie/magazine ads will become more and more relevant as the system becomes easier to find and the original novelty wears off.  I have a friend who wants a Wii, and if things keep going the way they are, he'll stop caring by the time it's easy to get one.  That's where the marketing comes in, it's up to Nintendo to sustain sales once supply matches demand.  Something the company is supposedly having a little trouble with in Europe.

[Ian Sane]

I actually don't see too many ads for Nintendo products but that doesn't mean they aren't out there.  They just aren't shown during shows I watch (plus towards the end of the Cube's life Nintendo of Canada starting airing different ads than NOA so I might be seeing different ads).  What I have seen doesn't seem like a huge deal.  They're compitent ads but not much else.  I think a big part of the Wii's success is word-of-mouth.  I've hear the Wii mentioned from people I've never heard talk videogames before.  I think Nintendo made a product interesting enough that just hearing of it influences people to look it up and everything has gone from there.

You can talk about WiiSports but I've never seen WiiSports mentioned in an ad.  I've seen shots of it but no mentioning of it by name or it being included with the console.  Any demo I see still has ExciteTruck in it and you have to ask for the controller and nowhere is there a sign instructing one to do so.  You have to KNOW to ask which means you already have an interest in the Wii.  No one with no Wii knowledge can see the demo and immediately jump in and play it.

The "sold out" aspect of it has built hype as well.  The PS2 had that same effect when it had shortages.  "What's the Wii?  Who cares?  It's impossible to find in stores so it must be cool."  I don't think that's a good long term strategy but it was the "can't find" toy of last Christmas which automatically makes it a known name brand.

I found the GBA marketing to be equally as poor as the Cube's and I'm not that impressed by DS marketing.  I think it's just that when your product is in demand you can get by with so-so to poor marketing but when you're trying to create demand, like with the Cube, poor marketing will just make things worse.  Nintendo to me seems very similar to the company they were a few years ago.  Most of the things I find incredibly annoying about them has remained.  The difference is that they managed to create an "it" product that people are instantly interested in while at the same time their biggest competitor has turned into, well, them.

Though if you consider the design of the console itself with the remote and motion control and everything as marketing then there's an example of fantastic marketing on their part.

[couchmonkey]

I personally think the current ads are about as good as they could get.  What I like:

1. There's a memorable tagline (Wii would like to play)...who can forget the "SEGA" scream or the foreign-sounding kid saying "Playstation"?

2. On top of that, you've got the "jingle" and the Wii Smart Car...when you see a Wii commercial, you KNOW it's a Wii commercial.

3. People having fun.  The way Wii is played is what separates it from the other consoles, and it's key to show how it works to the viewer.  A commercial with shots of pro atheletes playing real sports interspersed with Wii Sports would be a terrible idea, because all it shows you is that Wii has a cartoony-looking sports game.  A commercial with people actually playing Wii Sports is perfect.

[Nintendawg]

Agreed, you know a Wii comercial when you hear it, nevermind see it. Nintendo may be the same old stubborn they were year ago, but it seems like they learned from their mistakes. Making something that no other comany has out there and making it FUN was two vital ingreediants for making something as sucessful as the Wii. The DS came out in late 2004, and people STILL want it. Now I work in a video game store and I can't tell you enough times how many people ask for a DS and Wii. I know that doesn't mean much now, (As its still a couple months old.) but to me it doesn't seem short term. I know short term systems when I see them, (I think.)