Nintendo Marketing Question

Mag215

Mag215

CAGiversary!
I am currently doing a school project on the marketing techniques of Nintendo. I am exploring how the brand can target those consumers who do not yet own a gaming system or do not frequently play.

Please take this seriously, I know we have a lot of talented and smart people on the board and I want to just have a legit discussion so that I can advance my ideas and create a well rounded project.

So to start off:

How can Nintendo market their products better?
What do you think is Nintendo's strongest selling point?
 
Not really an answer to your questions, but go track down a copy of Game Over. It's a great book that tells of the early days of Nintendo - there seemed to be a lot of correlations between the NES Launch and the Wii launch. It's good readin'.
 
I'm not entirely sure what you are asking for.

Broadly, the strategy being employed by Nintendo with DS and Wii is called "Blue Ocean" strategy. There is a lot of information about that online and in books.

Nintendo's employment of this strategy more specifically can be gleaned from early interviews about the Wii/Revolution. The TGS Keynote in 2005 is particularly instructive (youtube)

- The controller was made simpler/more intuitive to draw people in
- Fresh experiences for all groups, from new people to veteran gamers
- New software relevant to those groups

From the marketing end, they focused (particularly early on) with live demos and word of mouth. "Playing is believing" was adopted as a tagline. Once they really got into things like TV spots and magazines, they also targeted those new people by picking venues normally not considered (like women's magazines/channels).

Here are two articles concerning marketing:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060209/cifaldi_01.shtml
http://wii.ign.com/articles/745/745532p1.html

To try to answer your last question, Nintendo is selling on
- Fun
- Accessibility
- Low costs (to the developer, the hardware maker and the consumer)
 
Sorry about my lack in responses, haven't been back to the site but that wont happen again.

I'm developing a marketing plan for next year for Nintendo for a presentation in class. Knowing how they normally run things will help in establishing a new way to promote the upcoming products.

Thank you guys for the "Blue Ocean" strategy, was not fully aware of it.

Question:

How can Wii capture new markets?
What is the future of Nintendo?

Keep in mind declining software sales for the system!
 
Out of curiosity, why'd you pick Nintendo as the system looking to capture new markets? The Wii has already done a marvelous job of making itself appealing to those who've never even given a second look to a console before.

Also beware that the recent questions posed may invite some flamers. The Wii in general is a bit of a hotly contested topic.
 
DS is also on the line of looking for gamers in unexpected places, with its unorthodox design and its software library
 
The current state of hardware or software sales are not a particular concern. 2008 was the highest revenue for the industry ever. 2009 was a drop and it is the 2nd highest year ever. Consoles peak early and are expected to decline from that point onward. Por ejemplo: PS2 peaked in 2002 and just rode it down real nice for years.

Plus, they are about to release the 3DS, with an unprecedented level of (Japanese) support.

The future of Nintendo is always mysterious in that you need insight into their R&D processes to really know. Fun aside, the cardinal rule is that it has to be cost effective. They arent happy throwing away money indefinitely like their competitors. Rule 2 is accessibility.

I believe Miyamoto said something off the cuff years ago that is telling. It was something about moving gaming beyond the TV. I think thats what they are ultimately looking for. As soon as they can get us off physical screens, they are going to try. Right now we'll have to settle for screens coming out at us.

They appear to be going HD with their next machine, which I think is a mistake. There is very little reason to support their next home console when you have the option of 3DS. We've seen this a little bit with the DS. It is so overwhelmingly popular that it cannibalizes Japanese developer support (The west doesnt particularly like the Wii and it also doesnt like handhelds). The west has roots in PC development/PC genres, and really want their machines to be extreme powerhouses. I suppose one way to expand the userbase is to somehow get the west on board without breaking the bank with unsustainable hardware designs.
 
[quote name='Mag215']What is the future of Nintendo?[/QUOTE]

My guess is the 3DS. According to this article, a major hurdle for widespread 3D implementation to overcome is the need for glasses (the main complaint being how they affect one's ability to multi-task). Nintendo is addressing that with their portable console. And with the system's 3D movie-viewing support in the pipelines, it shouldn't be too difficult for Nintendo to lure consumers who aren't exactly interested in gaming as a priority (kind of like how many people purchased a PS2 in its early years because it also served as a DVD player).
 
It was the only topic my professor would let me choose because of the upcoming competition from Sony Move/Kinect and the fact that Wii sales have been declining alongside the video game software.

I believe I read somewhere that 3 out of 4 households have a Wii, so it is indeed a task to create a new form of marketing for this project with such high sucess.

[quote name='Salamando3000']Out of curiosity, why'd you pick Nintendo as the system looking to capture new markets? The Wii has already done a marvelous job of making itself appealing to those who've never even given a second look to a console before.

Also beware that the recent questions posed may invite some flamers. The Wii in general is a bit of a hotly contested topic.[/QUOTE]
 
Thank you for those articles! That is a great start for developing something for the new 3DS

[quote name='thirdrose']My guess is the 3DS. According to this article, a major hurdle for widespread 3D implementation to overcome is the need for glasses (the main complaint being how they affect one's ability to multi-task). Nintendo is addressing that with their portable console. And with the system's 3D movie-viewing support in the pipelines, it shouldn't be too difficult for Nintendo to lure consumers who aren't exactly interested in gaming as a priority (kind of like how many people purchased a PS2 in its early years because it also served as a DVD player).[/QUOTE]
 
Allow me to add some perspective. Yes, Wii hardware sales are down. But they are down from an unprecedented high of blowing the PS2 away. Now that its way down, its still doing quite well.

US Hardware Sales Benchmarks:

PS2 - 24,250,000 (46-month mark) (July 2004)
PS2 - 29,632,000 (58-month mark) (July 2005)

Xbox - 13,210,402 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
Xbox - 13,855,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

GCN - 9,763,241 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
GCN - 12,412,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

360 - 15,977,300 (46 months) (Aug 2009)
360 - 21,454,200 (58 months) (Aug 2010)

PS3 - 13,156,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)
Wii - 30,088,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)
 
Do you have the source? I've found various figures and just wanted to average them together and find the most reliable!

again, I appreciate how cool everybody has been about this.

My group is currently in the research portion of the project and soon will be figuring out what demographic Nintendo has not hit.

[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']Allow me to add some perspective. Yes, Wii hardware sales are down. But they are down from an unprecedented high of blowing the PS2 away. Now that its way down, its still doing quite well.

US Hardware Sales Benchmarks:

PS2 - 24,250,000 (46-month mark) (July 2004)
PS2 - 29,632,000 (58-month mark) (July 2005)

Xbox - 13,210,402 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
Xbox - 13,855,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

GCN - 9,763,241 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
GCN - 12,412,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

360 - 15,977,300 (46 months) (Aug 2009)
360 - 21,454,200 (58 months) (Aug 2010)

PS3 - 13,156,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)
Wii - 30,088,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)[/QUOTE]
 
Thats just from my NPD spreadsheet. Some of the old stuff has some rounding but it is generally considered accurate. I can send it to you if you like. Its open office but I can put it in any format you want.
 
That'd be awesome man, I appreciate it

[email protected]

We are chugging along and just establishing what markets Nintendo can enter into...it's pretty tough, but I feel like our campaign will be the best.

[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']Thats just from my NPD spreadsheet. Some of the old stuff has some rounding but it is generally considered accurate. I can send it to you if you like. Its open office but I can put it in any format you want.[/QUOTE]
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']Allow me to add some perspective. Yes, Wii hardware sales are down. But they are down from an unprecedented high of blowing the PS2 away. Now that its way down, its still doing quite well.

US Hardware Sales Benchmarks:

PS2 - 24,250,000 (46-month mark) (July 2004)
PS2 - 29,632,000 (58-month mark) (July 2005)

Xbox - 13,210,402 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
Xbox - 13,855,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

GCN - 9,763,241 (46-month mark) (Aug 2005)
GCN - 12,412,000 (58-month mark) (Aug 2006)

360 - 15,977,300 (46 months) (Aug 2009)
360 - 21,454,200 (58 months) (Aug 2010)

PS3 - 13,156,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)
Wii - 30,088,700 (46 months) (Aug 2010)[/QUOTE]I'm dying to put this in some sort of chart.. i just can't decide which type yet. I'm linking line or bar? But I do so love pie charts
 
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