We Know – You Don’t!*

I’m stoked! The Nintendo Wii product launch is a brand developer/marketers wet dream of a case study. They made a money engine that is no gimmick and is here to serve the public at large.

Where do we start!

• Being first in a saturated market category.
• Tapping into current social concerns: obesity, health and family.
• Addressing consumer apprehension of cost and availability.

Being first. For the console wars, Nintendo saw that being best was not a being a “first” category that they could win. Let Sony and Microsoft figure that one out – and perhaps at their expense (Sony loses money on each console). Nintendo’s pledge was to re-invite the larger public back to video gaming at any age. Sort of like –were all in this life thing together, so let’s play.

This pledge took the form of their new controller. The Wii Remote became a “first” in a category that Nintendo had the ingenuity to invent. That’s smart strategy. Strategy that can roll a thousand PR and news stories on –and you can see it reinforced in their advertising and marketing media.

As form follows function – it may be safe to assume that in the Nintendo boardroom they made a pledge to make gaming fun again for all people – especially for families and groups. This is where the Wii Remote design and game engine really took shape.

Current American social concerns. We can’t really know what went on at Nintendo HQ. Perhaps its just serendipity that has the new Wii Remote & Nunchuk controllers getting consumers off the couch in a fat obsessed America (NYC Bans Trans Fats : Super Size Me : Fast Food Nation : Kirstie Alley).

Every ad and early news release has centered on the product giving us an experience of coming together with loved ones and family to smile, shake and move. Any concerned parent who sees their beloved youth alone and sitting there staring at a screen or feeling a disconnect with the family is going to be motivated to buy a Wii in the hopes that their child’s metabolism will kick in and that they’ll open up and go play well with others.

When we see the ads, the clips posted on YouTube, the Wii Experience website itself, we’re spying on ourselves; like Jane Goodall, monkey see–monkey do. We can’t help but say; “I want to laugh with my friends like that!” The social benefits of the product are highlighted. Not art directed. Not focused on the physical design of the box. Not hyping the spec sheet. Not something artistically new in creative presentation. Every impression serves to remove the barrier to entry and give us vicarious living through fun media presentation.

With the TV ads themselves, someone did get just a hair too creative. Thank goodness they still include the family playing together, and that’s their main focus. The other portion of each ad seems to be like a plug for Japanese social relations and some sort of car ad. Yes we understand that Japanese are polite and will bow when they offer you a video game system at your door. Are those two actors/spokespersons showing up in real life and doing that? –That would be better. Get them doing that on video and YouTube it! Nintendo may come from Japan – but gamers live in a global landscape.

Ok wait –I have to go into the most powerful position Nintendo created for itself –the power of the AND! Consumers are reporting to news media that not only will they buy a Sony Playstation 3 OR an Xbox 360, but that they will buy one of those high end consoles AND a Nintendo Wii because of its low price point and unique playing experience. They have captured everyone.

Who’s Bad? Nintendo’s Bad! Check the rollout numbers. Wii has sold over 600,000 units (and counting) with a promise to ship 4 million units by the end of the year, while Sony has sold anywhere from 175K to 400K with a promise to ship one million units by the end of the year.

Was it strategy at work here? Was it just good timing? There are many, many, factors in an international product launch –no duh! But we can look back and say “Wow, good job, there’s something to take note of here.” –Tools and strategies that any campaign has the opportunity to utilize, especially if your product or service is a “first” or “leader” in its category. A good product with a good mission made for great PR and communications with the advertising serving to reinforce what newsgroups and peer networks were already reporting –Fun!

I want one!

(Story image from Nintendo Wii site.)