Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Historically speaking, Nintendo has been known for the outlandish way it chooses to advertise it's products. The advertisement  campaign for it's 3DS handheld gaming console was by far the most peculiar. The campaign was called "I'm Not a Gamer" and it involved  actors and athletes playing the console then proudly stating that they're not gamers. This was done to appeal to non gamers and I guess show that you don't have to be a "gamer" to enjoy playing video games on the 3DS. The campaign wasn't well received as many felt that it "missed the mark" when it came to successful advertisement. Internet spoofs of the campaign began to spread like wildfire and Nintendo discontinued the campaign.

A parody of "I'm Not a Gamer"

Nintendo has been focused on consumer's lifestyles when advertising their products with the general theme of happiness. Nintendo advertisements try to convey that if you buy their products, you and your family will be much happier and closer than ever. On occassion, they've been known to employ humor as well in their advertisements as in the case of "Super Smash Brothers", released in 1999 for their N64 console.

I used to find this commercial HILARIOUS

The mediums typically used by Nintendo for advertisement are TV commercials and magazine ads(typically within gaming entertainment publications). Nintendo also at one point had it's own dedicated magazine called "Nintendo Power" which focused on all Nintendo related video game news and reviews for games. It ran from 1988 till it was discontinued in 2012. Nintendo power used to give gamers news surrounding their newest products 1st before other publications and also offered demos of upcoming games periodically. Personally speaking, playing demos of games not released yet was always an exciting thing for me. I always felt a little superior to my friends if I got to play something 1st and that usually makes me buy the game when it is released, so I can definitely see the logic in giving away free demos.

R.I.P. Nintendo Power =(

Ch.14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Nintendo uses the Retailer Channel type of Marketing Channels for selling and distributing its wares. They also use Direct Channel marketing by way of it's e-shop and Nintendo World stores with one being located here in NYC, near 34th street. I however didn't visit this store but visited a Gamestop store around my way. Gamestop is by far the largest video game specialty chains still in existence in this country. Other big chains such as Best Buy, Target and Walmart may sell video games in their respective electronics sections, but Gamestop's main focus has always been video games(although within recent years they've been selling other electronic devices such as iPads and Beats by Dre headphones).

Being a video game specialty store, Gamestop of course sells Nintendo games and consoles as well as Nintendo's competitor's wares. From my observations over the many(MANY) years of shopping at various Gamestop chains I noticed something now that I''m actively researching Nintendo that I failed to notice before: the Nintendo section is almost always located in the front of the store and if not in the front, within close proximity to the cash register.

A photo from my visit to the Gamestop on Flatbush Junction, Brooklyn

I feel really dumb for noticing this now(I've been shopping for games at Gamestop since I was a preteen) but now that I see it, I can understand why it's always in those locations. I think it's like this to easily catch the eye(or quickly distract) younger gamers before they notice the more mature content Microsoft and Sony tend to produce. Im not a reeeaaal big Nintendo gamer( I just own a 3DS for gaming on the go) so I usually have to weave through a crowd of small children in order to reach the Xbox and Playstation sections all the way in the back of the stores. Its crazy. Now everytime I'm in a Gamestop I'm going to be conscious of this.

Anyways, as a retailer, Gamestop is good for general society looking to find games or consoles conveniently. They sell new and used games at fair prices and often have promotional sales in store and/or online. If you want to sell anything however, I STRONGLY suggest you look elsewhere. Gamestop's selling and trading in policies are hilariously unfair. Seriously. Its such common knowledge within the gaming community, its an internet meme. Sell on amazon.com, ebay.com or a "mom and pop" game store if you want a good return for selling games. With that said, Gamestop is pretty decent otherwise, always well stocked and scarcely having shortages(especially in the case of Nintendo). I've been a customer for years and have several games on reserve as I'm writing this. I shop there for the convenience factor mostly, but for REAL gamers, Gamestop really isn't all that hot.

Alot of these Gamestop memes are hilarious

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Nintendo has attempted to incorporate the idea of their gaming consoles going above and beyond just playing video games. With their most recent consoles( Wii, Wii U and 3DS), Nintendo has built them in a way that they've become more like "media boxes" than video game consoles. They have the ability to go on social networking sites like facebook via built-in apps, search the web using a web browser, and stream videos from Netflix and Youtube.

Nintendo wants their consoles to be the centerpieces of everyone's entertainment centers. The problem is, Nintendo's major competitors Sony and Microsoft have been doing the same thing for MUCH longer than Nintendo has and arguably do it way better. Back in 1999, Sega(who no longer make gaming consoles) released the Dreamcast. Dreamcast was the 1st gaming console that had the ability to connect to the internet. Playing games with people across the world, browsing the web at a time when not everyone had access to a desktop computer, and playing music CDs, Dreamcast was revolutionary. Sony took notice to the popularity of Sega's Dreamcast and set off to create the successor to the Playstation with the changing consumer tastes that the Dreamcast started. In 2000, Sony released the Playstation 2(PS2), a console that did everything the Dreamcast did, but better. The graphics for gaming were better, the online functionality was better and it had the added bonus of being the 1st console to also have a built-in DVD player. The PS2 swiftly put the revolutionary Dreamcast to sleep by the end of 2001(I was 11 at the time and was really bummed out about it. I really liked Dreamcast . . . .). Now Sony changed the battlefield, and Microsoft decided to join the fight with their 1st console, the Xbox in the same year. Xbox did pretty much the same thing that PS2 did, had better graphics and better media integration, and a built-in hardrive but made the mistake of not including a DVD player so the PS2 continued to dominate the market.

Now here's where Nintendo's blunder comes in. Nintendo was developing their latest entry during the life cycle of Dreamcast and during the development cycles of both PS2 and Xbox. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo failed to pay notice to the impact the Dreamcast had on the market and the shift in tastes for consumers so when they released their Gamecube in the same year, it ended up doing less than both PS2 and Xbox. Nintendo had to release the console at a much lower price than the competition to make it appealing. Historically speaking, the Gamecube was a failure compared to older Nintendo systems.

Fast forward to 2005-2006 and its the dawn of Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Both of these systems aimed to drastically improve the functionality of their predecessors. This was the beginning of social media becoming popular and so there was focus on making gaming more social. Nintendo was also developing their newest console, the Wii. The Wii's gimmick was that it used motion controls so gaming became more of an exercise under the guise of playing games. Nintendo was adamant in not going in the same direction as Sony and Microsoft. At 1st, the Wii(which released before both PS3 and X360) did really well. It was the ultimate party/exercise machine . . . buuuuuuuut when the fad eventually died down, Nintendo found itself in a similar situation it had with the Gamecube.

Now its 2014. Nintendo now has it's newest console, Wii U on sale that does what Sony's new PS4 and Microsoft's new Xbox One does and at a lower price point. It seems as though they've learned their lesson when it comes to paying attention to the tastes and behaviors of consumers, but it seems as though its too little too late. Both Sony and Microsoft continue to dominate console sales despite being more expensive(I personally own a PS4 with no desire to buy a Wii U). As a consumer you'd have to be crazy to go for the inferior product. Consumers who want entertainment centerpieces as well as gaming consoles will always go with the console they feel holds a stronger presence, something they can brag about to their friends. "Yeah, I got a PS4" just sounds better than "Yeah, I got a Wii U" plain and simple.