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Nintendo
[Brand
Audit]
[This
is
a
comprehensive
brand
audit
of
Nintendo,
one
of
the
most
recognizable
brands
in
the
corporate
World
today.
It
contains
companys
historical
background,
the
brand
itself
and
the
associated
products.
The
audit
sums
up
with
the
analysis
of
the
brand
and
then
some
suggestions
for
the
future.
Daniyal Raza, Yegor Bryukhanov, Oskari Elojrvi, Linda Nummelin, Hao Chen Aalto University 1/19/2011
Nintendo
BRAND
AUDIT
Nintendo
CONTENTS
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 2
Brand
History
and
Ownership............................................................................................................... 2
Brand
Inventory .................................................................................................................................... 3
Industry
Description ......................................................................................................................... 4
Brand
Portfolio ................................................................................................................................. 5
Integrated
Marketing
Communications
(IMC).................................................................................. 9
Brand
Exploratory............................................................................................................................... 10
Sources
of
Brand
Equity ................................................................................................................. 10
Threats
to
Equity ............................................................................................................................ 13
Recommendations
and
Conclusions................................................................................................... 15
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................ 18
Appendix............................................................................................................................................. 19
Nintendo
Introduction:
Nintendo
is
one
of
the
biggest
brands
today.
The
success
story
of
the
company
is
a
long
one
yet
where
many
lessons
can
be
learnt.
Interbrand
listed
Nintendo
as
one
of
the
Best
Global
Brands
in
2010,
in
a
list
where
top
100
brands
were
Figure
1:
Nintendo
Brand
Logo
assembled.1
The
planning,
execution
and
implementation
of
Nintendos
business
strategy
is
fascinating.
It
is
astounding
to
see
how
Nintendo
was
able
to
build
such
a
unique,
strong
and
powerful
brand.
The
company
has
an
impressive
line
of
well-known
brands
and
clearly
Nintendo
is
the
brand
story
of
the
decade
from
Japan.
So
lets
get
to
know
how
Nintendo
accomplished
this
feat.
Nintendo
another.
1977
Nintendo
developed
their
first
home
video
game
machines,
TV
Game
15
and
TV
Game
6.
By
1982,
they
had
established
Nintendo
of
America
Inc.
in
Seattle,
Washington.
Then,
the
following
year
Nintendo
was
listed
on
the
first
section
of
Tokyo
Stock
exchange
and
they
released
the
home
video
game
console:
Family
Computer
System
which
had
a
CPU
(Central
Processing
Unit).
This
was
sold
as
the
Nintendo
Entertainment
System
(NES)
in
the
US,
where
it
was
introduced
1985
with
Super
Mario
Bros.
The
expansion
continued
when
NES
was
soon
introduced
into
Europe
as
well
in
1986.
The
company
continued
its
run
during
the
end
of
the
80s
and
the
beginning
of
90s
spawned
new
milestones
for
Nintendo.
Nintendo
introduced
the
famous
Gameboy,
which
is
a
hand-held
game
system,
entered
the
16- bit
game
console
market
with
Super
Famicom
in
Japan,
established
Nintendo
Europe
GmbH
in
Frankfurt,
and
then
went
on
to
release
the
Super
Nintendo
Entertainment
System
(SNES),
all
in
a
span
of
4
years
from
1989.
The
following
year
Nintendo
opened
subsidiaries
in
France,
UK,
and
Netherlands
etc.
and
then
released
Super
Gameboy.
Nintendo
64
was
launched
in
1996
and
the
famous
Pokmon
TV
started
in
19974.
The
turn
of
the
new
millennium
proved
to
be
good
for
the
business.
The
rest
is
history:
Nintendo
went
on
to
launch
several
innovative
and
distinctive
products,
Gameboy
Color
and
Advance,
Nintendo
GameCube,
Nintendo
DS
and
lastly
Nintendo
Wii.
These
innovations
of
Nintendo
started
a
new
era
in
the
company.
It
is
very
impressive
for
a
company
that
started
as
a
mere
playing
card
manufacturer
to
become
one
of
the
worlds
leading
video
games
and
entertainment
business.
Now,
we
will
look
at
some
of
the
factors
that
took
Nintendo
right
to
the
top
and
made
it
what
it
is
today.
Figure
2:
Brand
Japans
annual
survey
of
result
for
Nintendos
rankings
Brand
Inventory:
This
part
includes
a
comprehensive
analysis
of
brands
related
factors
internal
to
Nintendo.
Industry
Description:
Nintendo
primarily
operates
in
the
industry
of
video
gaming.
Video
gaming
industry
consists
of
producing
and
selling
game
consoles,
games
for
them,
various
attributes
for
them
as
well
as
4
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2010/annual1003e.pdf
Nintendo
games for PCs. The competition in the industry is steadily heavy and there are three main players on the market: Sony (Playstation 3) Nintendo Co.Ltd. (Nintendo Wii) Microsoft (Xbox 360)
Production and development of consoles and games is affiliated with technological innovations, so companies have to invest very much in Research and Development, and the product life cycles are relatively short and vary from 2-3 years. Consoles that support high quality graphics and superior games usually dominate the market. The industry is characterized by high switching costs, because manufacturers design games to be played only on their consoles, which, given an average price of 500$ for a console, makes it difficult for the customer to switch from a particular brand of console. That is why every console guarantees sales of the games. In our view the key factors for success in this industry are: Ability to establish strong brand name Ability to quickly adopt new technology Ability to take advantage on economies of scale Anticipate competitors moves
Therefore, we conclude that it is essential for players on the market to attract new customers and retain them or search for new untargeted market segments in which their competitors are not yet involved.
Brand
Portfolio:
At
the
moment,
Nintendo
has
two
major
products5:
Wii
and
Nintendo
DS.
Nintendo
also
develops
and
releases
new
games
for
their
consoles
from
time
to
time.
Lets
have
a
look
at
Nintendos
product
line,
one
by
one:
http://www.nintendo.com/
Nintendo
Wii
Launched
in
2006,
Wii
is
one
of
Nintendos
prime
products.
The
product
was
a
huge
success
and
gained
unprecedented
popularity.
The
success
of
Wii
not
only
depended
upon
a
great
product,
but
Wii
had
several
distinguishing
features
which
made
it
better
than
many
of
its
competitors.
The
wireless
controller
can
be
used
as
handheld
pointing
device
and
thus
it
can
detect
movements
in
three
dimensions.
The
name,
Wii,
conveyed
the
products
image
but
it
went
on
to
be
symbolic:
Wii
was
for
everyone,
not
only
for
professional
gamers,
and
it
created
an
association
with
Unity,
exclusively
targeting
a
broader
market
especially
families.
Figure
3:
Nintendo
Wii
The
main
competitors
of
Wii
are
Microsoft
Xbox
360
and
Sony
PlayStation
3.
Both
of
them
were
already
established
in
the
market
and
Nintendo
couldn't
compete
against
them
because
it
didn't
have
good
enough
products.
When
Nintendo
was
launching
Wii,
it
realized
that
Sony
and
Microsoft
have
equipment
that
has
better
technologyhigher
performance,
higher
resolution
and
higher
quality
that
appeals
to
heavy
users
such
as
younger
segments,
especially
teens,
and
professional
and
traditional
gamers.
So,
Nintendo
spotted
the
marketing
opportunity.
Thus
firstly,
instead
of
going
head-to-head
with
Xbox
and
PS3,
Nintendo
moved
away
from
competing
on
high- tech
innovation.
It
decided
to
focus
on
quality
with
lower
technology
console,
which
could
priced
significantly
lower
than
their
main
competitors'
consoles,
plus
it
would
not
have
more
complex
programs
to
write
for6.
Secondly,
and
brilliantly,
Nintendo
targeted
a
different,
broader
market.
This
increased
the
scope
of
the
sales
of
the
product
Figure
4:
Console
Sales
for
first
six
month
totals.
because
Nintendo
moved
their
target
from
young,
game- loving
males
to
a
larger
segment.
They
wanted
to
create
a
console
aimed
also
at
the
older
and
younger
audience
and
provide
a
complete
family
entertainment
which
could
also
serve
as
a
social
tool.
The
idea
was
to
enhance
social
experience
with
friends
and
family
instead
of
6
http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Publications/MarketingNews/2010/10_30_10/Aaker%20on%2 0branding.pdf
Nintendo
isolating the gamer. For this purpose Nintendo created social games which would be easy to play. It might also be interesting to add here that Nintendo also targeted Wii generally to females, especially to mothers. As the traditional game market is generally assumed to consist of hardcore male gamers, this created a point of difference for their product. As mentioned above, games that are easy to play, low price, complete family experience and all these other positive attributes created points of differences. Points of parity with competitors were that Wii was a console that was popular, reliable, and enjoyable and of a good quality. Lastly, Nintendo developed a new trend, and applied it specifically to Wii. Nintendo launched a new category of games called "casual games". These games required less skill and experience of video games, and were aimed to appeal to a wide range of family members. Nintendos creative design group created amazing games to enforce this strategy. The new casual games category went from 1% of the market to more than 20% by 2005, as published in a study of popular gaming magazine Enterbrain Inc. Thats why, Wii sales shot up quickly and exceeded the sales of other consoles until that point. See Figure 4.
Nintendo
DS
Nintendo
DS
is
a
hand-held
gaming
console,
an
essential
part
of
Nintendos
brand
inventory
and
is
considered
to
be
successor
of
Game
Boy.
Game
Boy
was
the
first
console
to
ever
create
a
market
for
hand-held
gaming
devices
in
1989.
When
Game
Boys
product
life
cycle
was
coming
to
an
end,
Nintendo
released
DS
in
January
2004.
Console
targets
gamers
in
the
Figure
5:
Target
Market
of
Nintendo
DS. age
group
from
five
to
seventeen
years
old,
by
offering
high
degree
of
involvement;
touch
screen
stereo
support
and
ability
of
multiplayer.
According
to
Simmons(need
a
reference),
among
households
with
children,
those
with
children
age
of
1217
account
for
38%
of
users
of
Nintendo
DS,
and
those
with
children
611
for
another
33%.
Conversely,
households
of
1
or
2
persons
(generally
meaning
those
without
children)
strongly
resist
ownership.
The
primary
competition
rises
from
the
introduction
of
PSP
console
(Portable
Sony
PlayStation)
by
Sony
in
2005.
However,
PSP
was
targeting
older
audiences
and
heavily
relayed
on
advanced
technology,
therefore,
the
price
for
PSP
was
higher
than
for
Nintendo
DS.
Nintendo
Nintendo was able to beat its competitor with lower prices. In the targeted age group parents are buying consoles and games for their children, and they tend to be more aware of the price rather than technology. Therefore, Nintendo DS is a current market leader in its category. Nintendo added several extensions to its product range, for example Nintendo DS lite, which was thinner version of DS and Nintendo DSi that added two digital cameras and enabled Internet connection with Nintendo online store. These features were designed to enhance personalization and encourage every family member to buy a console, at the same time leaving the primary target market at its initial level. In addition, Nintendo is planning to launch the newest version, Nintendo 3DS in February 2011, which will support 3D format without a need to use special 3D glasses and will make web surfing more convenient.
Nintendo
Games
Nintendo
has
a
history
of
producing
high-quality
and
unique
games
for
consoles.
The
world- famous
ones
include
super
Mario
series,
sonic
series
and
Donkey
Kong,
etc.
Now
Nintendo
focuses
on
product
games
for
Wii
and
Nintendo
DS.
In
comparison
with
its
competitors,
like
most
computer
games
and
PS3
or
XBOX
games,
Nintendos
games
have
their
unique
features:
they
tend
to
be
more
fun
and
cartoon-like.
They
attract
people
by
the
pure
fun
from
game
experience
rather
than
by
best
graphic
performance
along
with
stimulating
realistic
features.
Moreover,
the
game
experience
is
totally
different
compared
to
traditional
games.
The
games
in
Wii
are
more
physical,
requiring
body
movements,
and
the
games
in
Nintendo
DS
use
a
Figure
6:
Super
Mario
Bros
for
DS
touch
style
and
enable
more
people
to
play
at
the
same
time.
The
target
markets
of
Nintendos
games
vary
from
kids
aged
5
to
the
fun-loving
gamers
including
teenagers
and
adults,
who
would
like
to
play
for
entertainment.
Another
different
feature
is
that
the
games
are
specially
designed
only
for
its
own
consoles.
It
means
that
Nintendo
could
perfectly
combine
the
game
characteristics
with
the
consoles
feature.
Sony
and
Microsoft,
their
games
are
produced
by
the
third
party.
Usually,
the
game
producers
will
launch
their
games
on
PC,
Xbox
and
PS3
at
the
same
time
and
therefore,
customers
have
wider
choice.
On
the
contrary,
Sony
and
Microsoft
will
compete
with
each
other
because
their
games
are
supplied
by
the
same
producers.
Nintendo
The biggest threat is that other games have better graphic performance and are more exciting. This encourages only professional gamers, teens and hardcore heavy user to play. On the other hand, Nintendos games are designed such that they appeals to a wider audience, and one of the aims is to attract the non-gamers to start playing games and have fun.
Nintendo
10
Nintendo
consumers are telling positive things about the brand, it is very effective and believable, but on the other hand it is impossible to control. In general, Nintendo covers its target markets well. For example, when it launched Wii, it advertised successfully the console for family mothers. This was very smart, as Wii became the first console for the whole family, connecting different generations and bringing family together. The advertisements are consistent with the brand and games, consoles and characters all participate in building brand equity for each other. However, there is a danger that Nintendo leans on their old characters and forgets to educate possible new consumers. A problem for Nintendo is also the lack of big communities. Nintendo has an official Nintendo Club, but it mostly provides only technical support and information on the products. What Nintendo is missing is clearly an official online society of Nintendo lovers, sharing and caring about the brand, participating and living the brand. What Nintendo should add to its marketing mix is discussed in the final part of the brand audit report.
Brand
Exploratory:
This
explores
the
sources
of
equity
of
the
product
from
the
consumers
point
of
view.
Sources
of
Brand
Equity
In
our
opinion
the
main
sources
that
determine
current
strength
of
Nintendos
brand
equity
are:
Nintendo
Generation
Its
iconic
game
characters
(Mario
Brothers,
Zelda,
Megaman,
Donkey
Kong,
etc.)
Nintendo
Wii
Now,
we
are
going
to
discuss
each
one
of
the
attributes
in
more
detail
including
certain
associations
and
perceptions
that
consumers
have
developed
towards
each
of
the
categories.
Nintendo Generation: The launch of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1986 turned the whole industry around. Sales of over 61 million units before 1995, helped the company to create brand awareness and strong brand associations with the product. Being the first console of its kind Nintendo Entertainment System was able to attract vast number of customers that nowadays are referred to as Nintendo generation, the pioneer gamers that had a chance to try out the first Nintendo
11
Nintendo
consoles. According to Michael Critz, an Emmy winning designer: The Nintendo Generation constitutes the same group of people who are old enough to remember the Soviet Union yet young enough to master the Internet: roughly, people who are now between the ages of 25 and 37. For these people Nintendo is an iconic and lifestyle brand that resembles their nostalgic feelings about their childhood and fun they used to have playing their first NES or SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). These positive associations of already established group of loyal customers help Nintendo in building its brand equity at the level of personal affiliation and resonance. Slogans, being chosen for the promotion of NES: Have you had your fun today? and Now you are playing Figure 10: Nintendo Generation with the power, clearly illustrate the core values communicated by the brand. The primary message sent by the brand was designed to leverage concepts of fun, entertainment and to highlight the product as a pioneer and powerful one in contrast to those of its competitors. Also, Nintendo was able to sustain its image of vintage and nostalgia when introducing new products, even though the company might not have wanted it. The concept of Nintendo Generation was described in the literature by David Sheff, who wrote the book titled Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered The World. The book described the history of the company as well as the tools company used to establish strong brand resonance among customers. Although the book was written in 1994, when Nintendos brand was exceptionally strong, the fact that the book was written shows that the brand was able to create resonance and was highly recognizable around the world. So, in our opinion, the concept of Nintendo Generation and a status of a pioneer brand in the industry contribute strongly to the brand equity of the company in the positive way. Along with the launch of NES, the company created several game characters for the console and was able to leverage their image in the future. Characters: On a par with the introduction of NES, Nintendo introduced several game characters that along with the brand growth escalated into indivisible parts of Nintendo brand identity and are major contributors to the brands equity today. Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong and Link were essentially developed for the NES and after consoles tremendous success became associated with it. It was the NES that made Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, and Megaman kitchen-table names. Needless to say that those iconic characters are a huge source of Nintendos brand equity, due to their visibility and Nintendos strategy of continuous leveraging of their images. Super Mario Brothers is known worldwide and even included into
12
Nintendo
the
Guinness
Book
of
Records
as
the
most
sold
video
game
in
the
history.
Mario
is
considered
to
be
one
of
the
most
recognizable
artificial
characters
ever
created7.
Nintendo
leverages
the
image
of
Mario
Brothers
in
almost
every
advertising
campaign,
even
in
case
of
Wii,
which
is
going
to
be
discussed
further;
Marios
image
appears
even
though
Nintendo
is
struggling
not
to
associate
Wii
with
its
own
image.
Moreover,
customers
tend
to
associate
themselves
with
their
favorite
characters,
because
of
the
strong
commitment
to
the
heroes.
Undoubtedly,
there
is
a
resonance
towards
Nintendo
game
personages,
which
can
be
compared
to
the
resonance
of
Disney
cartoon
heroes.
Combined
with
heritage
associations
of
nostalgic
brand
identity,
Nintendos
Figure
11
indicators
of
companys
strong
brand
equity.
While
Nintendo's
main
brand
and
industry
competitors
do
not
have
such
famous
and
branded
characters
in
their
games,
they
have
established
other
points
of
difference
that
will
be
discussed
further.
Considering
the
fact
that
in
gaming
industry
sold
consoles
almost
guarantee
the
sale
of
games,
it
is
a
huge
competitive
advantage
of
Nintendo
in
having
customers
that
are
loyal
not
only
to
technological
innovations
but
also
to
the
game
characters
and
their
image.
Game
characters
support
customers
associations
that
arise
from
the
Nintendos
image
of
fun,
entertainment
and
nostalgia.
However,
being
constantly
updated
and
enriched
characters
image
reflects
fashionable
and
trendy
appearance
at
the
same
time.
Moreover,
Nintendo
actively
franchises
brand
identity
of
its
characters
to
other
companies
in
various
industries.
This
move
by
Nintendo
only
supports
the
widespread
knowledge
and
awareness
of
its
game
heroes,
contributing
to
the
brand
equity.
On
the
Internet
we
can
see
a
huge
number
of
forums
dedicated
to
the
discussion
of
Nintendo
brand
and
its
characters.
It
is
common
to
see
a
forum
or
an
article
titled:
Which
of
Nintendo
characters
are
you?
What
else
is
that
if
not
a
brand
resonance?
Finally,
Mario
Brothers,
Donkey
Kong
and
Zelda
appear
in
renovated
image
in
the
games
designed
for
new
revolutionary
console
that
was
launched
in
2006
in
order
to
fight
back
Nintendos
leading
positions
in
the
industry.
7
http://web.archive.org/web/20060317005503/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp ?recordid=52404
13
Nintendo
Wii: Pronounced like We, supported by the slogan: Wii would like to play and symbolizing community spirit and group entertainment, and involvement, Nintendo Wii is one of the greatest sources of equity for the brand of Nintendo nowadays. The product was able to combine the abovementioned sources of Nintendos brand equity in it in a very successful manner. Now, Mario Brothers, Zelda and Donkey Kong were able to move according with the players body motion due to the technologically innovative attributes called sensor bar. By targeting very wide range of customers in completely different age categories Wii added associations of sport, motion and represented new activity of socially and physically interactive entertainment for any age. From now on, Nintendo was no more an outdated and obsolete brand, which it was perceived after the failure of GameCube, now it was brand-new, family-oriented and trendy brand that combined almost incompatible associations. Nostalgic, but modern; family-oriented, but trendy; cheap, but high performing all these associations were new to Nintendo and the industry on the whole. The name Wii was easily pronounceable in all languages, contrary to Xbox that was often mispronounced in, for example, Japan. Also, the white color, used for the console symbolized peaceful sense and family environment, unlike Sony, that looked like high-tech beast for hardcore gamers with its black color. Target market that Wii chose was absolutely untraditional for the industry; therefore, a number of new perceptions and associations were formed. Wii with all its advertisements and promotional campaign encouraged people to move and be active, treats that have never been leveraged before, because gaming has always been considered rather static form of entertainment. Strategic launch of the product, during the holiday session, created agiotage about the brand. Nintendos cooperation with major retailers and specialty electronic stores around the globe made the product visible and available for the potential customers. Combined with affordable price and visibility of the brand Wiis launch turned out to be a boom in the market. Numerous promotional campaigns contributed to the brand equity of the product very much. Nintendo Wii was able to combine vintage associations of the brand that arouse from the phenomenon of Nintendo Generation with renovated, but easily recognizable characters that were still included into the games designed for Wii. Wise combination of all possible images and associations enabled Nintendo to boost its equity and relive the brand for the customers.
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hundred. This is a serious threat to the brand equity of Nintendo as contemporary consumers are more aware how environmentally friendly they want their purchases to be. The loss of the environmentally conscious gamers could cause serious damage to the brand equity as the demographic is getting larger over time. Overall, getting a zero for environmental friendliness from a prominent environmental protection organization is a bad press and, hence, is a serious threat to the brand image of Nintendo unless Nintendo begins proactively improving the eco- friendliness of their products. Failure to Utilize Well Established Sub-brands: In the modern gaming market gamers are being exposed to lot of new characters that take their minds off of previously existing ones. This means that Nintendo will need to place extra efforts on keeping the gamers interested in their games through marketing sub-brands, such as: Super Mario. If a population of gamers begins to forget what Nintendo is because they are not marketing themselves enough by using all their sub-brands and the umbrella brand itself, then the value of the brand will depreciate and result in lower brand equity. Failure to Supply Customers: Nintendos previous failures to supply their customers with their products due to demand spikes has left consumers bitter as they have had to purchase their Nintendo products online for two to three times of the retail price. This results in bad publicity as consumers are paying sky high prices for their products due to the demand. Bad publicity always results in a decrease in brand equity and hence this can be considered a threat to Nintendo. This has previously occurred due to dependency on secondary manufacturers of components not being able to supply Nintendo on time. Failure to Meet Quality Standards: This has not previously occurred to Nintendo, but if it does it will scare the consumers. Nintendo has never had a promise of quality standard for customers. They have only used a Nintendo Seal of Quality that does not give any real guarantee of product quality, but rather indicates that the product is from Nintendo and hence quality should be expected. This is a problem as customers are becoming more and more aware of quality products and expect a guarantee of quality, not just an assumption. If Nintendo happens to face a quality problem and the consumers do not feel as they are appreciated by Nintendo (due to them not guaranteeing their products), then Nintendo will face a loss in brand equity because of a damaged brand image. Deviation from Brand Identity: Nintendo should not begin to deviate from what it has always done: provide games and consoles to the consumers. Nintendo should not start extending the brand to non-related areas as they have previously done. An example of this is when Nintendos sub-brand Super Mario was used to extend the brand into childrens books. This brand extension proved to be damaging to the brand equity as the companys brand identity is
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not about childrens books and learning processes. If Nintendo does the same mistake as mentioned previously, then Nintendos target segment will begin to change gradually along with the brand identity. This results in the loss of customers and a change in brand equity.
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We view Apple Inc. as a competitor of the future. Nowadays, with the development of smartphone industry, its main players, particularly Iphone offers a number of attractive applications to its customers to choose from. Although Iphone does not offer the same degree of involvement as Nintendo, but Iphones application may be a great threat in the future, due to constant technological innovations. If they become more sophisticated, then Nintendo and the console industry may experience severe problems. Moreover, with the launch of Ipad, a new threat for Nintendo emerges. Although Ipad does not support Flash, there have been a number of applications developed specifically for it. Higher resolution and the size of the screen in Ipad enable players to be involved in a full manner. In our view Nintendo should find ways to anticipate possible threats from competing companies on all the levels by constant screening and strategic planning of the market. Benchmarking of its competitors is especially essential. In our view one of the main competitors is Apple Inc. and Nintendo should be aware of it, because it may revolutionize the whole industry. 3. Anti-piracy issues. Piracy problem is very serious in developing countries such as China, Vietnam and it caused huge profit losses for Nintendo (citaton needed, seems like off the head). Even through the piracy is not only for Nintendos games, it extends to PC software and harms some of its competitors like PSP, Nintendo still should take some action to protect its brand. For example, Nintendo could use more advanced secret codes to develop its software so that it cant be easily broken into and illegally copied. Successful brand should be legally protected; therefore Nintendo should treat this issue very carefully. Nintendo could also build in some chips to make its game consoles support only official softwares and encourage legal downloading of its games from the Internet. Besides, Nintendo could operate with international or local NGOS to put pressure on government for piracy. 4. Building brand equity with marketing Nintendo should definitely start to use social media. The fact that they have already millions of fans on Facebook without doing anything shows that there is a huge potential. As other companies have proved, social media is a great channel in attaching customers to the brand tighter than ever before, and that is exactly what Nintendo wants to do. Even though Nintendo has already achieved the goal of bringing families together, it can also bring larger groups together. The company might be worried about revealing secrets and being open, but we believe that it is possible to join the social networks without giving out confidential information.
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Marketing in social media is of course costly, but comparing to TV advertising it is really cheap and effective. People who join the pages are doing it voluntarily and they want to participate. Establishing a Facebook page is essential in our opinion. There should be regular updates and interesting content, and Nintendo should take part in discussions that rise in the page. A good way to add more value for consumers and create a community would be to arrange events and competitions on the web page and asking consumers opinions about the Nintendo games and consoles. A Facebook page would be a way of showing how the company cares about the customers, and it would strengthen the brand resonance. Nintendo could join also YouTube and use it as a channel to show the expensive TV ads it has created, as well as including some interviews from CEO Satoru Iwata. As there is already Iwata asks category on the official website which is really hard to find, this could bring more viewers and followers. At the moment there are some Nintendo videos on YouTube, but they are not organized in any way and they all have one common feature: low watch rates. 5. In-game advertising. Already established strong brand equity of Nintendo opens tremendous opportunities for the company on the in-game advertising market. In-game advertising refers to the form of advertising which gamers are experiencing while playing certain games on computers or consoles Nintendos games are bestsellers and its characters are iconic. To our mind, Nintendo should leverage predicted growth of the in-game advertising market as a source of revenue for the company. However, an ideal balance should be found in order not to damage the brand equity with too much advertising, because, otherwise Figure 12: In game advertising market in the US customers may be unsatisfied with Nintendos excessive concentration on advertising in its game. Although Nintendo has already implemented this concept into some of its games such as Pikmin 2 or Madden NFL; we think there is still a room for development in this industry for Nintendo.
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Bibliography
"Best Global Brands Ranking for 2010." Interbrand. N.p., 2011. <http://www.interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best- global-brands- 2010.aspx>. Rpt. in Interbrand. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Interbrand. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. Nintendo. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nintendo.com/>. "The Lucky Birth." N-sider. N.p., 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. Nintendo. Annual Report 2010 (2010). PDF file. http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2010/annual1003e.pdf "Nintendo: Japans Brand Story of the Decade." viewpoint: n. pag. PDF file. http://www.marketingpower.com/ResourceLibrary/Publications/MarketingNew s/2010/10_30_10/Aaker%20on%20branding.pdf Simmons Market Research Bureau. (2002). Simmons national consumer survey. New York. 18. Jan.2011. "Best-Selling Video Game." Guinness World Records. N.p., 2005. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. <http://web.archive.org/web/20060317005503/http://www.guinnessworldrecor ds.com/content_pages/ record.asp?recordid=52404>. Who Are Nintendos Competitors?. CNBC. 13 Nov. 2009. Siliconera. Web. Transcript. 18 Jan. 2011. <http://www.siliconera.com/2009/11/13/who-are-nintendos-competitors/>. Hartley, Matt. "Why Is The Nintendo Wii So Successful?" SMARTHOUSE. N.p., 12 Sept. 2007. Web. 18 Jan. 2011. <http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Industry/F4U3N4C3>. "Building Brand Association through In-Game Advertising." Tata Consultancy Service (2008): n. pag. PDF file.
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Appendix
Figure
1:
Mental
Map
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Nintendo
Resonance
Judgments
High quality, reliable and durable consoles Nintendo is seen as expert and trustworthy in their field
Feelings
Often
perceived
as
fun,
entertaining,
exciting,
creative,
approved
Nintendo has been able to fulfill the consumers needs and go beyond the expectations Wii has proven to be reliable, durable and service (Nintendo Club) is available as well
Performance
Strong brand Consumers perceive playing games favorable and enjoyable Nintendo provides unique experience of fun time with family and friends
Imagery
Salience
Very
high
brand
recall
and
recognition
Breadth
of
awareness
competes
with
all
free-time
services
and
products
and
does
well