Nintendo WII Marketing strategy

Nintendo discovered that in order to succeed in its business undertakings, it needs totarget different groups of consumers that are sure to earn them a substantial profit. Ittherefore purposed to intensify its promotion strategies to high earning individuals most ofwhom were young adults and therefore interested in video games. Their target customerscomprised of members of the armed forces that were mostly interested in golf, teachers thatmostly took wine and other citizens who owned pets (4b_ntendo 2006). After grouping thegroups in such segments, they had to consider how much they earned.

Looking at the three groups, they are probably the highest spenders due to the highincome that they receive. There are also other companies that are targeting such groups. Forinstance, the golfers may also be targeted by the sports wear company in an effort to bringthem the current sports wears. They are therefore competing with Nintendo for a share intheir spending (Derval 2008). Teachers that were also targeted have a passion for wine andthey are also likely to spend some of their income on wine. Wine companies will thereforecompete with Nintendo for the share in their spending. Citizens were also identified to have apassion for pets; as Nintendo will be trying hard to market their video games, the petscompany will also be trying hard to make them buy their pets. This will therefore result intohigh competition.

The importance of such segmentation is to ensure that Nintendo knows how tostrategize so that it can gain the biggest share in the market. Knowing the interests of thegroup being targeted is important for a company that desires to win such customers in future (Farhoomand 2008). It may not be easy to change people’s interests but the kind of productsthat are manufactured can be done in a way that that will influence their decisions.

Positioning map of WiiSource (http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/07/xbox%20wii.png)Nintendo faced a tight competition from other similar companies which made it tostrategize on new means that would ensure that it secures a share in the market. The companytherefore decided to target individuals that were not into video game. The strategies wereaimed at influencing the individuals to start playing the games and be its potential customers by designing simpler games that were easy and interesting to play. Such games were also totarget individuals of all age groups irrespective of their gender or social status (4b_ntendo2006). The games were based on real scenarios of life rather than the common ones that arebased on fantasy. The Wii is a game that is preferred by all groups of people includingstudents and patients. Doctors and teachers have encouraged patients and students to play thegames as a way of exercising their brains. They are usually used to stimulate their brains andmake them alert.

The company also introduced a WI-FI which is a connection device that allowedusers of a DS to play the game with other users that could be using a wireless device. This isa strategy that really worked out for the company. The company managed to sell over seventy million units all over the world. Some of the games featured that earned the companya great deal of money were nintendogs and brainage. Nintendogs was mostly liked by thefemales who would play with the dogs as pets and do literally everything that they would doto a real pet by the touch of a button (Derval, 2008). The brainage game on the other handwas mainly composed of puzzles that were meant to train the brain.

The ultimate success for Nintendo was experienced in 2000 when it launched aconsole segment game Wii. The company used similar strategies of non-game players to winmore customers. The Wii was a small machine that was controlled by a machine similar to aremote control. Those who played the game would control the movements in the game usingnavigation keys. This was a simple technique that allowed all kind of users to play their favorite games like boxing and tennis (Farhoomand 2008). Due to its simplicity and realnature, many people were attracted to it especially those that did not want to spend a lot ofenergy trying to reason out. Nintendo therefore mainly succeeded to attract customers due to its bright idea of introducing new customers into the market. The games allowed entirefamily to participate as they could easily associate with it.

Main reasons why Nintendo’s approach is disruptive in the video games industry andthe products they should launch nextThe approach that was used by Nintendo to market its products was disruptive to thevideo company considering the unique measures that it used. As other companies went forsophisticated games, Nintendo chose to go for simpler games that could easily be played.

They also changed their approach of mainly targeting the rich in the society and decided to They also changed their approach of mainly targeting the rich in the society and decided totarget people of all status. Their approach of dealing with inexperienced customers enabledthem to even attract more people (4b_ntendo 2006). Considering the fact that most peoplethat were being targeted by other companies were already experienced, the company saw theimpossibilities of winning such a market. The thought of designing games that were simpleenough to make all groups of people to enjoy it was a sure boom. The games that were alsofeatured by the company were a reflection of real life issues which made people to relate wellto them. Whatever an individual’s hobby was, the company provided an option to still enjoythe same in form of a game. The next products that the company should consider launchingare games that will teach and inform people of the evils in the society.

Nintendo video game Company learned a lot of lessons from its competitors; sony and Microsoft. The company did not however decide to surrender to defeat after learning thatthe market segment was no longer favoring it. Instead the company decided to carry out anextensive market research and invent means that would bring it back on track (Derval 2008).

Fortunately the company managed to capture the attention of the majority group that was notexploited by similar companies. It may have seemed to be ridiculous for the company to implement such measures but in the long run its target was achieved. Compared to the earlierstrategies that were also being used by other industries, the companies targeted the highincome groups who formed the minority of the population. This is a practice that can beadapted by other companies that seem to have reached the end. There is usually a cleverstrategy that is yet to be exploited of which when well utilized, it’s sure to bring in goodprofit.

REFERENCES

Farhoomand A. (2008): Nintendo’s disruptive strategy. Hong Kong: University of HongKong4b_ntendo 2 (2006): Market customization. Massachusetts, Harvard business school pressDerval D. (2008): Survey techniques in virtual environments. London, derval research