Nintendo of America had a marketing challenge in launching its new gaming system. How would it position a system that offered two screens and online communications capabilities? The Nintendo DS was
far more advanced than any other system Nintendo had marketed.
The system's fall 2004 launch was a radically different experience, recalls Rob Matthews, senior director of consumer marketing for
Nintendo of America.
"We had a product that was just so far ahead of anything we or anyone had done that marketing as usual just wasn't an option," Matthews says. "The dual-touch screen is truly a
revolution in video gaming, as were the advanced chat and communications functions, so that completely raised the bar for the level of innovation we had to bring to our promotions. And that meant
expanding our outlook beyond traditional media and media strategies."
In preparing for the U.S. launch of the DS last November, Nintendo worked closely with Starcom USA, its media agency, Starcom
Entertainment, and creative agency Leo Burnett USA. Nintendo spent an estimated $40 million on the program, making the DS the largest and most ambitious launch in the marketer's history. "Everyone
knew the stakes were huge," Matthews recalls.
"Touching is Good" To highlight the new product's touch screen functions, Nintendo focused advertising on the rallying cry "Touching Is Good."
The "Touching Is Good" theme was introduced in three evocative pre-launch teaser ads, which aired four weeks ahead of the product's November 21 launch date. The ads presented a static-filled screen
from which viewers hear a sultry and seductive female voice encouraging them to interact with two blue boxes that appear on screen.
In the teaser "Somewhere," a voice intones, "Go ahead touch the
screen. Someone somewhere wants to play with you." Another teaser beseeches the viewer to "Touch the bottom rectangle. Please. Go ahead. Touch it. You might like it."
"The teasers were designed to
set a new tone," Matthews explains. "Unlike traditional game ads, which focus solely on product attributes, we wanted to be a little ambiguous, and draw people into an exciting experience. We wanted
to broaden the appeal from hard-core gamers to those who are new to gaming."
"Though our core market is 14- to-25-year-old males, we also didn't want to limit our campaign to a specific age
demographic," Matthews adds. "We say the market for the product is literally ageless. But the ads appeal to the 17-year-old-boy at heart."
As launch approached, Nintendo coordinated a simultaneous
mix of TV, print, and online promotions to generate the widest possible impact. Three 30-second TV spots broke on launch day, running on NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," Fox's "The OC," TBS'
"The Family Guy," and Comedy Central's "South Park." The ads spotlight signature features of the DS.
One spot touted the system's wireless communications features, showing trendy young men and
women dining in an upscale romantic restaurant. People at different tables write flirtatious messages to one another across the room. Viewers see the question "Game?" written in gravy on a dinner
plate and on an icy beer mug. The message "I'm In" is then seen on a wine glass, followed by the statement "You're Going Down" on a dessert tray.
In "Dust," a young man furtively approaches an
abandoned old van in a desolate urban area near a bridge overpass and inspects the van's contents. The man scrawls the word "Go" in dust on the window, at which point the vehicle moves forward and the
car drives itself away.
In addition to running on network and cable TV through December, the spots also ran on more than 5,000 movie screens across the country.
"How to Score" Print
advertising included a series of provocative multi-page advertorials created in partnership with Dennis Publishing instructing readers on "How to Score." The advertorials, which ran in Maxim and
Stuff, featured double entendres, with copy outlining the variety of ways in which DS allows users to "score."
Ads targeting hard-core gamers ran in gaming magazines touting the more practical
benefits of touch-screen gaming, particularly the increased control and precision it affords players.
"The emphasis was different in our two sets of print ads," says Gina Broderick, media director
of Starcom USA, "The partnership with Dennis was lifestyle and attitude oriented. With gamer magazines we stressed product attributes." Broderick says that the Dennis partnership helped Nintendo
establish the product with young men."We really pressed our media partners to work with us in trying out a variety of new ways to present the brand in engaging ways within their content," she notes.
With TV partners, Broderick engineered product placements with MTV's show "Wild Boys," where characters from the show played the DS in a jungle setting. Nintendo teamed up with the show's lead
characters Steve-O and Chris Pontius to create a safari commercial featuring the DS. In one unscripted scene, a lion surprisingly climbs up a tree and paws at Steve-O while biting his hat. Nintendo
ended up using the spontaneous footage not only in the TV spot, but in feature video footage on its Web site.
Embedded DS But Nintendo really broke the mold with the campaign's online
component.
"Starcom IP had a great idea," Matthews recalls. "We got a number of popular Web sites to transfer their home pages to present the letters 'D' and 'S' throughout their sites in the
fonts of our logo," he explains, adding, "They did throughout all their articles and content whenever the letters 'D' and 'S' followed consecutively. It was really a low-key concept, but just
different enough from what people have come to expect from typical Web ads that it got picked up like crazy on all the gaming message boards. The logos were unclickable, so the whole approach went
totally against the grain of click-through advertising. They teased people's imaginations."
Among the participating sites were WWE, MTV, Comedy Central, and Shockwave.com.
In addition to
media, Nintendo sponsored a multi-city "Nintendo Fusion" tour, combining music concerts and video games in several urban markets including Seattle and Los Angeles. Parties at popular rock clubs and
other night spots allowed attendees and celebrities to play on the DS.
"Events at cool rock clubs are great for getting attention in launching the product," says Broderick, "but they are only one
part of our public relations component." Street teams were also employed in stores and at local events to allow people to sample the product.
Early results are validating Nintendo's launch
strategy and the high hopes the company placed in the DS. In early December, just two weeks after launch, Nintendo announced a 40 percent increase in total shipments of the product beyond initial
projections.
"Every early metric has been ahead of goals," Matthews says. "We sold a half million units the first week and will pass 1.2 million by yearend [2004]."
"When you launch a product
you do what you can to have the smartest media placement and best creative in the industry," Matthews notes. "But if you really do it right there comes a moment when the consumer takes over, and word
of mouth takes on a life of its own. You don't become the hottest gift item of the year because of an ad campaign alone. The best you can do is start that viral process. We think we've done that
here."