PureVideoGames has a nice analysis of Nintendo’s current marketing strategy as compared to it’s 1980 techniques. From the article: “We know now that the NES was a fine product, but without an aggressive marketing strategy that went above and beyond simply advertising and trying to convince retailers to stock it, the NES would never have gained a foothold in the United States. And had the NES failed to sell in that Christmas season in 1985, the short-lived Nintendo of America might have disappeared and the videogame industry would be very different today.”
Will it take bullish marketing for Nintendo to return to the top of the home console scene?
[via Gaming Hobo]
I think it was jus the right time for the Nes to be there. I remember seeing as a kid Super Mario Bros in an Arcade and I was AMAZED when I heard there was a console to play that game in your house. Kids don't need advertisements, you just need them to go to school and they will come back with lots of things to ask you money for. I'm sure all of you also heard of this other thing called the Famicom which was never advertised here. Wars have been started by word of mouth. Maybe in the U.S. were most people stay indoors all day watching tv commercials might be good, but even then, You have to go out sometime to get food. Look at software, I have seen only once a Photoshop commercial and yet, its an industry benchmark since it was in beta just because people told people it was the best to use.
vakerorokero,I see Photoshop ads in every industry and hobby mag I read. You don't get to be an industry standard unless you pour the necessary funds into advertising. Nintendo are pulling out all the stops when it comes to making the Revolution as visible as possible. From the weekly Nintendo spiel with IGN, to having Reggie make frequent appearances at Nitnendo World, Nintendo is getting the word out. Following E3, Ninty will be driving home its strongest selling points. They'll be convincing consumers that, in light of $500 mage consoles, there's no reason why the comparatively affordable Revolution cannot be ubiquitous in every home.
I don't know what the situation was when the NES was released in America. But i think advertisement is needed to attract those "non-gamers". I mean how else will they know? I doubt they'll be browsing IGN or reading those gaming magazines. And this is Nintendo's target audience, they need them to know!In fact there hasn't been much advertising going on for the DS here in Europe. I'd like to know how it is doing here against the PSP, which advertised frequently when it was released on tv etc.
I'm pretty convinced that Nintendo knows that aggressive marketing is going to help, they've got enough features to justify the hype that's going, and I think that the Revolution has a good chance of pulling ahead on the market.