MassiveAttack
Banned
Questions for
Reggie Fils-Aime
Shifting the Advertising Mix
To Reach the Male Audience
By SUZANNE VRANICA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 24, 2004
As the holiday shopping season gets under way Friday, Japan's Nintendo Co. is betting the house that its new hand-held game, Nintendo DS, will be at the top of many consumers shopping list.
Leaving nothing up to the whims of Old Saint Nick, the company has just kicked off its largest new-product marketing push ever with a $40 million ad campaign. The company is hoping to outmaneuver market leader Sony Corp., which is expected to launch its first hand-held, PlayStation Portable, in 2005.
With all the advertising clutter that bombards consumers during the holidays, Nintendo has enlisted unique marketing tactics to help it stand out. Its new device has dual screens, and to get that message out to consumers it made a deal in which G4, a cable channel for gamers, will split its screen for 20 hours.
Viewers will see G4 programming on the top of the screen and Nintendo DS information on the bottom. It's one of the biggest integration deals that Nintendo has done with the help of its media-buying firm, Publicis Groupe SA's Starcom MediaVest.
Below, Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president of sales and marketing, talks about how he has added spice to Nintendo's marketing message and how his company reaches the male audience.
* * *
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing
WSJ: Most marketers are complaining that they are finding it hard to find the elusive male audience; clearly that is one of your primary targets. How have you refigured your media mix to reach that target?
Mr. Fils-Aime: The young male consumer is difficult to reach, and we have taken the approach to get all of our marketing messages to them where they live and where they breathe. They are heavy cable watchers and don't watch a lot of network TV. Nintendo has been aware of the challenge of reaching male young teens, and we had been gradually shifting dollars to cable for a long time.
We do cinema advertising and we also do marketing at the point of retail so consumers can try our product. We go to skate parks, everything. For example, we recently did a deal with MTV. We worked with MTV on a media buy that included integrating our product into their shows. "Wild Boyz" is a program MTV is trying to drive people to, so we enlisted Steve-O and Chris, two guys from the show.
We put them in our commercial for Nintendo DS. We created a commercial featuring the guys and a lioness. But the lioness decides to climb the tree where Steve-O is and snuggles him. It was scary and unplanned but luckily it all worked out. The incident created a great behind-the-scenes and they aired it on the show.
WSJ: Market leader Sony has long been more appealing to older gamers while Nintendo -- known for Mario Brothers and Game Boy -- continued to target the younger crowd. Was that a misstep?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Our competition did a masterful job portraying Nintendo's system as the one for younger audiences. But it was a misnomer. For the Game Boy SP about one-third of consumers were over 18. One of the things that I brought to this company was my experiences at VH1 and my focus on an older demographic as a creative target. That is a bit of a shift and that comes across if you look at our work over the past year. It's older than in the past.
WSJ: Your new ads seem to push the envelope with a sultry female voice and a tagline that says, "Touching is good." Clearly you are now targeting the older crowd. Any fear that the new campaign will not be appealing to the younger crowd? And do you run the risk of alienating them?
Mr. Fils-Aime: I don't believe so. The focus of the campaign for Nintendo DS is the 18- to 20-year-old crowd. That is who it was designed for, that is who we are going after.
WSJ: The holidays are a huge time for videogames. How much of your marketing budget gets spent in the fourth quarter?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Interestingly, we don't look at it that way. We spend behind product launches. New products drive the budget. But the last five weeks of the year account for 30% of sales in the videogame category, so by definition your marketing has to skew that way as well.
WSJ: To promote the videogame Conker's Bad Fur Day, Nintendo used urinal mats in bathrooms in major cities. Why? And is that the most off-the-wall marketing ploy your company has used to date?
Mr. Fils-Aime: I wasn't with the company then, but I bought the game and it was fun and raunchy, in a good-humored way. It is where we have pushed the most. We also did marketing on condoms for that game. The message needs to be consistent with where it is seen and the product itself.
For the DS launch, we have an advertorial in Maxim that features an attractive 20-year-old woman holding a Nintendo DS saying, "Touching is good." It displays all the similarities between turning her on and having a great experience with Nintendo DS.
WSJ: In a sign of how willing cable networks are to go for advertisers these days you did a deal with G4, the cable channel for videogame enthusiasts, where the network is incorporating your brand into 20 hours of its programming. Any fear of consumer backlash?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Essentially, for 20 hours they will broadcast in split screen just like our Nintendo DS. The top screen has all their regular programming but the bottom half of the screen will run information about Nintendo DS, information about the system, game footage and a plethora of Nintendo gaming information.
From a consumer standpoint, they are getting their programming, and G4 is a gamer channel. It was G4's idea. DS is the biggest hardware launch this year, it's a big piece of news for their consumer, and they wanted to be involved. It's a great way to marry a marketing message with a media outlet where consumers are looking for that type of information.
WSJ: You seem to be a celebrity in the gaming world; there are Reggie Fils-Aime Web logs. How did that happen? Is your celebrity status sitting well back at corporate headquarters?
Mr. Fils-Aims: There are a number of Web sites that are fan sites of mine. During our big industry event -- E3 -- I made a presentation framing how Nintendo would do business and it was a competitive, strong and passionate speech. The Nintendo fans stood up and took notice. The fact is we probably have the best-known game developer, the guy who created Mario and Donkey Kong. So Nintendo already has a gaming celebrity. I am not pretending to be another.
Reggie Fils-Aime
Shifting the Advertising Mix
To Reach the Male Audience
By SUZANNE VRANICA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 24, 2004
As the holiday shopping season gets under way Friday, Japan's Nintendo Co. is betting the house that its new hand-held game, Nintendo DS, will be at the top of many consumers shopping list.
Leaving nothing up to the whims of Old Saint Nick, the company has just kicked off its largest new-product marketing push ever with a $40 million ad campaign. The company is hoping to outmaneuver market leader Sony Corp., which is expected to launch its first hand-held, PlayStation Portable, in 2005.
With all the advertising clutter that bombards consumers during the holidays, Nintendo has enlisted unique marketing tactics to help it stand out. Its new device has dual screens, and to get that message out to consumers it made a deal in which G4, a cable channel for gamers, will split its screen for 20 hours.
Viewers will see G4 programming on the top of the screen and Nintendo DS information on the bottom. It's one of the biggest integration deals that Nintendo has done with the help of its media-buying firm, Publicis Groupe SA's Starcom MediaVest.
Below, Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president of sales and marketing, talks about how he has added spice to Nintendo's marketing message and how his company reaches the male audience.
* * *
Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing
WSJ: Most marketers are complaining that they are finding it hard to find the elusive male audience; clearly that is one of your primary targets. How have you refigured your media mix to reach that target?
Mr. Fils-Aime: The young male consumer is difficult to reach, and we have taken the approach to get all of our marketing messages to them where they live and where they breathe. They are heavy cable watchers and don't watch a lot of network TV. Nintendo has been aware of the challenge of reaching male young teens, and we had been gradually shifting dollars to cable for a long time.
We do cinema advertising and we also do marketing at the point of retail so consumers can try our product. We go to skate parks, everything. For example, we recently did a deal with MTV. We worked with MTV on a media buy that included integrating our product into their shows. "Wild Boyz" is a program MTV is trying to drive people to, so we enlisted Steve-O and Chris, two guys from the show.
We put them in our commercial for Nintendo DS. We created a commercial featuring the guys and a lioness. But the lioness decides to climb the tree where Steve-O is and snuggles him. It was scary and unplanned but luckily it all worked out. The incident created a great behind-the-scenes and they aired it on the show.
WSJ: Market leader Sony has long been more appealing to older gamers while Nintendo -- known for Mario Brothers and Game Boy -- continued to target the younger crowd. Was that a misstep?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Our competition did a masterful job portraying Nintendo's system as the one for younger audiences. But it was a misnomer. For the Game Boy SP about one-third of consumers were over 18. One of the things that I brought to this company was my experiences at VH1 and my focus on an older demographic as a creative target. That is a bit of a shift and that comes across if you look at our work over the past year. It's older than in the past.
WSJ: Your new ads seem to push the envelope with a sultry female voice and a tagline that says, "Touching is good." Clearly you are now targeting the older crowd. Any fear that the new campaign will not be appealing to the younger crowd? And do you run the risk of alienating them?
Mr. Fils-Aime: I don't believe so. The focus of the campaign for Nintendo DS is the 18- to 20-year-old crowd. That is who it was designed for, that is who we are going after.
WSJ: The holidays are a huge time for videogames. How much of your marketing budget gets spent in the fourth quarter?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Interestingly, we don't look at it that way. We spend behind product launches. New products drive the budget. But the last five weeks of the year account for 30% of sales in the videogame category, so by definition your marketing has to skew that way as well.
WSJ: To promote the videogame Conker's Bad Fur Day, Nintendo used urinal mats in bathrooms in major cities. Why? And is that the most off-the-wall marketing ploy your company has used to date?
Mr. Fils-Aime: I wasn't with the company then, but I bought the game and it was fun and raunchy, in a good-humored way. It is where we have pushed the most. We also did marketing on condoms for that game. The message needs to be consistent with where it is seen and the product itself.
For the DS launch, we have an advertorial in Maxim that features an attractive 20-year-old woman holding a Nintendo DS saying, "Touching is good." It displays all the similarities between turning her on and having a great experience with Nintendo DS.
WSJ: In a sign of how willing cable networks are to go for advertisers these days you did a deal with G4, the cable channel for videogame enthusiasts, where the network is incorporating your brand into 20 hours of its programming. Any fear of consumer backlash?
Mr. Fils-Aime: Essentially, for 20 hours they will broadcast in split screen just like our Nintendo DS. The top screen has all their regular programming but the bottom half of the screen will run information about Nintendo DS, information about the system, game footage and a plethora of Nintendo gaming information.
From a consumer standpoint, they are getting their programming, and G4 is a gamer channel. It was G4's idea. DS is the biggest hardware launch this year, it's a big piece of news for their consumer, and they wanted to be involved. It's a great way to marry a marketing message with a media outlet where consumers are looking for that type of information.
WSJ: You seem to be a celebrity in the gaming world; there are Reggie Fils-Aime Web logs. How did that happen? Is your celebrity status sitting well back at corporate headquarters?
Mr. Fils-Aims: There are a number of Web sites that are fan sites of mine. During our big industry event -- E3 -- I made a presentation framing how Nintendo would do business and it was a competitive, strong and passionate speech. The Nintendo fans stood up and took notice. The fact is we probably have the best-known game developer, the guy who created Mario and Donkey Kong. So Nintendo already has a gaming celebrity. I am not pretending to be another.
