Global Marketing Strategy of Nintendo Wii
GLOBAL MARKETING STRATEGY OF NINTENDO WII
GLOBAL SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING AND PROMOTIONAL ADAPTATION
Introduction
1. This essay focuses on the global marketing strategy of the Nintendo Wii, in particular the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies and the communication adaptation adopted for the promotion of Nintendo Wii in the three key markets of Japan, United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (US).
Background
2. The gaming industry comprises of three key segments: (i) the platform system or infrastructure segment which includes consoles, mobile devices and online media, (ii) the games publishing segment which includes games distribution, retailing and marketing and (iii) the games development and design segment. The platform segment is considered the most fundamental and important sector as it determines how users interact with console games, and has witnessed the most exciting innovations.
3. The current key players in the platform segment are Microsoft (with its Xbox 360), Nintendo (with its Wii) and Sony (with its Playstation 3). For Microsoft and Sony, the video game console business is just small part of their large business portfolio, while Nintendo is highly focused on the video game industry and has a hand in all three key segments of the industry. Nintendo is one of the most influential video game companies in the world and Japan's third most valuable listed company, and as of October 2, 2008, has sold over 470 million hardware units and 2.7 billion software units. While Nintendo had dropped to third in the video-game industry behind Sony and Microsoft in 2006, it had regained its leadership position through the release of Wii by selling the most hardware units amongst the current generation of video game consoles.
4. Video game consoles are fairly discretionary items of purchase - developed countries tend to be their main markets due to the higher discretionary incomes of a higher proportion of their
GLOBAL SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING AND PROMOTIONAL ADAPTATION
Introduction
1. This essay focuses on the global marketing strategy of the Nintendo Wii, in particular the segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies and the communication adaptation adopted for the promotion of Nintendo Wii in the three key markets of Japan, United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (US).
Background
2. The gaming industry comprises of three key segments: (i) the platform system or infrastructure segment which includes consoles, mobile devices and online media, (ii) the games publishing segment which includes games distribution, retailing and marketing and (iii) the games development and design segment. The platform segment is considered the most fundamental and important sector as it determines how users interact with console games, and has witnessed the most exciting innovations.
3. The current key players in the platform segment are Microsoft (with its Xbox 360), Nintendo (with its Wii) and Sony (with its Playstation 3). For Microsoft and Sony, the video game console business is just small part of their large business portfolio, while Nintendo is highly focused on the video game industry and has a hand in all three key segments of the industry. Nintendo is one of the most influential video game companies in the world and Japan's third most valuable listed company, and as of October 2, 2008, has sold over 470 million hardware units and 2.7 billion software units. While Nintendo had dropped to third in the video-game industry behind Sony and Microsoft in 2006, it had regained its leadership position through the release of Wii by selling the most hardware units amongst the current generation of video game consoles.
4. Video game consoles are fairly discretionary items of purchase - developed countries tend to be their main markets due to the higher discretionary incomes of a higher proportion of their