Targeting the avid fans first

Nintendo’s marketing machine is in full swing right now as the final hours tick down to the European Wii U launch at midnight. A lot of the marketing has focused on telling people what they can do with Wii U, as we’ve seen with several television adverts showing families having a jolly good time with New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land.

In an interview with Games Industry International, Shelly Pearce, Marketing and PR director at Nintendo UK, revealed that the company is currently reaching out to those Nintendo fans who’ve been avidly gaming on Nintendo consoles for a very long time.

For us at this stage, we know that the people who are going to be interested in buying a Wii U at launch are those core Nintendo fans. So that's very much who we're talking to at the moment.

At some point next year we will move on and talk to a broader audience - we've got games like Wii Fit U coming at some point, but we do see that as something we'll look at more next year rather than this year.

In terms of our target focus, though, it is very much on that core Nintendo fan at this stage - they're the ones who are going to go out and buy at launch.

Even though Wii U currently has a plethora of third party titles that are aimed towards the core gamers out there, Nintendo is staying focused on the avid Nintendo fans with the first party releases of New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land. Pearce believes that some Wii U users will want to play casual games while others will be wanting a more dedicated gaming experience - something they can get with games like ZombiU and Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition.

Once the dedicated fans grab hold of their shiny new Wii U consoles, Nintendo will then attempt to get more people to jump in - those who weren't camping outside HMV on Oxford Street this week.

Pearce also spoke about the worries people have been having about stock, but she is confident Nintendo will be able to cope with the excessive demand.

We do anticipate that at some point stock might be a little tight at some retailers, but we have very good shipments coming in, so we're confident that we can meet demand right through up until Christmas.

What do you think of Nintendo’s marketing campaign? Do you think it’s been good or do you think it should have tried to attract a more broad audience from the off? Let us know your thoughts below.

[source gamesindustry.biz]