Assignment

For this project, we were asked to pick a struggling brand and create a campaign that would turn their fortunes around. At the time, Nintendo was struggling with the release of the Wii-U, so our task was to come up with a campaign to help them get back on track.

Research

For this project, we relied on all secondary research. We did the typical internet research and we also learned about all the different advertising research databases available like MRI, Mintel, IBIS World Market Research, and more.

Insight

This was my first advertising project so I wasn’t clear on what an insight was at the time.

In hindsight, the insight was that the people most likely to buy Nintendo games were casual gamers, and that for casual gamers Nintendo's biggest competition wasn't Sony or Microsoft, it was mobile games and other forms entertaintment.

Solution

Only on Nintendo

Our solution was to highlight Nintendo’s roster of first party characters, and make it clear that the Wii-U was a separate console from the Wii.

In Retrospect

Strategically the Wii-U was a step back for Nintendo. The original Wii appealed to casual gamers with a new style of game play, while the Wii-U seemed like an attempt to go back to regular console gaming. Which is probably why Nintendo gave up on the Wii-U and released the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has also released 3 or 4 mobile apps in the past two years so they've come to realize that they aren't just competing with consoles. They are competing with mobile games and other forms of entertainment.