Marketing Communications Nintendo
...and come back page 4
Marketing strategy page 4
Evolution of advertising and methods page 4
Hands on sampling page 5
From weakness to opportunity page 7
Buzz marketing page 8
Sales promotions and methods page 9
Sponsorship page 10
Conclusion and Recommendations page 11
I. Introduction
a. Company History And Background
Nintendo started as a small Japanese business by Fusajiro Yamauchi near the end of 1889 as Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda.
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi visited the US, and this is when he realized the limitations of the card business and hence moved on to different arenas of the gaming world. In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company, Limited. During 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network, a food company and several other things. All these attempts at expanding and diversifying the business failed, except toy making, where they had relatively prior experience with from selling playing cards.
In enormous debt, Nintendo was trying to withstand the Japanese toy industry; it was still small at this point. Due to the short product life cycle of toys, innovation and constantly new product development was vital. This was the beginning of a major new era for Nintendo.
In 1970, Hiroshi Yamauchi discovered the hidden talents of Gunpei Yoki, a maintanace engineer at the factory, who built what was later called The Ultra Hand which soon turned into a huge success, selling approximately 1.2 million units. Yokoi was soon moved from maintenance to product development.
Nintendo’s first step into the video games industry was in 1975. At the...
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