2009 Bronze Effie Winner. DS Women

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1 2009 Bronze Effie Winner DS Women Category: Leisure Products & Services Brand/Client: Nintendo Primary Agency: Leo Burnett Media Agency: Starcom Worldwide Contributing Agency: Harrison & Shriftman, mktg, Digitas Strategic Challenge Big girls don t game Grown women don t play video games. At least that s what women in the United States would have told you only a few years ago. Most of these women were more interested in new shoes than the latest software release, and would rather spend their free time reading the latest gossip magazines than mastering cheat codes and blowing up cars. They viewed gamers as sweaty, teenage boys locked away in a dark basement, communicating through a headset with strangers from around the world. For many women, rapidly punching buttons on a handheld device, and wasting hourafter-hour on loud, frenetic, shoot-em up games was not high on their to-do list. Wii started to change behavior Then the Wii came along and America witnessed gaming barriers begin to fall. Gaming became an activity for everyone in the family to enjoy even Mom. However, despite the success of Wii s launch, women still only made up a small portion of the overall gaming audience just 38 percent (Source: IbisWorld Industry Report: Video Games July 23, 2008). If Nintendo was to succeed in its quest to engage everyone in gaming, it was clear that we had more work to do.

2 If women weren t buying into Wii, we hoped the portable, but much lesser known Nintendo DS would fit better in keeping with their active lifestyle. While DS sales were solid worldwide more than 20 million consoles sold as of mid-2006 (Source: Nintendo Sales Data ), we feared our typical target, the niche heavy gamer, was nearing a plateau in growth. If we didn t broaden our DS target, sales would flatten and competition like the PSP would creep its way into our territory and steal valuable market share. DS taps into a new target: young women With more than 20 percent of the Japanese population owning a Nintendo DS, we saw an opportunity to increase U.S. penetration beyond its relatively low 7 percent (Source: Nintendo Demographic Data ). Japan posted such impressive numbers largely due to their success in reaching women To reach these kinds of numbers in the United States, we needed to expand DS appeal beyond the saturated market of hardcore male gamers and children. By activating the young female marketplace in the United States, we would be far more likely to reach higher adoption numbers in-line with Japan. In the United States, this target accounted for close to 30 million sets of hands (Source: US Census Data 2006). Unlike their Japanese and European counterparts, young American women proved to be the most unlikely of people to adopt handheld consoles frankly, they didn t see a role for a handheld in their daily lives. American women were largely unaware that Nintendo DS offered a wide breadth of female friendly games. But just telling women we had games that they should play would not present a strong enough argument to convince them to buy software instead of shoes. We needed to find a way to make the behavior of playing games fit within the social norms they found relevant for women their age. With only one quarter of DS owning households identifying a woman as the primary player (Source: Nintendo Demographic Data), we had a long way to go before we made real headway. STRATEGIC CHALLENGE Jumpstart sales of Nintendo DS consoles to a young female audience who view gaming as irrelevant Objectives Objective - Attitudinal - Create relevancy of Nintendo DS among a female target years old Objective - Behavioral Translate relevancy into increased sales of DS hardware and software

3 The Big Idea Me time can be play time with Nintendo DS Gaming Needed a Makeover To make Nintendo DS relevant to women, we needed to disrupt the long held belief that gaming isn t for them, so we set out to better understand the barriers we faced. After speaking to women one-on-one (Source: Agency Research: One-on-one interviews with women (18 34) Fall 2007), we quickly uncovered our biggest hurdle - the gaming vernacular was all wrong. Women didn t identify themselves as gamers because it reinforced the negative connotations they associated with the industry teenage boys wasting time. So if gaming didn t resonate, what about the idea of playing? There was a glaring consumer truth that was impossible to ignore: young women today felt overstretched and over-extended. This generation of women has grown up being told they can do anything they put their minds to, and that stress and seriousness equals success. - Gen Y woman sees her life in three ways career, career, career! (handbag.com) - Women are more likely than any other generation to say: I work hard at coming out on top in every situation. (Yankelovich Monitor Think Tank, 10 Things About Echo Boomers 2008) As a result of this laser focus, women long for more time for themselves. They openly admit to selfishly wanting respite, downtime and me time. Play became the perfect counter-balance for their ambitious and stressful lives. We finally understood our first task at hand was to reframe gaming as playing. Proving DS fun is not a waste of time Even after clearing the obstacle of vernacular, there were more challenges to overcome. Through additional research we learned that almost half of women (18 34) believed they had better things to do than play video games (Source: Nintendo Research Segmentation Study: September 2007). If reading about celebrities in magazines, taking a break at work to scan blogs or texting with a friend for a few minutes were all reasonable ways to escape for a moment, there was no reason video games couldn t be part of their lives too. We just needed to make them believe it. Playing video games was never going to be relevant if women didn t even know the variety of titles offered. From fun filled adventures with Mario, to brain building puzzles and simple diversions like raising your very own Nintendog, the DS had software experiences as diverse as the women we were trying to reach. It was our job to prove that DS could make play time meaningful time for all women.

4 Bringing the Idea to Life Grabbing Their Attention: Star Power How did we get a first date with a woman that wasn t even interested in what we had to offer? We grabbed her attention by featuring women she admired playing a DS. Popular stars she sees on TV shows, in her favorite magazines, or on celebrity sighting blogs. We made recognizable but approachable female stars like Carrie Underwood, America Ferrera, and Liv Tyler central to our campaign. These celebrities had faces and personalities that American women immediately recognized, but didn t view as diva-esque or unrelatable. We simply showed these stars having fun with Nintendo DS and began convincing the everyday woman that playing video games was something she could enjoy too. Setting the Tone: I Play For Me We deliberately didn t feature the celebrities in all their glitter and gold. Instead, we observed them in real environments, and in honest intimate moments not everyone gets to see moments these women reclaim for themselves. No fancy make-up or sparkling Oscar gowns just moments spent curled up on a sofa in a favorite pair of sweatpants. These are the moments that are relatable to all women. Each played a unique game title that she had chosen. For Carrie, it was the nurturing diversion of Nintendogs. For America, it was the nostalgic fun with her old friend Mario. For Liv, it was the brain stimulating qualities of Brain Age 2. The resulting message was simple: Carrie, America and Liv can have fun playing DS, and I can too. Gaming doesn t have to be intimidating. It can be for all women celebrities, the girl next door, your mother-in-law and you. It s a new way to turn stolen moments of time into moments of simple fun. In our campaign consisting of TV, digital & print, Nintendo introduced gaming as a way for women to easily do something just for themselves. It made women think, Do I play enough for me? Spreading The Message: Buzz All Around We knew our target wouldn t come to us so we sought to reach them where they were on a daily basis catching the Carrie spot while watching videos onvh-1 before work, America while enjoying the latest episode of Ugly Betty on ABC, or Liv on the Style Network when they are keeping up with the latest trends. Our efforts to reach women didn t end with TV. Using digital experiences as an opportunity to create a greater depth of message, we deployed on-line ads that led women to a quiz that helped them identify the games they would be most interested in playing. We also used the ads to drive women to a website created specifically for them - IPlayForMe.com, where they could view interviews and behind the scenes photos of the celebrities in the campaign.

5 The print campaign further solidified our efforts to disrupt women s traditional beliefs about video games. We placed ads of Liv, America and Carrie playing with their DS in popular women s magazines, like Glamour and Self, traditionally ignored by the gaming industry. Much like the television spots, the art direction was simple and beautifully captured the stars in a way that made it seem as if we were catching simple moments of fun with their DS and favorite game. A Hands-On Experience To truly understand how much fun Nintendo DS was we needed women to take it for a test drive. We showed women how DS could fit in their lives by hosting sampling events at upscale spas in New York City and collaborated with Girls Night Out shopping events in major U.S. markets. Through these efforts women could become more familiar with the hardware and experience the range of titles available. Once we put the DS in their hands, they were often shocked to discover how much fun they could have. Communications Touch Points TV Spots Branded Content Sponsorship Product placement Radio Spots Merchandising Program/content Print Trade/Professional Newspaper Consumer Magazine Print partnership Direct Mail PR Events Packaging Product Design Cinema Interactive Online Ads Web site Viral video Video skins/bugs Social Networking sites Podcasts Gaming Mobile Phone Other OOH Airport Transit Billboard Place Based Other Trade Shows Sponsorship Retail Experience POP Video In-Store Merchandizing Sales Promotion Retailtainment Guerrilla Street Teams Tagging Wraps Buzz Marketing Ambient Media Sampling/Trial Consumer Involvement WOM Consumer Generated Viral Other Additional Marketing Components: None Reach: National Total Media Expenditure: $5-10 million

6 Results Objective - Behavioral Translate relevancy into increased sales of DS hardware and software Results Record breaking hardware and software sales! - During the month our television flight was on-air, we saw DS sales soar to an incredible 783 thousand units sold setting a new record for a non-holiday month (Source: The NPD Group, May June 2008) - From May 2008 to June 2008 we saw DS hardware sales increase by a whopping 73 percent. That is 122 percent greater increase than the same time period in 2007 (Source: Nintendo Sales Data June 2008) - Compared to pre-campaign sales, The New Super Mario Brothers game featured in the America Ferrera spot saw sales increase by 123 percent (Source: Nintendo Sales Data June 2008) - In July 2008, Nintendo DS sold almost three times as many units as it s biggest competitor PSP increasing our lead by nine points (Source: The NPD Group, July 2008) May to June DS Sales Units Sold July , , , , , , , , % increase 452,000 Units May 783,000 Units June campaign launch 700, , , , , , , ,000 PSP 608,000 (Source: The NPD Group, May June 2008) (Source: The NPD Group, July 2008) DS

7 Objective - Attitudinal - Create relevancy of Nintendo DS and gaming among a female target years old Results Clear evidence women were beginning to embrace the idea of playing with DS - Women s purchase intent nearly tripled after only one month of advertising (Source: Omnibus Tracking Study, June 2008) - On average, we saw an 88 percent increase in the belief that Nintendo DS is the only video game brand system I'd consider/consider ahead of most others. This was three times higher than shifts seen in competitive advertising (Source: Hall & Partners Copy Test July 2008) - The Liv Tyler spot dramatically reduced perceptions that Nintendo DS is for kids by nearly 15 percent - an unprecedented achievement for the brand! (Source: Hall & Partners Copy Test July 2008) - Despite women s previous perceptions of video games, online buzz showed incredibly positive reactions (Sources: Consumer comments fromyoutube.com, GeekSugar.com and Popsugar.com June July 2008) The America commercial makes me want to buy a new DS and put my name in little sparkly lettering on it. I mean seriously, America Ferrera is one of the best marketing magnets out there. Oh my god, Carrie is sooooooooo awesome! I WANT A DS SOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD! It rocks! That's so cute! I don't know why, but I want this Nintendo. Anything else going on that might have helped drive results? With the DS leading the charge to reach new players during the Summer of 2008, we saw third party software developers release an array of titles that the expanded audience may have an interest in playing, such as: Vicarious Visions Guitar Hero: On Tour for the Nintendo DS Ubisoft Quick Yoga Training for Nintendo DS DSI Games 1 vs. 100 for Nintendo DS

8 Ubisoft My Weight Loss Coach for Nintendo DS