I was tasked with creating a strategic brand management plan for an expansion on an already established business. I decided to look into Nintendo and creating an educational expansion.
Executive Summary
This is a strategic brand management plan for an extension on the already established brand Nintendo called Nintenknow. It will combine the education and videogaming industries in order to create an innovative and educationally valuable product. Nintendo is in a good position to expand based on its recent success due to the COVID-19 pandemic where it saw a 31% increase in sales (Interbrand, 2020). Moreover, the current consumers of Nintendo are particularly loyal to the brand. According to Palomba (2018), who uses the expectancy value theory, finds that consumers will be particularly loyal to a certain gaming brand, seeking certain gratifications from the desired brand. Nintenknow will use Mario and friends to help children learn a variety of subjects. The bright colours and already well-established characters are designed to be captivating and enticing to the consumer. Furthermore, this strategic brand management plan has also considered what current educators think about videogames and its role within education, to better understand the market.
The plan has also noted that Nintendo has achieved a ‘nostalgic’ feeling with its consumers as the generalised ‘damsel in distress’ storyline has been a consistent theme within the Super Mario brand. However, when researching the market, it has noted significant issues within gaming marketing, specifically the female characters of Super Mario world are hyper-sexualised and the potential impact this could have on children. The plan has also discussed the anti-feminist movement known as Gamergate. This is primarily held within the ‘toxic technoculture’ of Reddit, its aim is to discredit and undermine female gamers and the effect this could have on the gaming market (Drenten, Harrison and Pendarvis, 2019, p.37). Moreover, it has considered the concept of ‘pink games’ which focuses on a stereotyped version of a consumer and reinforces problematic patriarchal narratives. To further understand why these narratives are in place from a psychological standpoint. This plan has considered psychoanalytic theory (Mulvey, 1989) and the idea of the ‘Smurfette’ (Pollitt, 1991), who is the ‘token chick in a male-dominated environment’. This plan will attempt to change the current gaming landscape by re-enforcing equality and inclusivity through its mission statement and by targeting both males and females.
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