BC56 Positioning and Creative Strategies Exam Project for Spring 2013 Semester

Christopher Grohmann 231186-CHG1 Handheld Gaming Consoles Copenhagen Business School, 2013

Preliminary Considerations - Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Assumptions

Handheld gaming consoles are relatively expensive (fiscal risk). Plus, once a consumer decided for a particular entertainment system he gets locked in and has to stick to its complementary games and hardware, so the regular attitude of brand loyalty groups is either loyal or frustrated. Gaming addresses hedonic needs, which are connected to positive emotions. Those considerations lead us to the quadrant of high involvement transformational brand attitude strategies. In terms of brand awareness, it is unlikely that the customer will say something like I need a new gaming console. A typical shopping situation will look more like this: In a consumer electronics store, the customer will walk towards the shelf where different brands fight for his attention. The need will occur on the second stage, after spotting the product he will remember the feeling perceived from the ad. Ads to stimulate such impulse purchases demand a recognition brand awareness strategy to be effective. Concerning the buying process there might be different key roles involved (kids without own income and grownups). The dominant target market for handheld gaming consoles are still kids and post-teens (initiator, influencer and user). The leading parts for this target market however, frequently take their legal guardians (decider and purchaser), which are likely to be much less involved in the product category and are more interested in seeing their children happy. For effective communication this should always kept in mind.

Part one: Brand Advertising Strategy and Execution: Nintendo Gameboy AdvanceSP1
The ad is split in two parts. The left side shows a young attractive couple in a dimmed bedroom, whereas the halfnaked girl is peacefully asleep and the young guy is playing with his Gameboy right next to her. The right side shows a dominant close-up of the used gaming device, supported by the headline: the second best thing to do in the dark.

1.) Likely Target Audience

With this ad Nintendo is addressing not only brand loyals but also frustrated customers and favorable brand switchers of other brands (without screen background light). Until then the Gameboy has been regarded as toy for kids, which is a popular negative belief among offenders. At this point Nintendo is taking an unusual approach by addressing explicitly men as their target segment (boys who used to have a Gameboy but have grown up).

Resonance
The ad immediately arouses highly emotional and warm feelings, reflecting the bedroom mood with dimmed lighting. Its sensual and erotic style directly speaks to the natural sexual personality traits of men. Evolutionary conditioned, men highly value sexual relationships (primeval need). It instantly creates a feeling of belonging and sexual intimacy, which directly stimulates the audience personality state. The resonance by the target audience for this ad will therefore be pretty positive.

2.) Positioning Strategy

With this ad Nintendo is presenting themselves as a quality brand, offering a slim, compact, sexy and portable gaming console (type of product) for men, which can be used during the dark. It is differentially positioned and arguably intended to be user oriented, since it is talking to a specific segment (For Men). However the right side
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See ANNEX I for the print ad.

of the ad clearly shows product-oriented positioning, whereas user-oriented positioning is adopted and works supportive. By using the product, the young guy is positioned within the context of the product benefit, while the user as hero becomes the favorable end benefit. The clear statement of supplemental product characteristics (benefit claims and reasons to believe) also helps to address dual motivations of their high involvement transformational product.

Benefit selection
One purchasing motivation could be social approval, justifying the purchasing decision, increasing self-esteem and sending the message: Even as a grown man it is legitimate to play Gameboy. Social appeal can be highly important for an (often insecure) teenaged target audience. Additional selling points express the products uniqueness. Nintendo understood what customers want most from a handheld system and delivered. (Expectancy Value-Model) For the audience it is highly important to be able to play in the dark (backlit), to be independent from regular batteries (rechargeable battery), and to be able to play everywhere at any moment (portability, usage situation 24:7). Here, Nintendo has a competitive edge and delivers better than other brands, which is clearly communicated.

Benefit focus
The benefit focus is appropriate given those motivations. Its product features allow for a unique experience (characteristic), which evokes a strong warm feeling (emotion = brand benefit) C e+

3.) Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Strategies

Recognition Brand Awareness Strategy?
Corresponding to the appropriate discussed recognition brand awareness strategy, Nintendo is dominantly positioning the device in a close up, presenting a clear category need. Unluckily the brand name and the product name however appear separated and less dominant in each of the lower corners. Additionally, only the unwrapped console itself, not the packaging as it can be found at the point of purchase, is featured in the ad. One might argue that this might hinder the effectiveness of the recall of emotions initially primed through the ad and linked to the product, but since the device is the hero of the ad, retail packaging in the center of the ad would appear rather displaced and disharmonious. Additionally, since the packaging at the POS normally features a large picture of the gaming console, I consider the chosen approach as the more elegant solution.

High Involvement Transformational Brand Attitude Strategy?

For this quadrant of the Rossiter-Percy Grid, acceptance as well as the correct emotional response is key as they build the brand benefits. The addressed motivation of getting a gaming console is clearly linked to and stimulated by the primed emotion. With the imagery of a real couple, acting like a real couple, Nintendo is sending highly emotionally authentic signals, which are able to transform the mood of the target audience and to link this warm feeling to the perceived category need and the brand. Since emotion and cognition are intimately related, this ad will positively influence cognitive processing. The target audience will easily be able to identify with the portrayed brand, as a familiar situation is shown. Once the humor of the message got processed the liking will extend to product and brand. It shows how Nintendo is trying to modify (reposition) and change brand attitude towards a more mature console to increase a potential target market. However, the existing popular kiddy attitude might interfere with processing of this intended sudden change of attitudes.

Category Need
Nintendo is trying to sell their category benefits in addition to their brand benefits. With the help of category communication effects they try to positively influence category attitude for their Gameboys. Nintendo supports its emotional message with reasons to buy and reasons to believe to be more convincing and to increase the purchase intention.

4.) Creative Strategies. Attention and Learning

In order to gain attention, which is the necessary first step in processing the message and in stimulating a favorable brand attitude, Nintendo has done a pretty good job with minor issues.

Imagery
In order to attract and maintain reflexive attention for Brand Awareness Nintendo, used a full page advert and ran it horizontally as two consecutive half-page spaces. It is likely to get more attention than regular ads since the format sticks out and prompts the target audience to figure out what is going on here. The ad is basically black and white (except the information screenlight and for men on the borders of the ad). At this point it could be argued that black and white colors will attract more attention as it stands out. However in this case, despite the classy look and feel (consistent with the design and colors of the gaming console), more vibrant colors might be more appropriate to stimulate the desired positive emotion (benefit). Overall Nintendo did a good job in using a high imagery picture. The highly attractive girls maximizes initial attention and starts the desired picture word sequence, whereas emotions get primed first, facilitating the learning process of the brand benefit claims on the right. The audience finds itself outside, observing the scene, which also permits objective consideration of the claimed benefits. The fact that it shows the device being used is beneficial for associative learning; Mirror neurons will fire and help the audience to put them in the place of the young guy with a beautiful girlfriend on his side.

Words
In the headline (more like a bodyline) The second best thing to do in the dark where learning is the objective, it has a good length, but the comparably small font size requires focused attention and proper reading to process. Just from a quick glance, the pun of this message is unlikely to get understood properly. Accepted, however, the wordplay triggers a personal conversation that automatically lets you think of the first best thing to do in the dark, which is highly arousing. One might also argue that smaller letters could also imply whispering the message bracing the audience even more for the bedtime atmosphere. Font sizes in general are too small, making the benefit claims on top of the right side hard to read. The word sequence on the lower right corner: GameBOY for MEN is already controversial concerning the intended change in brand attitude but the product name Gameboy Advance SP kills it as it is much too long and its benefits confusing, especially for non-users.

Part two: Competitive Advertising Analysis: Sony Playsation Portable (PSP) (Direct Competition)2
The ad shows a night scene likely on a highway in the US, where a caught suspect was given a PSP instead of handcuffs to hold his hands together, while the cops are background checking his profile. One cop is facing him, looking at him skeptically, clearly having his hands above the nightstick, while the other is contacting the central. The convict himself is so occupied from playing a game, that he is not able to take his hands off the pole, which would free him.

1.) Likely Target Audience

Brand Loyals. It enforces existing attitudes and beliefs about the brand leader Sony encouraging more shopping for supplemental games and equipment. Favorable Brand Switchers are addressed as well (Sony PSP is so appealing that you can never let it go). Personality traits: Experiencers (adventure seeking extroverts), wild young postteens, who want to express their rebellion, engaging in (for Playsation typical) inspiring brutal content.

Resonance, does the target audience care?

The ad is hinting to a typical gaming scene from one of the PSPs most appealing games, where the gamer plays a criminal, engaging in car robbery (Grand Theft Auto). This familiarity primes a just right level of anxiety which is actually beneficial for processing the message. Curiosity will lead to further attention and therefore increase the effect of persuasion. This emotional state helps to remember the ad better. The message directly influences the personality state, which is beneficial for the processing the ad itself leading to persuasion of the brand benefit. Key Roles in the purchasing process are the same as with the Gameboy. Logically this ad also presents a proposal to parents who will actually make the purchasing decision. From this perspective the ad might create bad impression on decider and purchaser. (Crime games could have bad influence on the development of my child).

2.) Positioning Strategy

Overall Sony positioned its portable gaming console centrally as dominant established quality brand. (Message: the attraction of this device is so strong, that it can easily be used instead of handcuffs). The product is well known and defines the category, as it provides the best, most realistic graphics and therefore offering the most engaging gaming experience. It should be user oriented as it addresses a specific segment (post-teens). However the communication is very ambiguous, as it shows shady characters. Additionally, the ad does not provide any further tangible benefit claims, leaving the audience on its own in interpreting the imagery.

Benefit selection
The user is likely to be positively motivated through sensory gratification, looking for extra stimulation of joyfulness. The ad promises that the products performance s so compelling that it will cast a spell over the user.

Benefit focus, appropriate given the motivation?

Due to the lack of additional written product characteristics it simply tries to communicate an emotion which should be positive. Arguably, the positive end state from using the brand is not very obvious. Until the audience has experience and understands the capabilities of the gaming console, this basically only hints to possible
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See ANNEX II for the print ad.

enjoyment. The benefit claim is pretty unclear and requires additional interpretation. In an extreme case, the presented crime scene might even deliver a negative emotion (Especially for parents). For those people looking for the emotional thrill (sensory gratification), the PSP can deliver. Despite that there is no clear uniqueness or differential positioning from other devices. So, the audience could enjoy the claimed benefits just as well with the Nintendo Gameboy.

2.) Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Strategies

Recognition Brand Awareness Strategy?
Here the recognition strategy is poorly executed and the communication objective is not very clear. Sony has arguably the strongest brand equity. Playstation is normally the first re -called brand for gaming consoles and is therefore very likely to get the business. However for recognition brand awareness, the brand PSP is not positioned prominently enough (no packaging, device only hinted from the backside in greyscale colors), which might significantly hinder recall links at the point of purchase.

High involvement transformational brand attitude strategy?

Sony solely offers the emotional thrill (e+); to play out delicate phantasies of being a criminal. This offering is unique and Sony reminds loyal customers of positive attitude towards their brand and tries to maintain and reinforce their brand equity (existing users). Additionally, it could increase positive attitudes for non-customers and favorable brand switchers. ELM: While Nintendo and Apple take the central route of processing; Sony as brand leader prefers the peripheral route, without engaging in any further particular benefit related communication.

Acceptance
Once accepted and liked by the target audience, the positive brand attitude is likely to result from the humor and cleverness behind the presented event, making the audience personally identify with the brand. The subsequent liking is powerful and will go beyond the given ad and extend to the entire PlayStation Brand and create WOM. Typical for Playstation ads, it is pretty off-beat and different from regular video game ads. This consistency with positive motives is very likely to get accepted by the post-teen target audience for handheld gaming consoles.

Category Need
It definitely stimulates a primary demand for the category need (having a handheld gaming console). However, the benefit is not presented as unique and the need could also be solved through other handheld consoles. Sony is increasing the overall demand for handheld gaming consoles and reminding the audience of the category need that handheld gaming helps you to lose yourself completely in the game wherever you are. It stands to reason that Sony as brand leader in gaming consoles chose this strategy on purpose, to boost PSP sales. What is missing here are additional benefit claims and convincing authenticity. In some cases Sony might be failing in eliciting the correct positive emotional response, which is critical. This misattribution could cause an approachavoidance conflict among legal guardians. (Approach Kids want it for Christmas, Avoidance The content might have a bad influence on the personality development of my child.) This is also covered by McGuires two factor analysis. The convict might attract attention but at the same time triggered anxiety might inhibit the message from getting processed deeply among certain groups.

4.) Creative Tactics. Attention and Learning

Imagery
Large high imagery and colorful picture are being used with many details. It invites the audience to figure out what exactly is going on in that crime scene. The picture is likely to hold attention at least 2 seconds and it shows the device being used, which facilitates associative learning. In contrast to Nintendo s ad however the audience would need to place themselves in the position of a suspect, which could cut both ways: Attraction or Aversion. One has to look closely to understand that it is not handcuffs that are holding the suspects hands together but a PSP. This requires selective attention and that the ad is able to hold the attention and that people like what they see. Reflexive attention of about three tenths of a second will by no means enough time to realize the kicker behind this picture. The success of this advert heavily relies on processing this visual pun. (PSP instead of handcuffs). It might happen that top-down processing is simply correcting the error. Consequently the whole off-beat idea will be useless. The imagery could be more authentic. Though the convict looks very concentrated on his two hands playing the game, overall the scene looks too artificially posed, which significantly might hinder acceptance of the message.

Words
Sony is only using its PSP letters (written-out PlayStation.Portable in tiny letters) and not even mentioning their own umbrella brand (SONY). The lack of wording might represent their large confidence as brand leader but it also takes the possibility for supplementary benefit claims in terms of characteristics and attributes which would clearly link to category benefits and subsequently to brand benefits. However, after the picture attracted attention, a quick glance at the brand name on upper left corner could be sufficient to bridge the message to the brand.

Part two: Competitive Advertising Analysis: Apple iPod Touch (indirect competition)3

In this ad Apple is effectively presenting its iPod Touch multimedia entertainment device in action. Two hands are wielding the device using its motion sensor to play a game. The augmented reality is expressed by a fighting plane which is moving on the screen according to the current position of the hands holding the device. Game variety is visualized and hinted through the 4 following screens whereas the turning angle changes from right to left, like a steering wheel motion, driving a car. Further all devices are connected to a white headphone cable hinting to the music and video player capabilities of the device.

1.) Likely Target Audience

Despite the other two, Apple does not have a clear target segment. In terms of brand loyalty groups, Apple is likely to address NCUs (New category users), frustrated OBS & OBL; Experimentalists like early adopters and opinion leaders. The resonance is pretty positive as it sends out (Apple typical) playful and light hearted feelings. Among a mass market, it encourages trial for the next generation of technology and consumer electronics (Augmented Reality).

See Annex III for the print ad.

2.) Positioning Strategy

Compared to Sony and Nintendo, Apple is offering more than a stand-alone gaming console. They offer a multimedia device, presenting indirect competition for the other two. It is therefore differentially positioned and clearly product benefit oriented as they try to introduce a new category to an established market. The device is presented as high end quality brand, satisfying your hedonic needs at an extraordinary level on the go.

Benefit selection
Newest technical features are the essential thing for a curious target audience, looking for social approval and sensory gratification. The device is likely to exceed existing expectations and requirements of portable gaming consoles and this way apple tries to redirect attention towards a new product category.

Benefit focus
Its attributes (technical superiority) are appropriate given the need for sensory gratification and let the audience experience next generation augmented motion controls (characteristic) which creates positive feelings(Emotion) Accordingly positive emotions related to the benefits are delivered by subjective characteristics : c e+

3.) Brand Awareness and Brand Attitude Strategies

Recognition Brand Awareness Strategy?
While Sony and Nintendo compete for attention on the same shelf at the point of purchase, Apple is likely to have its own shelf and basically its own category. The link to the category need is clearly drawn and though, the ad is not featuring the package itself, the boxing at the POS features large high definition graphics of the iPod device from all viewing angles (similar to Nintendo and Sony). So we can argue that package and brand are likely to prime the experienced positive emotion for trial, when discovered at the point of sale.

High involvement transformational strategy?

For loyals, which can easily identify with the portrayed brand, this ad will likely reinforce their already high brand attitude and the subsequent liking will extend to product and brand, as it is highly consistent with other Apple products and their ads. With the iPod Touch Apple was introducing a new brand and therefore tries to create a brand attitude for new category users. Positive attitudes (decreasing perceived levels of risk, through a most sophisticated product) will reduce barriers from switchable non customers from a classic gaming console. It elicits the correct emotional response and links it to the Brand (transforms audience into a playful mood). It is emotionally authentic, as the hand movement is realistic.

Brand purchase intention and category need

Apple is using category communication effects to create category awareness, a positive category attitude and even a category purchase intention for their iPod device. They are basically trying to make the classic handheld gaming console only category obsolete by replacing it with their own more feature-rich category. The statement Now starting at $199, which is also promotional, stimulates immediate responses to try this category.

4.) Creative Tactics. Attention and Learning

Imagery
As is usual, Apple did an excellent job in executing this ad. They used large, high definition and colorful pictures with many details, which are likely to hold attention at least 2 seconds. It is simple, clean and consistent with their corporate image and identity. It features a Picture Word Sequence, which maximizes communication effects and facilitates learning. Finally they take advantage of associative learning as well, as it shows device being used (could be the hands of the audience (Shearman Liminal Space Theory)). The multifunctional entertainment device is implied through the headphone cable on the upper right corner, suggesting our multimedia device is capable of doing so much more than just playing games. Compared to the PSP ad, Apple and Nintendo were more alert of the dual motivations of their high involvement transformational product and provided additional compelling product information to increase the transformational attitude and a reason to belief.

Words
The short phrase Next level fun presents unexpected, unusual wording and an off-beat expression. Encoding Specificity: Apple personalizes the association between need and brand like no other by using their personal pronoun I. The words I pod Touch describe clear benefits (Customization and touchscreen). Overall it makes you think, communicates joy and creates the need for trial. Due to its excellent execution the benefit is learned pretty quickly at one glance in less than 2 seconds.

Part Three: Recommendations for Next Generation Advertising

In order to avoid repetition of the critical evaluation in part I of this paper, this final part shall be used to complement the given arguments and to discuss recommendations for upcoming campaigns.

Modifications of existing Brand Attitudes

In order for Nintendo to influence the perception of their device as a more grown up console, it has to enforce their category communication effects, which will require an entire campaign, not just a single ad. The challenge for high-involvement product decisions lies in generating a definite intention to buy this Gameboy without regrets (social disapproval) or frustration (iPods might have more features). Nintendo needs to be aware that different segments of their potential target market are holding different initial attitudes toward the brand. For kids Gameboys used to be the boards that mean the world. For men (the new, extended target market) this childish image creates a negative belief and attitude. So Nintendo definitely needs to be consistent in isolating those segments and addressing them differently with different kind of ads. The problem here is that it will be same product for all segments, simply presented in a different light. This two-pronged positioning strategy makes it very challenging since it is crucial to communicate a clear benefit focus for both segments.

Ad Placement
The given ad is very unusual for Nintendos regular campaigns. Here Nintendo is trying to reach an unusual user group. Being aware of the purchasing process, parents as buyer and decider might back away from this ad, if they consider their kids not being mature enough for this kind of product. So the placement of those print ads is important as well. It would fit best in magazines for men like GQ, Playboy or FHM.

Creative tactics
First of all Nintendo needs to decide if they want to present their ad entirely user-oriented or stick to the chosen mixed approach. In any case a unique positioning is mandatory. In terms of product-oriented positioning, the sales angle is likely to be the technical advanced features of the product (C e+). This implies, in terms of written information on their print ads, Nintendo should list their strongest advantages over competition which creates reason to believe that their brand delivers desired benefits better than other brands (Reinforcing their uniqueness by referring to weakness of competition and disarming competitors benefits, which Nintendo cannot deliver or deliver less). For benefits, like pocketsize and portability, which might be unique but not regarded as essential, they should increase the perceived importance and even awaken a particular need for it (Expectancy-Value Model).

Imagery and Psycholinguistics

In terms of visualization, those benefits have to be visible, concise and highly expressive, meaning large, easy to read and colorful fonts, positioned dominantly to facilitate learning from the picture-word sequence. Brand name and the product name from now on should appear together and more dominant so a clear link to the brand benefit can be drawn. In the likely event that Nintendo will not be able to stay competitive on the same level of technical advanced features as the Apple iPod Touch, my advice for upcoming ads would be consistency in simple user-oriented positioned ads to put a strong focus on reminding the user of their feelings from using their Gameboy at the point of purchase (e+). To increase those emotional responses, Nintendo should apply more vibrant colors, highlighting the actual product. A red (color of love) gaming device combined with red bed sheets for example, would be more aggressive colors to gain attention and would further bond an even more sensual emotion to the brand.

Puns
Despite its funny double meaning the second best thing, the expression also has the potential to backfire and to disqualify them as brand leader. Nintendo should be aware of that ambiguity. Further to process the pun it requires thinking. In general Nintendos goal should always be to make the advert as easy to process as possible.

Final thoughts and considerations

The coming months, Nintendo is about to introduce their next generation handheld on the market and already renamed their established Gameboy Brand to Nintendo DS (Dual Screen). On the one hand, it could be argued, that this was a necessary step in repositioning and rebuilding a more mature brand attitude. Though the last designation of Gameboy AdvanceSP wa s already confusing enough, this time they might have done another significant mistake by destroying their over years established synonym for handheld gaming consoles and consequently their word-of-mouth advantage. Sony in contrast shows more consistency with their Playstation brand and still cultivates it. Now, it is imperative for Nintendo to establish this new brand name and to use their product re-launch as effectively as possible to address an enlarged target market. Finally, a consistent look and feel maintained over time as well as constant communication of positive brand benefits will stimulate immediate brand awareness for the new Nintendo DS brand and its category need.

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