Nintendo Campaign Final

Advertising Campaign Event Chapter: Lake Park West High school: Lake Park West Campus Address: 500 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Roselle, IL 60172 Daniel Lore, Matthew Rutty, Joseph Ranieri 1/18/16

Table of Contents I. Executive Summary One-page Description of the Campaign ....................................................... 1 II. Description Description of Super Smash Brothers ........................................................... 2 III. Objectives of the Campaign .................................................................... 2 IV. Identification of the Target Market A. Primary Markets ........................................................................................ 3 B. Secondary Markets ................................................................................... 3 V. List of Advertising Media Selection Necessary for the Campaign .......... 4 VI. Schedules of All Advertising Planned ..................................................... 5 VII. Schedules of All Sales Promotion Activities Planned ............................ 5 VIII. Budget .................................................................................................... 6 IX. Statement of Benefits to the Advertiser ................................................ 7 X. Bibliography .............................................................................................. 7

I. Executive Summary Super Smash Bros. is a multi-platform Nintendo exclusive fighting action game that has released 5 editions. Even the earliest editions are immensely popular today. Throughout the product's history a lack of proper and creative advertising has held back this game. The TV commercials that have been produced in order to advertise for Super Smash Bros. have instead focused on the system rather than the game. This has proved to hurt Super Smash Bros. more than help it. Furthermore, the commercials also have not been able to capture the game’s full experience. Lackadaisical and corny commercials only feature partial game play while mainly highlighting what the actual player is doing. Our advertising campaign aims to do three things. First, we want to make sure that gameplay is displayed properly and with the time it deserves in order for the true experience of the game to be shown. Secondly, we want to highlight that the game can be used as a casual party game or a serious competitive game, there are many possibilities with this game and children of all ages will be able to enjoy it. Lastly, we want to advertise for every edition of the game released with the above standards in the commercials. The game has come a long way and we hope to highlight that as well as show that all versions of the game are still immensely popular and enjoyable today. We are also commemorating 15 years of Super Smash Bros. through this campaign. In honor of that we will be releasing limited edition Nintendo systems in correlation with the games and limited edition copies of the games. We plan to run individual TV commercials for each game and then run a commercial that advertises for all the games in one. Our goal is to air these commercials on not only major children's and teenager’s networks but adult networks as well. Our target audience is a huge group considering the first game came out in 1999 and the most recent game came out in late 2014. We also plan on setting up gaming stations with the limited edition consoles and games throughout malls and stores world-wide. This will let customers really get the feel of the game and act as a means of sales promotion activities. Children and adults of all ages play and love this game and we know our new and fresh advertising campaign will increase sales.

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II. Description Super Smash Brothers is a cross-over, action, fighting game that has released 5 editions on five different Nintendo systems. The premise of the game is that characters from numerous different Nintendo exclusive titles are all in one fighting game. The first edition for N64 was released in 1999. This game had very low production numbers and the next copy, Super Smash Bros. Melee, is considered the true first game. “Melee” was released for the GameCube in 2001. Alone, Super Smash Bros. Melee has sold over 7 million copies and the value has nearly doubled since its release. The next game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, would be released seven years later in 2008 for the Wii. Super Smash Bros. DS was released in 2014 for the 3DS and it was made to be a preview for the next game released. The last game produced was Super Smash Bros. 4 released in November 2014 for the Wii U. Even though the game has evolved and all of its aspects have been improved, all editions are still immensely popular today.

III. Objectives of the Campaign Our campaign has 2 main objectives. The first is to revamp the Super Smash Bros. name. We want to show that this game is more than just a party game. We will do this through six TV ad campaigns. A new commercial will be produced for each game starting in chronological order (N64, GameCube, Wii, 3DS, Wii U). After these commercials air we will release a commercial that is a compilation of all 5 games. For the individual commercials we will focus on displaying the party side of the game as well as the competitive side of the game. With the compilation commercial we will focus solely on the competitive side of the game. Secondly we want to increase Super Smash Bros. sales and get people talking about the game again. Our release of limited edition systems and games will entice customers to purchase and start playing these games again. The last ten seconds of our TV ads will be dedicated to these limited edition systems and games, and a social media campaign will promote this special merchandise.

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IV. Identification of the Target Markets A. Primary Markets Our primary markets are as follows: N64 (Nintendo 64) and Melee (GameCube) - These games both came out around 2000. This is why our primary market for these games are Millennials/Generation Y. These consumers grew up with these games and market research shows that they are the biggest fans of them. From local to national tournaments held for the games, a majority of the people there are the ages 16 to 36. This target group values these games the most and are familiar and comfortable with them. We plan to design our TV commercials for these two games to appeal to this generation. Brawl (Wii), 3DS, and Four (Wii U) - These games have all come out in the last ten years. Market research shows that Generation Z/Boomlets value these games the most because they grew up with them. Our target market for this set of games will be Generation Z. We expect that our focus on the new generation of Super Smash Bros. players, in our commercials, will enhance sales.

B. Secondary Markets Our secondary market consists of families that are made up of adults from Generation Y and children from Generation Z. For many years Super Smash Bros. was considered nothing but a party game and that belief is still very popular today. Marketing towards families with young children gives us the opportunity to not only sell the N64 and Melee versions to the adults of those families, but introduce the newer models of the games to the children as well. Our market research shows that there are many households throughout the world that consist of the two generations of Super Smash Bros. players. Re introducing the early versions of the games to

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the adults and the new versions of the games to the children is a perfect way to market the party element of the game.

V. LIST OF ADVERTISING MEDIA SELECTION NECESSARY FOR THE CAMPAIGN Other than our social media campaign, we plan to advertise solely on television networks. Our conclusion from our advertising research that took place was that TV commercials are the most effective way to advertise for a product. The commercials are a visual and auditory representation of the game. With the large variety of commercials we are planning to produce, TV ads are also the most cost effective way to advertise for Super Smash Bros. and will give us the best return on the investment. We will be able to advertise through a multitude of different television networks and medians. The four major networks we plan to advertise on are: Nickelodeon, Disney, USA, and Discovery. Nickelodeon and Disney have consistently been rated the top children’s networks on television and this is how we will reach our younger audience. USA and Discovery have consistently been rated the top adult networks on television so naturally this is the perfect place to advertise in order to reach our older audience.

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VI. Schedules of All Advertising Planned

July 2016

• Super Smash Bros. N64 commercial will air for the entire month of July • All related "N64" merchandise will be in stores ready for purchase • N64 systems will be in malls and stores for customers to test the game

• Super Smash Bros. Melee commercial will air for the entire month of August • All related "Melee" merchandise will be in stores ready for purchase August 2016 • GameCube systems will be in malls and stores for customers to test the game

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl commercial will air for the entire month of September • All related "Brawl" merchandise will be in stores ready for purchase September • Wii systems will be in malls and stores for customers to test the game 2016

October 2016

• Super Smash Bros. DS commercial will air for the entire month of October • All related "DS" merchandise will be in stores ready for purchase • 3DS systems will be in malls and stores for customers to test the game

November 2016

• Super Smash Bros. Four commercial will air for the entire month of November • All related "Four" merchandise will be in stores ready for purchase • Wii U systems will be in mall and stores for customers to test the game

December 2016

• The Super Smash Bros. compilation commercial will air for the entire month of December • These commercials were released in this order to build anticipation for the holiday season • During the month of December all Super Smash Bros. merchandise will be avalaible for purchase

VII. Schedules of All Sales Promotion Activities Planned We will remain in correlation with the advertising for our sales promotions. We plan on releasing special edition bundle versions of the “N64” with decals relating to the SSB title released on the Lore, Rutty, Ranieri 5

N64 system. We will use this same plan for each version of the game and release a limited edition console version for each, with decals relating to the versions we’re advertising for in that particular month. They will be uniquely good sellers because the true collectors and aficionados of the game will want to have one of them for their favorite version of it. We will also run a 15% sale on all of the games to commemorate 15 years of Super Smash Bros. and to commemorate the 15 year mark of a franchise staple game. “N64” Special Merchandise- July “Melee” Special Merchandise- August “Brawl” Special Merchandise- September “DS” Special Merchandise- October “Four” Special Merchandise- November

VIII. Budget Reducing the price of the bundles and games 15% will hurt our revenue. However, we are expecting an increase in sales for our special edition systems and games so we will be able to increase our revenue by 25%. This increase in revenue will give us more profit and by the holiday season we expect our sales to sky rocket. Commercials - $50,000 for a 30s spot x 10 commercials in a month x 5 months = 2.5 million dollars. Expected sales- 10,000 more games per month, 50 dollars/game x 5 months = 2.5 million 1,000 more systems per month, 200 dollars/system x 5 months = 1 million

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IX. Statement of Benefits to the Advertiser The benefit of our ad campaign is that it will attract more attention to the Super Smash Bros. franchise. We will be creating a set of well-done commercials that will actually capture the essence of the Super Smash Bros. brand and reach our target audience. The more attention brought to the game itself will result in an increase in sales and demand for the game. This ad campaign will also lay the foundation for future games to be much more successful.

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X. Bibliography Linked, Nintendo. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U- New Characters TV Commercial. Digital image. NintendoLinked. Nintendo Linked, 14 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016. Nintendo. "Official Site - Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U." Www.smashbros.com. Nintendo, 2005. Web. 18 Jan. 2016. Novak, Jill. "The Six Living Generations In America | Marketing Teacher." Marketing Teacher. Marketing Teacher, 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016. Wikia. Super Smash Bros. Digital image. Logopedia. Wikia, 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016. Wikipedia. "Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016. Wikipedia. "Super Smash Bros." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2005. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

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