NoA announce marketing campaign
75-million-dollar spectacular to kick off soon, on TV, in magazines and on the Internet
Nintendo of America today announced the final 75-million-dollar stage of its GameCube launch campaign for North America. NoA executive vice president Peter Main said that the campaign has one central strategy; to help gamers get their hands on Nintendo games. The campaign will feature television advertisements airing on many different channels from primetime to MTV to Saturday cartoons, and preceding blockbuster movies in November and December, as well as print adverts and a roadshow. The campaign pales in comparison to the 500-million-dollar budget equivalent for Microsoft's Xbox, but ironically many journalists are now wary of the console because of the lack of specific information available, and the fact that Microsoft's marketing department seems to be pushing the multi-media capabilities of the console above all else. "Nintendo GameCube is built from the ground up for one purpose only - to play games," Peter Main explicated. Events in the run up to November 18th - the launch date of the console - will culminate in a Cube Sunday on the day itself, coinciding with the beginning of the most important retail shopping week of the year. Nintendo is employing the services of top production talent for the television advertisements including the director of photography for "Seven" Darius Khondji. Shootings, editing and post production work has been carried out in the United Kingdom, Italy, France and the United States. One of the advertisements features more than 500 cast members. Apart from the usual television appearances, cinema-goers will spot GameCube advertisements prior to films such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. GameCube will also appear in print media during the next few months, from magazines like Sports Illustrated for Kids to men's magazines like Maxim and Stuff. Nintendo has green-lighted more than 95 full-page print advertisements across more than 50 publications. Defying convention, Nintendo will forgo the pleasantries of a truck tour and instead will open Nintendo Cube Clubs in 12 cities across the United States, transforming lofts, vacant office buildings and other "offbeat" venues into fully interactive clubs with DJs and more than 32 gameplay stations running on Panasonic HDTV monitors. The Cube Club Tour kicks off on September 28 in Atlanta, with sponsorship from Stuff Magazine, Maxim, DC Comics, Yahoo! and GamePro amongst others. Information and free tickets can be uncovered at http://www.nintendogamecube.com. This website will also act as the centrepiece to Nintendo's online efforts, with regular updates and information. Nintendo will also hold cheesy "What would YOU do for a Nintendo GameCube?" contests that will "appeal to fans that will eat a bucket of worms orshave their head in order to win an early Nintendo GameCube". Dedicated game websites will launch nearer the console's release. Nintendo also plans to have consoles available for preplay at retail chains in advance of the launch. Related Feature - Hip to be Cube!