Analysis of Brand Segmentation and Positioning Strategies of Nintendo

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的assignment代写范文- Analysis of Brand Segmentation and Positioning Strategies of Nintendo，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了任天堂的品牌定位和销售策略。从任天堂成功采用的品牌细分定位策略及其良好的营销业绩可以看出，2016年有效的品牌细分定位策略帮助任天堂成功走出了2015年的市场低迷，并在2016年实现了销售业绩的回升。因此，可以确定好使用品牌的细分和定位是非常有用的。

I. Introduction

An analysis of the brand segmentation and positioning strategies of Nintendo is carried out in this essay to describe the strategies adopted by Nintendo in the brand segmentation and positioning and put forward how Nintendo address these problems and achieve better sales than 2015 in its main markets.

Beginning the development of video game consoles since the 20th century, the Nintendo is a well-known game console manufacturer, researcher, developer and seller in Japan, and also a large company integrating electronic components R&D, mold design, mold making, production and sales. Committing to development of the best game consoles, the products of Nintendo are mainly sold to Europe, United States and China as the top 3 markets of this company.

Based on 20 years of experiences, the company adheres to the principles of continuous improvement and continuous learning, in the result a complete set of high-quality performance standards and efficient production processes are shaped. In addition, it wins a large number of excellent suppliers and R & D partners, which has formed a smooth supply chain integrating upstream and downstream. Through the stable development for 20 years, it has accumulated a huge capital. However, its profit margin tends to be seriously weakened because there are higher and higher international market demands, the dealers continue to put pressure on the price for the pursuit of profits, and the global financial conditions are not fully recovered after the Sub-prime Debt Crisis.

The bad sales conditions have brought bad sales: in 2015 the sales in the market were far below the expectations, and the original brand team members left frequently, the customers didn’t feel impressed at the differentiation of the products, and the brand image was not as good as before as found from a market survey (Management of Nintendo, 2017).

In 2016 the company carried out a comprehensive analysis on the problems. Based on the market review, they have adjusted the brand operation strategies, built up a Product Brand Promotion Department, employed professional project managers, and worked out a new plan against the problems appeared.

II. Segmentation Analysis

2.1 Problem analysis

In face of the new market situation, the management of the Nintendo has carefully analyzed its brand segmentation, with the following problems found:

First, the brand promoters have discussed what products can be the preferred in the promotion campaigns in the target markets, but they failed to analyze carefully the degrees of acceptance of the products by the potential buyers and the relations between functions and costs under the background of local markets. The brand planning team mainly consists of marketing managers and market salesmen. They tend to believe that it could be deemed successful if good sales achieved, therefore the identification of customer needs in the different markets was not sufficient;

Second, the team members don’t well understand the brand segmentation. It is found from an interview that they think the brand is just a name or just a logo, with special styles, functions and advertisements. In a word, they fail to well define the core value of a brand, and no any professional brand strategies are developed. The team members don’t have the experiences and expertise enough in brand building. Although they are good at thinking and implementation with traditional concepts, they are not capable to well control the brand segmentation in an efficient manner; and

Third, the advertisements are not published in accordance with the predetermined time, and thus there was low efficiency; and the detailed analysis on brand research data is not carried out, such as customer demands and situations of competitors, but mostly based on the experiences (Management of Nintendo, 2017).

We can see from the analysis above that: the brand segmentation is not under the systematic and macro arrangement specific to the countries or regions as the marketplaces, and the coordination among the different functions in the brand promotion is not sound.

The marketing expert Philip•Kotler had summarized the five stages of the development of the marketing concepts and pointed out that it is wrong to regard marketing as same as a simple trade in the context of the modern business. The companies shall not only pursue the maximization of the transactions while fail to consider the specific needs of the customers in the specific market segments (Kotler, 2013). So there is an idea of “relations-based marketing” at present in which the essence of marketing is to integrate the customers, suppliers and other partners in the company operation and establish the interactive relations with the customers, suppliers and partners (Perez et al 2010). In order to correct these problems and make the marketing proceed on a right track, Nintendo adopted a variety of measures for brand segmentation as discussed below.

2.1 Organizational Structure for Brand Segmentation

The brand segmentation activities adopted by Nintendo are based on a systematic approach, including product segmentation, channel segmentation, price segmentation, and consumer segmentation. Nintendo clearly knows that as a large multinational company, it is impossible to meet all the needs of each customer on the market due to its limited human, financial and marketing resources. But in face of the competition in the market, it can analyze the competitive points, take advantage of its own strengths, precisely identify the target customer groups, and reach or exceed the sales objectives. Nintendo is right to pay so many efforts for brand segmentation because the brand segmentation has become a key factor determining the success or failure of the marketing activities. The accurate Brand segmentation is a prerequisite for the successful operation of the company with its significant influences on the marketing performance (Campbell and Mitchel, 2011).

Specific to the reality that the company had rich experiences in production while lack of thorough and professional schemes of brand promotion projects, in the initial stage the company has founded a professional team, headed by the General Manager and backboned by some functional departments including the Product Brand Promotion Department, R & D department, Engineering Department, Production Department, and Design Department, for the brand promotion project, of which the key tasks were taken by Product Brand Promotion Department. Based on the social relations accumulated by the general manager over the years, a business team was established to promote the sales in the market focusing on Europe, United States and China.

2.2 Segmentation and targeted marketing activities

Scheme specific to the market in Europe: improve the two types of video game console namely Gamepad and Racing wheel, and focus on the promotion of the 4 kinds of host including PS2, USB, Xbox and PS 3/4 with car charger, plug, cable and earphone, to form a kit and form a concept of “Game kit” for promotion. Deluxe Edition and Regular Edition were developed specific to PS2 and USB to facilitate the customers for operations of the spare parts. This brand segmentation was developed for the market in Europe in order to establish a high-end image and attract more new buyers.

There were 20 kinds of products in this scheme, and the estimated market share is 30%.

Scheme specific to the market in the United States: the company plans to provide two types of video game console namely Gamepad and Racing Wheel corresponding to 4 kinds of hosts including PS2, USB, Xbox and PS 3/4, and focus on the promotion of the Deluxe Edition and Regular Edition specific to PS2 and USB according to the preferences of the customers in the market. This brand segmentation was developed for the market in the United States because the Americans like diversified and exciting game experiences as found in its investigation.

There were 8 kinds of products in this scheme, and the estimated market share is 25%.

Scheme specific to the market in China: the company plans to provide four types of video game console, including XE2, ESE, Laser-3000 and Game Generation II and two types of joysticks, including Joystick 2045 and Joystick 3432 in order to meet the preferences of the customers from China. This brand segmentation was developed for the market in China in order to occupy all of the low-, mid- and high-end market with a full coverage with high quality products and reasonable prices (Management of Nintendo, 2017).

There were 6 kinds of products in this scheme, and the estimated market share is 20%.

Figure 1 Customer Experience and Brand Communication in China

2.3 Supportive measures

It was planned to complete the design of the brands in January 2016, including symbol, logo, name, type, packaging style, advertising channel, inventory of goods, and after-sales service. The products would be sold in the stores/electronics malls by the retailers since March. 3 months prior to brand promotion, the General Manager has led the team to assign the tasks and confirm major issues. Then the entire project was handed over to brand managers in the Promotion Team of Nintendo Brand, who will enter the brand building team assisted with all other relevant departments in the company.

The Promotion Team of Nintendo Brand was established and the packaging style was designed in February and the promotion based on the new brand segmentation was begun punctually in March.

2.4 Market Performance

Thanks to the brand segmentation strategies and targeted marketing activities adopted by Nintendo specific to its main market segments, the marketing performance in 2016 of Nintendo had been improved than 2015 although it’s still below the level of the best sales records in the history. The marketing performance is shown in the following table:

We can learn from this table that except for the “Racing Wheel” not on sale prior to 2015, the sales of all products had a good growth in 2016, especially the sales of the Xbox achieved a significant growth as high as 20.3. The growth of sales shall firstly attribute to the new design, new package and new marketing means adopted in 2016, and secondly to the economic recovery in Europe in 2016.

We can learn from the sales in 2016 that nearly all products on sale in the United States have a better performance than last year except for the product of “Gamepad” was not on sale in timely manner due to the packaging issues and market reasons.

We can see from this table that the growth of sales in the market in China was not even, from 1.63 (Joystick 3432) to 21.15 (Laser-3000) because the Joystick 3432 is the old product will be phased out from the market while the Laser-3000 is a very exciting laser game platform that attracted a lot of buyers.

It is clear the brand segmentation strategies adopted and specific marketing activities carried out by Nintendo bring good achievements to Nintendo in terms of the sales performance. I think the good sales performance can make the Nintendo more confident in continuing the brand segmentation strategies and specific marketing activities specific to its target markets.

III. Positioning Analysis

Brand positioning is essential for all companies, large or small, selling the right products or services to the right markets. The accuracy of the brand positioning is directly related to the business performance because it forms one of the most important aspects for the survival of the companies (Davis, 2006). With the smart brand positioning skills, the companies engaging in a variety of business sectors can have excellent business performance. The economic globalization is developing day and day, so the brand positioning, the strategic marketing process to sell the products or services to the customers who live under the cultural backgrounds and shopping behaviors different from the multinational companies such as Nintendo, becomes more and more important (Roberts et al, 2010). The brand positioning is an important issue to be addressed by Nintendo in the global business processes because their existing or potential customers in the target markets have different characteristics exerting significant influences on the marketing performance. Nintendo has achieved good business performance as a direct result of successful brand positioning.

The brand positioning has two basic levels, namely market identification and target customer group identification. As the core and origin of project planning, market identification is the starting point of the positioning activities. The matter closely related to market identification is the target customer group identification. Under the premise of market identification, the marketers can identify the target customer groups: firstly, the marketers need to determine the areas with marketing activities carried out; secondly, the marketers need to determine the cultural characteristics of the expected customer groups; thirdly, the marketers need to describe inner psychological characteristics of the customer groups; and finally, the marketers need to describe the characteristics of the external behavior of customers (White, 2010).

Nintendo defines the “target market” as “the places with the specific products are on sale in order to satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers”. Nintendo has taken the specific and differentiated marketing strategies specific to the characteristics including the cultural backgrounds and shopping behaviors of the customers in the three target markets including Europe, the United States and China and successfully met the needs of its target customer groups longing for fashion, creativity and high technology (Walker, 2010). We can see from the appearances and functions of the Nintendo products that the Nintendo always regards the fashionable youths as the mainstream targeted customers. The young people have very high demands on the product features and shapes when they use them for the game playing. For example, the Gamepad has powerful function, stylish shape and smart touch screen, and integrates the online download software. We can clearly see that these attractive points of Gamepad are tailored to the young generation in the three target markets including Europe and the United States because they have the cultural characteristics including pursuit of fashion. In addition, some smart Nintendo products is also powerful at accessing to other game platforms and receiving the ranking information globally, so these products make the players feel like playing with the world. We can see from the high price of some smart Nintendo products that it is a high-end game platform that they are designed for the population who are not sensitive to the prices and would like to pursue fashion and exciting game experiences due to their special characteristics. Even the three mainstream markets also have differences in terms of the brand positioning: different from the marketing strategies adopted for the Nintendo products in the United States of America where the ordinary joysticks are not very popular in these regions, the Nintendo has adopted the different marketing strategies in China, with the young and not very rich young generation taken as a part of its marketing priority – it is one of the reasons attributing the success of Nintendo in China. The specific positioning is as the following table:

The theory of brand positioning develops along with the influences on and changes in the sector of communication caused by the marketing environment and marketing concept (White, 2010). The outcomes of brand positioning cannot be realized until some operations are completed: it is necessary to identify the differences, select the entry points and establish the unique advantages in the target markets. The “identify the differences” means to focus on the differential needs of the customers, divide the customer groups and select the expected customers. In addition, it is necessary to identify the individual differences of the products, services, images and brands and play their differential strengths; the “select the entry points” means to provide the services while focusing on the target customer groups; and the “establish the unique advantages in the target markets” include a series of activities: determination of the styles of products, identification of the markets to be occupied, and clarification of the value image established. The brand value can be reflected based on a combination of these efforts.

The brand positioning method often used is the STP theory – it is also the theory adopted by Nintendo as the subject in this essay. STP theory refers to brand segmentation, market targeting and brand positioning. STP theory can enable the companies to identify their target markets based on some brand segmentation, and finally identify the products and services on the specific positions of the target market. STP analysis is an ongoing systematic cycle and can be illustrated with a diagram (Smith and Wilson, 2003).

Specifically, the processes and contents of brand positioning adopted by Nintendo with the STP theory are as follows. First, market identification: the Product Brand Promotion Department divided its main markets into three market segments, including Europe, the United States and China, based on the differences of the customers. The basis of segmentation is the customer groups with identical needs in the heterogeneous market, so that the customers with same needs can be gathered together. Second, target buyer positioning: the Product Brand Promotion Department determined that the people aged above 40 as the mainstream customers in these three target markets, and evaluated the consumption capability and preferences of these potential customers on the basis of target buyer positioning. Through these activities, the marketers can clarify the customers which the products are facing and analyze the features of the customers, so as to propose the targeted marketing strategies. Third, product positioning: it is the process of shaping the characteristics and images of the products on markets after the target brand positioning in order to win the recognition of the target customers.

The customers in a target market are the individuals who can be benefited from the products sold by Nintendo and who can provide sources of incomes to Nintendo. These individuals of course can influence the realization of the sales objectives. Therefore, the mutual influences between the group of these individuals (customer group) and the target markets are different, and can be divided into: the key customer group, namely the individuals who have significant influences on sales; and the common customer group, namely the individuals who have weak influences on the sales (Roberts and Baker, 2005).

In face of multiple customer groups having different interests or expectations involved to influence the sales, the Nintendo classified the customer groups in the target markets. Based on the degrees of importance, they could be classified into key customer groups, including the game studios, influential local game players and game organizations; and common customer groups, including the teenagers, game fans and other people who have the potential to buy the products from Nintendo.

Due to the diversification of the customers while many customers are involved, it is very complicated and difficult to balance the interests among the customers. The demands and interests of the customers are the benchmarks to guide the sales and the foothold of the decision-making activities in the sales. Therefore, Nintendo didn’t only decide to make the sales managers pay attentions to the overall interests of all customers, but also to coordinate and resolve the problems of priority of sales campaigns in three target markets that may arise in order to realize a reasonable balance of interests of different customers. The sales manager in the target market is located at the central position in the promotion activities, so he or she plays an important role and needs to establish a relationship of trust and cooperation between the customers and Nintendo during the stakeholder management.  In addition, the new channels of communication were established in 2016 to realize the sharing of information resources, aiming at the problems-identification and measures-taking to avoid the contradictions and conflicts among various customers through the establishment of the effective communication and exchange mechanism. Specifically, the sales manager maintained a good communication with the key customer groups and kept an ear to the recommendations and comments on the product quality and performance; and carried out the concentrated management on the common customer groups, including cooperation with them, active communication with them, maintaining good relations with them, and providing convenient conditions for their shopping behaviors. In a word, the sales manager in each market segment effectively managed a variety of customers existed there, comprehensively balanced their interests and maximized the supports available from Nintendo in order to ensure the successful sales.

The Product Brand Promotion Department found from the statistics and analysis of the market performance specific to the different customer groups in the three main target markets that with the efficient brand positioning at present, the satisfaction degree of the customers was improved while the direct savings amounting to 15% of the marketing costs was realized because the efficient brand positioning focuses on the degrees of acceptance by the customers in the target markets more, i.e. through the brand positioning specific to the customers in its three main markets, the workflow, packaging, sales, after-sales services and end-of-life treatment of Nintendo were streamlined and the products on sale were more popular in the target markets. In addition, thanks to its efficient brand positioning strategies based on the high quality and technologies reflected in its products, Nintendo is very successful in the three markets, especially in China: the Nintendo products were ranked as the “Most Popular Game Products” in a survey carried out by the magazine “Market Weekly” in 2016. Benefited from the hot sales in China, Nintendo was the fastest-growing game electronics supplier in China in 2016. Watanabe, the CFO of Nintendo disclosed that Nintendo planned to open four new retail stores in China in 2017 due to the positive expectations on the market in China (Management of Nintendo, 2017).

III. Conclusion

In this essay Nintendo, an international game platform manufacturer and dealer, is taken as a case in the analysis of the brand segmentation and positioning strategies on the basis of the concepts and theories of brand segmentation and positioning. We can find from the brand segmentation and positioning strategies successfully adopted by Nintendo and its good marketing performance that the efficient brand segmentation and positioning strategies adopted in 2016 helped Nintendo to successfully walk out of the marketing downturn suffered in 2015 and recover its marketing performance in 2016. Therefore, it can be determined that the good use of the brand segmentation and positioning is very useful and helpful marketing tool to win the customers in the target markets: the marketing results shown in the case also indicate that with the efficient use of the brand segmentation and positioning strategies, Nintendo achieved good marketing performance in 2016.

The brand segmentation and positioning is not applicable to the electronics industry, but also applicable to nearly all industries such as catering, aviation and service-providing, so the companies involving in any industries having many market segments can try to use it in order to define and focus on the key market segments and have a good positioning in these market segments. There are also other successful cases in other industries available worthy of reference in the application of the brand segmentation and positioning, and also many lessons need to be learnt from the cases of failure of or improper application of the brand segmentation and positioning. In a word, the brand segmentation and positioning can play good roles as long as the marketers carry out a careful study specific to the markets in advance and then apply them to the marketing activities.

Reference

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Kotler, P. (2013). Marketing Management, Edition 11. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House.

Management of Nintendo (2017). Financial Report of 2016, 1-77.

Perez J. et al (2010). Market Planning and Design. Architectural Journal, 57 (5), 23.

Roberts, et al (2010). Brand Classification and Typical Form. Business Week, 8 (4), 8

Roberts, X and Baker, Z. (2005). Marketing Types and Classifications – Taking Nintendo as an Example. Economic Geography, 25 (4), 525-527.

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