My dad picks the fruit...

Opinion from Starks - Monday, 01 June 2009 @ 10:17am

“My dad picks his nose, and works for Cottee’s! To make the cordial that I like best!”

I remember singing that as a kid in school. The ad was one that I distinctly remember, as after I first saw it, I asked mum to buy some Cottee’s cordial. I’ve been drinking it ever since.

I wonder who picked the fruit for this bottle...

The fact it was a commercial aimed at kids, to win over kids, and using a catchy tune to remind kids means it was without a doubt a successful advertisement. Although I watch very little TV these days, I’m always aware of the various techniques marketers use to pull people in. See, when I was at university I pulled one of these out of a Kellogg’s box graduated with one of these.

Work collegues had NFI what I was doing when taking this picture...

Nowadays, I work for a little company that markets these products.

Clean breath, moisturised hands and oily babies.

Most importantly, it also markets these products and allows me to have an endless supply.

KY - Allowing slippery access to all those hard to reach places...

I noticed the other day a series of Olivia Newton John ad’s on the TV for Nintendo. I’ve put it up here for you to look at.

I was really quite impressed with the way they had done them. There was a third one that I saw, but I can’t find it on YouTube. In any case, they impressed me due to the manner in which they’re aiming it at middle-aged women who have an affinity to Olivia.

See, Nintendo are utilising something called ‘Celebrity Endorsement’, a marketing facet that places a product with a celebrity who sings its praise. Such a method is often deemed as a good advertisement as it makes synonymous a product with a well known face or persona. Another good example of this is Tiger Woods and Nike, or Pat Rafter and Bonds; The celebrity is essentially lending the equity of his own ‘brand’ to a product, and is then building that products own equity.

Nintendo’s use of Olivia is a sneaky and well thought out one. Many Australian’s and Yanks associate her with an honest wholesomeness, integrity and popularity. Most likely, every time they see her they think ‘You’re the one that I want!’ If marketers can achieve that same effect for their products by having her endorse it, then it’s almost a license to print money.

Where the actual interest for me sparked was the positioning of Nintendo products; the Japanese game developer was looking to try and place the Wii as something middle-aged women would use, and show it as a social activity. The DS was presented as something to keep your mind active, and challenge your responsiveness.

Such a crafty marketing campaign will help Nintendo do several things:

• Break down the gender barriers to gaming

• Break down the age barriers to gaming

• Incrementally grow the gaming community population

• Help remove the stigmatization that gamers have developed by changing it from a ‘I lock myself in a small, darkened room that has strange smells coming out of it to yell BOOM HEADSHOT!’ to a ‘Gaming is a way of challenging myself and having some fun with friends’.

I’m interested to see if the advertisements will show a spike in the demand for DS’s and Wii’s. Particularly in China, where celebrity endorsements see consumer purchases become a sort of status symbol. Obviously they’ll need some other celebrity to do so, but I’m sure Nintendo will have that covered. In any case, the use of such a celebrity as Olivia Newton John is one that signals a change in the way games and gaming is marketed as it moves away from positioning it as a strictly kids / teen activity, and more towards a fun activity that should be embraced rather than shunned. When comparing it to this 1980’s Nintendo ad, I definitely think that the company has come a long way in terms of a progressive approach to marketing.

Although the Powerglove was pretty damn cool.