The signature dishes are not necessarily what customers order, as long as they are willing to watch, it is a victory. This marketing idea has always been perfected in the hands of Nintendo. For example, a peripheral product that is ridiculed by many game and anime fans as the "Mari Pika God" is a typical example.
Article/Zhang Shule
Originally published in the "Le You Ji" column No. 122 of "People's Posts and Telecommunications" on November 18, 2016
This bizarre The name contains two extremely classic IPs, one is Super Mario, and the other is Pikachu, which was crazily captured by people using mobile phones all over the world in the summer of 2016. Then, before the heat wave passed, Nintendo launched a series of peripheral products for the AR game "Pokémon GO" around the world.
The most eye-catching one is a plush doll that combines the images of Super Mario and Pikachu into one. One is wearing Plumber Mario's characteristic costume, with a beard and " Pikachu with an M"-shaped logo hat, of course, to make the wool more fierce, there are also printed T-shirts, commemorative cards, painted books, and hanging chains that match this figure. This figure has both attractions and stories. Apart from the fact that it looks rather cute and a bit ugly overall, everything else is okay.
What is the use of a very cheap peripheral with little profit and not many people buying it besides attracting attention? That's enough for Nintendo, which was controversial for losing money in 2016. Let Pikachu and Mario lovers come to the store to have a look, or even just arouse the curiosity of others to come and complain. The main focus of this peripheral product is actually the gold Pikachu card exclusive to rich people that sells for over 10,000 yuan. Of course, it is also called with nostalgic feelings, because this card is actually the "Pokémon: Pokémon" sold 20 years ago. A replica of the rare cards from the first expansion of the card battle game.
As for this weird "Mari Pika God", he can just be a lucky cat and help the gold cards that are not gimmick but full of weight to attract more customers. Anyway, the cost of making this combined doll is not high. If you lose it, you lose it. If you stay in the store, you can still act as Zhong Kui’s envoy and keep the store in check!
At the same time, in terms of marketing psychology, it is okay to place a cute but worthless object next to a high-end product that makes people want to buy it. It triggers a very strong compensatory psychology and a stronger desire to buy. I still remember Zhou Xingchi’s famous saying in "Tang Bohu Spots Autumn Fragrance": "You have to know that beauty, like flowers, needs green leaves to set off her charm." By the way, just imagine the picture, this feeling is very numb. .
Similar to this kind of "integration" approach, in fact, it is not uncommon in the animation, game and film and television industries. Another example is that in 2006, the American company Hasbro, which became famous for selling Transformers, launched a series of new Transformers, but this set of Transformers were all transformed from characters or props in Star Wars. For example, Darth Vader, Master Yoda, Skywalker, etc., and even the Millennium Falcon spaceship and the seemingly powerful but useless Death Star in the film have also transformed.
As two major toy brands under Hasbro, the fusion of Star Wars and Transformers is just to create an eye-catching new toy series? The answer is not that simple either. Please pay attention to the time. In 2005, the last part of "Star Wars: Pre-War", "Revenge of the Sith", was released, while the first "Transformers" movie was not released until 2007. 2006 became a key node. The still hot Star Wars elements were implanted into Transformers toys, which had not been eye-catching products for a long time. You would think it was to promote toys. But Hasbro is warming up for the 2007 movie and attracting fans for the new Transformers series that will be launched simultaneously with the movie.
This is called strategic marketing. One step is for the next two or three steps.