Marketing Principles Report: A Comparison of PlayStation and Nintendo

This report provides a comparative analysis of the marketing principles employed by PlayStation and Nintendo gaming consoles. It examines their target markets, product strategies, pricing techniques, distribution channels, and promotional activities. PlayStation targets self-centered young individuals focused on enjoyment, while Nintendo aims at optimistic and intellectual individuals. Both companies offer a range of products and utilize online and offline channels for distribution. PlayStation employs aggressive promotion and participates in major gaming events, while Nintendo focuses on new product features and special occasion launches. While both brands exhibit effective marketing mixes and maintain loyal customer bases, PlayStation holds a competitive edge due to its advanced technological features and association with Sony. Nintendo can enhance its competitiveness through research and development to introduce innovative features.

Principles of Marketing
Table of Contents
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Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................................4
Comparison of target markets.....................................................................................................4
Product........................................................................................................................................4
Price:...........................................................................................................................................5
Place............................................................................................................................................5
Promotion....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
Books & Journals........................................................................................................................7
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing can defined as an effective act of selling goods and services with the help of
creative and unique promotional techniques. It helps a brand to excel well in the competitive
markets can give a tough competition to the competitors. The aim of this report id to study,
understand and analyse the difference between the two gaming brands namely Playstation
and Ninetendo gaming consoles. These are considered as very much popular brands of
gaming consoles worldwide. Playstation is a popular gaming brand which deals in gaming
consoles, media platforms as well as controllers. It is the subsidiary of the popular company
Sony Interactive Entertainment which is considered as one of the largest video game
manufacturers around the world. Nintendo is also one of the popular video game
manufacturer company that designed and developed the most popular “MARIO” game. It
also deals into consumer electronic items. In terms of capitalization, it is considered as one
of the largest company around the globe. The concept of four p’s will help both the brand to
understand the target market in a most effective way. It can be determined that the concept
of marketing mix is the foundation of marketing the brand in the most efficient way
possible.
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be defined as the process or act of buying and selling of goods or services.
It includes the action of promoting the products ins such a way that the profitability of the
business rises. Marketing includes various concepts and frameworks. One of its important
concept is four P’s of marketing mix which basically includes four major components on the
basis of which a brand is marketed in the competitive markets. In this report, the four p’s of
marketing of two brands of gaming console Playstation and Ninetendo is done in order to
analyse the difference between the marketing strategies of both the companies. Both the
gaming companies are highly popular in the market with its great market presence in the
competitive environment.
FINDINGS
Comparison of target markets
A target market can be defined as the group of people who share something in
common in the form of interests, features or attributes. It is highly important to have a target
market because it helps in identifying the segment that the business organization aspire to
capture in order to achieve profits along with a considerable market presence (Blakeman,
2018). The comparison between the target market of Playstation and Nintendo states that the
target segment of Playstation gaming console are “Hedonists”. These are those young people
who very much self-centred and self– obsessed. The belief system of these people are
concerned towards the element of enjoyment. They are moreover interested in spending
most the time with friends. While on the other hand, Ninetendo gaming console’s target
segment is the people who are named as “Chardonnays”. These are those people who very
much positive and optimistic in nature. They are moreover intellectual having concentration
towards making memories along with the career life.
Product
Product can be defined as a tangible thing which is made for the purpose of sale in the
market with a motive of earning profits (Micheaux and Bosio, 2019). It is very essential to
have an effective product strategy as it helps in designing and developing a product which
the customers wants and desire for. The product strategy of Playstation was to provide
home consoles for video games for the target market. It came up with a range of its
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products starting from Playstation series to different accessories related to it. Every product
with in the series came with more and better features along with a great user interface with
the changing time. While on the other hand, Ninetendo product strategy was quite similar
range of products. It also launched some arcade games that became a huge success in the
market. It partnered with different brand to achieve a greater market share like Niantic
which was the developer of Pokémon Go. It was an augmented reality game that became
highly popular around the globe (Khazai Kohpar and et. al., 2021). This helped the
company to achieve close to 33% of the profits as well as huge success among the
competitors .
Price:
It can be defined as the monetary value of the product or service charges by a company.It
plays an important role that affects the purchasing decision of the customers. It is very
important that the company must use a effective pricing technique which helps in grabbing
a good amount of customer base (Gossen, Ziesemer and Schrader, 2019). In context to
Playstation, the company chose the premium pricing technique but it also concentrated on
the competition closely. This pricing strategy was used to grab the high-end customer base
effectively. It is considered as a dominant force in the competitive market because of
which it has priced its goods at a higher level as compared to its competitors. While on the
other side, the pricing at the beginning stage was premium to grab good profits. But later
the prices were kept competitive to be competitive in the market at the decline stage, it
even provided high level discounts and offers.
Place
Place as a component of marketing mix can be defined as the physical location where the
products or services are provided to the customers including the distribution channel it
helps in defining the territory of the company where it can reach and sell its products in the
most effective manner. In relation to Playstation, the products were available both on
online as well offline stores with an objective to sell the product worldwide. Starting from
the premium stores of Sony to online platforms like Amazon, flipkart etc., the products are
available easily (Micheaux and Bosio, 2019).In case of Ninetendo also the products are
available at retail stores of Walmart and Game Planet and also on the online stores which
makes it easy for the customer to reach out to the company and its products with high level
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of convenience and without facing any hindrances (East and et. al., 2021). Therefore, both
the products are available around the globe easily for the target markets of both the
companies respectively.
Promotion
It is a strategy which includes different tactics used by the companies for the purpose of
popularizing the product in the competitive markets. Promotional strategies are considered
as the most important strategy as it defines how company is reaching out to the customers.
With the help of promotion and its activities, companies can create an attractive image of
the company in the minds of customers in accordance to their products and services. In
context to Playstation, it uses aggressive promotion technique to promote its products. It
also used exhibitions for the purpose of advertising its products (Yesiloglu and Costello,
2020). It also used the Electronic Entertainment Expo, which is one of the biggest
platforms of big gaming events also helps in hosting the Playstation products every year.
This majorly helps Sony to advertise the products at a mass level to gather more number of
clients. While on the other hand, Ninetendo promotes it product by bringing some new
features in the new products. Also, they launch there products on some special days and
occasions to make its products special in different way. Not only this they distribute free
gifts along with goodies and t-shirts. They invited its target customers to come, play and
experience the products which made its promotional activities highly attractive.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above mentioned points in the report, both the brands
namely Playstation Gaming Console and Ninetendo Gaming Console are having very
effective as well as efficient marketing mix. Both the companies of the gaming field are
highly competitive in nature and are trying its best sell their products with best possible
features. Also, both of them have their own loyal customer bases that proves that they have
build a considerable market and brand value on the basis of which they are earning huge
amount of profits. Gaming industry basically requires huge amount of investment in
bringing out the best features in their respective products. Therefore, keeping in
consideration to the requirement of the customers both the companies are performing highly
well but Playstation is having an competitive edge over Ninetendo, because it is having
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more advanced technological featured games along with some advanced graphics. The
marketing strategies for the promotion of the products of Playstation are more effective
because it is having an association with SONY. While, Nintendo can give even more tough
competition to Playstation by bringing some new features by the help of effective research
and development in order to have an competitive edge over the other existing payers in the
market.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Gossen, M., Ziesemer, F. and Schrader, U., 2019. Why and how commercial marketing should
promote sufficient consumption: A systematic literature review. Journal of
Macromarketing, 39(3). pp.252-269.
Yesiloglu, S. and Costello, J. eds., 2020. Influencer marketing: building brand communities and
engagement. Routledge.
Micheaux, A. and Bosio, B., 2019. Customer journey mapping as a new way to teach data-driven
marketing as a service. Journal of Marketing Education, 41(2). pp.127-140.
Khazai Kohpar, M. and et. al., 2021. University Entrepreneurial Marketing: Developing Model
with a Mixed Approach. Jounal of Marketing Management, 16(50). pp.43-63.
East, R., and et. al., 2021. Consumer behaviour: Applications in marketing. Sage.
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