Nintendo and PlayStation, both companies originally from Japan are giants in the gaming market. Since 1985 of Nintendo’s first console the “Famicom”, Nintendo has a range games and characters iconic to this day. Meanwhile PlayStation’s first console “The Playstation” released later in 1994 saw success in their innovative graphics. Both companies have a many console in their history, accompanied with various advertisement campaigns.
In a UK advertisement for the Switch titled “When life gives you a moment, grab it with Nintendo Switch.” It presents the console as being the perfect choice in providing entertainment to escape reality during a break in a day.
Link to Nintendo’s advertisement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkpPB4IQhMU
In the advertisement, there is no presence of Nintendo’s country of origin and instead is customised directly appealing to a western socio demographic to convey the flexibility of the Switch being incorporated into a parent couple’s lifestyle. Initially when the father returns home from work, he sees his wife with a crying baby and a dog barking, then somehow he easily silences them. This can be problematic in stereotyping fathers in a nuclear family as the one going to work supporting the family while the mother stays home caring for the child. The interior of the house, initially in focus blurs with a small depth of field turns into a shallower depth of field when the parents use the console highlighting the Switch’s functional attributes of transporting its players into a space where they are free from their responsibilities. Whilst fighting the in-game boss the father says “I’ve been watching out for the boss the whole day” showcasing Nintendo’s presence in the father’s life outside of work.
The warm colour grading represents comfort and a sense of security as a guarantee Nintendo will always provide entertainment. It also ties to the personality trait of Nintendo delivering nostalgia through entertainment. Nostalgia in remakes of older games is contributes to brand loyalty where Nintendo heavily profits from targeting people who grew up and have long term relationship with Nintendo. Their UK’s website states their brand has “created franchises that have become household names worldwide”. The advertisement shows parents playing Super Mario World, a game recycled many times. A myth however associated with some re-releases is that even with the improved graphics, it is still the same game to its predecessor with nothing extremely innovative in addition. But due to a high loyalty level in Nintendo’s customers, they will still repurchase products due to an emotional bond in nostalgia which can be shared across generations.
Nintendo uses a descriptor logo representing the Switch’s physical attributes, a small sign showcasing the experience of holding the product before you buy it. The sounds captured of the Joycons clicking to the console’s body acts as a signifier in the Switch’s detachable controllers and asymmetrical design creating its unique appearance. Nintendo’s brand narrative ”aims to deliver unique, intuitive entertainment experiences for everyone” which the logo represents in Nintendo being the first brand to have a portable and home console together, the major selling point of the Switch.
Advertisements for PlayStation differ from presenting the console being used like Nintendo. Instead they have a pattern in not showing the physical and functional attributes of their console but instead creating a fictional cinematic video focusing on the personality traits tied to their brand.In PlayStation Japan’s advertisement “We Can Do it”, the key message presented is they can make anything possible with their games and console, aligning to their brand narrative of being the “global leader in interactive and digital entertainment experiences.” found on both PlayStation’s Japan and Australia’s website.
Link to PlayStation’s advertisement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yc6hgwG7vU
An obvious sign used in supporting their message is in the advertisement’s slogan and song “We Can Do It” where PlayStation establishes their personality trait of being the best in digital entertainment and claiming anything is possible for them. The slogan is almost like a motivating team chant where in comparison to the Switch advertisement slogan “When life gives you a moment, grab it with Nintendo Switch”, it is more of a suggestion telling the audience what they should do.
While Nintendo’s advertisement had utilised minimal compositions easily outlining the main subjects, PlayStation has a chaotic setting and visuals of fictional characters and supernatural powers shown across shots in crowded compositions. Each shot has inconsistencies in the colour palettes emphasising the disorder and chaos as compared to warm tones used throughout Nintendo’s advertisement.This heightens the absurdity and excitement being the main driver of the advertisement conveying the brand’s personality to be exciting, unique and imaginative. These visuals act as the signified in that their products have a functional attribute of presenting unique worlds and dimensions, enhancing the experience of their console players.
Despite the advertisement having traces of country of origin in the advertisement’s cast and use of Japanese subtitles catering for a Japanese audience, there is difficulty in identifying the target audience and country of origin in that the advertisement predominantly consists of Western influences in its musical performance entirely in English and madhouse setting of western interior architecture.
Nintendo and PlayStation emphasise individuality and innovation in their advertisements as they both have this aspect to their brand narrative of being innovative to the gaming industry. In PlayStation’s advertisement, they leave their physical appearance of their console to the end and focus on capturing connotations related to their brand personality as being fun and imaginative along with chaotic visuals in representing themselves as a “global leader in providing interactive digital entertainment experiences.” where they can make anything possible to excite the viewers. However, Nintendo’s advertisement and brand narrative is better at humanising their product and connecting to people other than gamers in that they strive to appeal to everyone so that they can “create unique entertainment that puts smiles on the faces of people all over the world”. Nintendo’s advertisement has a clear outline on the three dimensions of a brand in that it is able to combine physical attributes of the Switch in its logo and contextualising it with its functional attributes of being versatile and incorporated into the lifestyle of people, showcasing the inclusivity of their products aimed towards anyone, making up their brand personality.
References
PlayStation Europe 2017, “PlayStation | We Can Do It!”, Youtube, viewed 18 March 2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yc6hgwG7vU>
Nintendo Uk 2021, “When life gives you a moment, grab it with Nintendo Switch”, Youtube, viewed 18 March 2022, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkpPB4IQhMU>
Nintendo of Europe GmbH 2022. “Nintendo History” Accessed 20 March 2022 <https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Corporate/Nintendo-History/Nintendo-History-625945.html>
PlayStation. 2022. “会社概要” Accessed 20 March 2022 <https://www.playstation.com/ja-jp/corporate/about-us/>
Dahlén, M., Lange, F., & Smith, T. 2010, Building Brand Equity. In Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach. Chichester, UK: Wiley, pp1 94-206.
Danesi, M. 2013, Semiotizing a product into a brand Social Semiotics, Volume 23(4), pp 464-476.