zoë siskos

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Jan 16

To Wii or not to Wii?

Let’s see if you can FIND what is wrong with this picture. Go on, I’ll give you a second or two.

Yeah…..you see it. Right in the middle of that nice Nintendo Wii case is *gasp* a plethora of Sony Playstation 2s and 3s!!!!

This picture was taken at a local Wal-Mart and the case used to hold a very impressive Wii display. The clever commercials and crisp white design was very eye-catching. I suppose it still is eye-catching but I’m not sure if it the kind of attention either Sony or Nintendo want.

I am somewhat surprised that amidst the battle of the gaming consoles any store would have the oversight to stock products like this. What control does Nintendo (or Sony) really have over this? Doesn’t the store have some responsibility to the look of the product? I would be just as disappointed if my products were dusty or looked unkempt.

Maybe I’m overreacting and this really isn’t such a big deal after all.

Although, I do remember a friend working as a merchandiser for a very popular cola company. His job was to drive around to each grocery chain and stock the shelves of the products. He was given pictures to make sure that each display looked the same in each store. He was also paid to maintain them.

I also know that many stores have a job titled Visual Merchandiser. The job is just to make the store and the displays look nice. It can even go so far that each store, no matter where it is, looks exactly the same (Walk into two different GAP stores – its eerie).

It is imperative for any organization to realize the importance of how their products are looked at or to consider the feel and ambiance of their stores. It is a form of unwritten communication that speak volumes. In the case of the Wii and PS3….it’s screaming at me.

Zoe

What was more funny was me snapping a shot inside Wal-Mart.

thanks for visiting :)

jyoseph

Great find, that is seriously hilarious!

Zoe

That is a very fresh perspective; I would never have thought of it like that.

It is true that Wii has outperformed in every way and like you said, this picture proves it. I'm just not sure if customers would perceive it that way.

As for the link to CPRS I could probably put it on my blogroll now that the site has changed into a blog format.

Thanks for visiting me. i hope you come back soon to leave more great comments.

Mike L

Hi Zoe, saw you were linking to cprs-hamilton.ca and thought I would pay your site a visit. (Thanks for the link by the way)
Thought I would jump in here to give my 2 cents, since I am a bit of a video game geek with a marketing background.

These two systems were launched within days of each other in November with the Goliath - Sony Playstation 3 with huge expectations from their fans vs. the David - Nintendo Wii, with little fanfare.

Now both had people lining up for 48+ hours in the cold for these systems, but something strange happened over the next few weeks, and thanks to word of mouth (both live and online), word that the Playstation greatly under delivered on expectations was spread, while the Wii was lauded by their usual fans, but they also found new audiences with grandparents playing with their grandchildren(happened in my house), with their new interactive way of playing games, driving both gamers and non-gamers to the stores in search of one.

Other Playstation issues were that it was more than double the price, the games that were not rated very well, and even though they couldn't produce very many of the systems, you can go to a Wal Mart and pick one up today.

The Wii meanwhile has exceeded everyones greatest expectations for the system and their games and although they produced many times more systems than the Playstation, they still cannot keep them on store shelves.

So, as a product manager for the Wii, I may see this example in the picture and simply smile. To me this simply reinforces the image to people that the Wii is the product people are demanding, that it will continue to feed this demand and since the Wii currently has no use yet for store shelves, the slow-to-move Playstations can borrow some shelf space.
For now...

Zoe

Yes I did hear about that; they were poking fun of it on a local radio station. I don't know how they thought it would be a good idea for a contest.

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to seeing you at the next 3rd Tuesday.

Michael O'Connor Clarke

That's just dumb, isn't it? I'm sure Nintendo must have account managers - like your cola company guy - whose job it is to drive around and police stuff like this. What the heck was the store merchandiser thinking?

Your headline also reminded me of the terrible story of that lady in Sacramento who died during the week as a result of taking part in a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. She basically drowned her internal organs (story here). Awful stuff.

Good to meet you at 3rdTuesday, btw.