Dec/01
A Partnership that's even Hotter than Potter

As any ten year-old (or their parent) could tell you, this fall marked the launch of Nintendo's newest gaming system, the GameCube. As was widely reported, the launch broke all previous sales records, bringing in nearly $100 million (US) in its first day, trumping even Harry Potter for entertainment dollars earned in a single day.

Perhaps of less interest to ten year-olds, but a significant source of pride for us, is that the record-breaking launch in Canada was powered by a campaign theme and materials created here at Fleming Design. This wasn't the first time we'd produced work for this high-profile client. Over our relationship of more than a decade we've created innumerable promotional pieces for them, including their last major hardware launch, the N64 system. This time, Nintendo tasked our team with developing the launch's more than 50 different pieces: from eye-catching posters and window decals to entire touring vehicles covered in the campaign's signature square-headed kids.

Our work on the GameCube campaign began last spring when partner Blair Pocock and senior designer David van Aert attended the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, or E3 as it's known, the gaming industry's yearly event held in Los Angeles. There, Blair and Dave attended closed-door strategy sessions with the senior Nintendo Marketing team and began to lay the groundwork for the upcoming campaign. E3 was also an opportunity to check out the product offerings and marketing strategies of Nintendo's competitors.

When Dave and Blair returned to the studio, full of excitement and industry news from E3, our work on the campaign began in earnest. We started with several brainstorming sessions, involving both the Nintendo team and our internal creative group who are accustomed to working in stealth-mode on behalf of this client. Once we had the Get Cubed tagline (developed by partner Catherine Winckler) and the visual strategy (the vibrant colours, the square-headed kids, and the overall look and feel) in place, the campaign really began to come together.

By the end of summer the awareness campaign was in full swing, and the marketing focus began to shift from building anticipation for the launch to providing actual product information. Visuals developed for the subsequent two phases featured product shape and colour as well as information on configuration and compatibility. As the holidays approached, the campaign again changed focus, this time emphasizing software titles that go along with the new game system.

And the rest is, as they say, history. The launch was successful beyond anyone's estimation, and the campaign managed to capture the imaginations of consumers across Canada. Being part of a large-scale product launch such as the GameCube is a bit like planning a wedding or renovating a house: Months of planning, hard work, countless details, and more long nights than we care to remember - but in the end, we're tremendously proud of our work. For now, we're taking a few days to rest up and re-group so that we'll be ready for whatever Nintendo has planned for us in 2002.

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