Client
Seika
Playing the marketing game
Remember the Nintendo 64? As one of its early publishers, Seika was licensed by Nintendo to market and distribute games for the systems it manufactured.
The competition was intense among licensees, with some 60 different companies vying for a piece of the consumer’s dollar. Seika knew they had to be special — somehow different— in order to rise above the battle.
What we did
Seika asked us to design their identity, packaging, game documentation, trade ads, sales material, and even their trade booth — a piece of Nintendo’s giant exhibit, at that time the largest ever assembled in the history of the Consumer Electronics Show.
To appeal to the target audience (mostly 8- to 16-year-old boys) we took our cue from the surf and skateboard subcultures, and were the first in the industry to create packaging that danced with fluorescent type and funky stickers, but still conveyed the content of the games. Then we modified the look for their line of younger kids games. And we applied all this to a system of support tools that reinforced the themes established in the packaging.
Results
Shadowgate, the first game featuring the new look, became the No. 5 selling Nintendo game in the country. The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, the first game in the series for younger players, continued to sell strongly three years later. Nintendo Corporation (an important audience in its own right) declared Seika’s new trade exhibit to be the best in their entire show.