The Super Mario Odyssey media campaign targeted both core and casual gamers. It utilized various online platforms like Nintendo's social media accounts with millions of followers to promote the game. The campaign was a success, with the game boosting Nintendo Switch sales significantly and receiving widespread positive press and consumer attention. It employed consistent branding like the color red and maintained audience interest through a gradual buildup and continued updates.

1. SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY
MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Unit 6: Media Campaigns

2. TARGET AUDIENCE
Sourced from a news article on the internet, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto
claims that the game’s target audience are core gamers, referring to individuals
who are particularly dedicated to the genre and tend to be older than the
generally associated audience. This is due to the game’s diverse control set which
is more difficult to grasp for the casual audience, however the game is flexible in
format as less experienced players can play at their preferred pace. Also stated is
that the game takes inspiration from what worked well in the franchise’s past and
combines it with new ranges of accessibility, appealing to both casual and core
gamers. It is for this reason that the title was promoted across a vast range of
platforms and gained recognisable publicity across the board.
Game Designer Shigeru Miyamoto
A youth is demonstrated to be playing the
game in a television advertisement

3. A physical copy of Super Mario Odyssey
A bundle which includes the game along
with an exclusive edition of the Nintendo
Switch
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Super Mario Odyssey advertisement campaign was to sell as
many copies of the game as possible. As well as this, it had the job of increasing
sales of the game’s platform – the Nintendo Switch, this is due to the game being
the biggest and most anticipated title on the newly released console. UK statistics
show that the console benefitted from a massive 64% sales increase solely due to
the release of Super Mario Odyssey, helping the format to break the 300,000 UK
sales milestone in the process of it’s release. At the very least, the campaign should
get people talking about the game in real life and more prominently across social
media platforms, therefore spreading the word and gaining many more potential
buyers and ultimately profit.

4. PLATFORMS AND COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
Due to the company of Nintendo being so well established across many forms of
social media, the majority of advertisement came from online communication
channels. The company’s account on Twitter for example, entitled Nintendo of
America due to the vast majority of interest in the country, has nearly ten million
followers (each one of these individuals would be immediately exposed to
anything the account posts). On Facebook, the company boasts well over 15
million likes across three associated accounts and their YouTube channel stands at
almost 4 million subscribers, with the majority of content being dispersed across
many other platforms immediately after their initial release via the press.
Additionally, a large trailer decorated to promote the game was toured around the
world (to coincide with the title’s theme of globetrotting) before stopping in New
York City for the launch event. Nintendo of America’s official Twitter
account
This promotional trailer was a unique and
effective marketing choice

5. EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
The effectiveness of communication channels and features used within the campaign is
demonstrated through how key information is presented to the audience amongst other elements,
followed by the positive responses of both the press and public. For example, the views / likes of a
campaign elements can dictate as to whether or not it was an effective way of communicating to
the audience.
The massive amount of views and strong
difference in the ratio of likes to dislikes
clearly shows a positive response from
the target audience.

6. VARIETIES OF PLATFORMS
There is a consistent theme of the colour red throughout the media campaign across all
platforms, this is due to the association of the colour with both the Super Mario
franchise and the character himself. The fonts used are generally large, somewhat bubbly
and always contrast from the stereotypically red background, this helps with consistency
across multiple platforms and entices the desired demographic. The images used across
the many platforms used within the campaign are all high quality renders of models
from the game itself, professionally produced with advertisement and promotion of the
game being the primary goal. The tagline of the console that the game is releasing on is
“Anytime, anywhere, with anyone”, promoting the versatile nature pf both the console
and the game, increasing chances of popularity and sale.

7. COHESIVENESS OF THE CAMPAIGN
Throughout the campaign, cohesiveness is achieved through appropriate use of
elements from various platforms, such as colour schemes, images and fonts. Some
advertisements or similar are used across multiple platforms on more than one occasion.
Sometimes the same piece of imagery or visual media is used in multiple ways in order
to get the most out of the piece, with adjustments and changes made in some cases to
disguise this fact. Other examples of the campaign’s cohesiveness include how various
forms of media advertisement, such as posters and TV adverts, link together through
particular consistent themes such as colours, fonts and imagery.

8. ANNOTATIONS
The colour red is continuously associated, with the game and
it’s campaign, as well as the console it is on and the company
itself, solidifying the themes of cohesiveness.
The cohesiveness of the design choices made
throughout the campaign makes it appeal to the
audience as much as possible.
The message of the game’s genre and
significance in the market is constantly
reinforced across these platforms in a
consistent manner. An example of this is the
portability of the game, which is a major
selling point and clearly demonstrated to
the audience across the two images above.

9. HOW THE PRODUCTS AND CAMPAIGN MESSAGE WERE
DELIVERED ACROSS MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
On television, a variety of advertisements were broadcast upon the title’s release
along with the array of positive reviews from the press proudly displayed
throughout. A musical feature was released in which the game’s central character
Mario interacts with a live action performance in New York City of the game’s
original music piece, this is familiar to the audience due to it being previously
incorporated across various trailers. The most significant of all being the game’s
launch event held at midnight outside of the Nintendo Store, where hundreds of
people crowded round the store in order to receive a copy of the game. Many
individuals can be seen boasting merchandise from the game whilst press were
given exclusive access to the event which featured large statues of prominent
figures from the game, whilst well-known representatives of Nintendo also made
appearances.
Both the press and general public flock
around the Nintendo Store
The musical fetched nearly 20 million
views independently, however it was only
one of many promotional videos for the
game

10. THE TIMING AND COHESIVENESS OF
THE CAMPAIGN
There was a large build up concerning the game’s release online, so the timing was
structured in a way that the audience’s interest gradually increased in preparation
for the title’s launch. The results of the campaign show that it was a complete
success, with sales for Super Mario Odyssey on the Nintendo Switch being higher
than the combined sales of the popular title Star Wars: Battlefront 2 across PC,
Xbox One and PS4 combined. News stories such as this are reported months after
the game’s release, supplying yet more reasons for the public to purchase the
game. An update for the game has already been announced in aid of retaining the
public’s interest, so the campaign’s cohesiveness appears solid and shows no sign
of slowing down in terms of stability and overall effectiveness.
A verified Twitter user promotes the
recently revealed statistics
Updates are planned to be
continuously added to Super
Mario Odyssey as part of the
advertisement campaign