Marketing strategies for success in Asia Pacific gaming: Best Practice Analysis

SUMMARY

The multi billion dollar gaming market is in a dynamic phase, new entrants and new product developments at all stages of the value chain arecreating a tough competitive environment. This report examines the market environment, provides analysis of customer characteristics and identifies ablueprint for marketing success including; media usage, competitor positioning and best practice examples.

SCOPE OF THE REPORT

• Overview of the market environment, analysis of the gaming value chain, flow of customer influences and emerging sectors such as wireless gaming
• Gives an in-depth understanding of usage of above the line and below the line marketing activities for all stages of your product or servicelaunch
• Discusses the major competitor's strategies, positioning, use of media, successes and failures and how to apply these lessons to your business
• Gives clear and concise action points that form an insightful marketing plan that is equally relevant to competitors across the value chain

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Marketing messages and overall marketing mix remain similar throughout Asia Pacific, which allows for regional marketing planning. Where as Europeis a highly localized market, this study reveals that there is little localization in terms of marketing in regions. Changes are made, however, totackle languages, regulations and to avoid cultural faux pas.

Sony had a poor online strategy. Despite the media featuring prominently in itsmarketing strategy it had two core weaknesses; Firstly it relied on traditional approaches of pop ups/banners throughout all marketing stages, whichcustomers were already bored of and secondly, it did not create good synergies between online and offline as Xbox did.

Begin marketing 8 monthsbefore launch date; dedicate 60% of budget to pre-launch; spend 60% of the budget on above-the-line marketing (ATL), 40% on below-the-line marketing (BTL);of which online marketing should be 30%: use limited online banners to build a presence online and to create awareness, avoid clutter, bring inguerilla marketing.

KEY REASONS TO BUY THIS REPORT

• Existing competitors can benchmark strategies against the industry best practice and gain an understanding of channel usage, marketcharacteristics and a successful marketing plan
• Potential entrants learn the critical success factors for each stage of product or service launches, competitor's marketing strategies and usageof media
• A clear and targeted marketing campaign is vital in any business but perhaps no more so than in the Gaming industry. Knowledge of industrypractice is vital.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT DATAMONITOR

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

Who is is the Asia-Pacific online gamer?

MEDIA RELATED ISSUES

Marketing budget spends

Usage of media types

Regional variations

Launch strategies: regional or staggered launch

GAME-SPECIFIC MARKETING

COMPETITOR POSITIONING

Marketing themes

COMPETITOR USE OF MARKETING MIX IN ASIA PACIFIC

SWOT ANALYSIS

Sony

Microsoft

Nintendo

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Pre-launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during pre-launch

Marketing messages

Launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during launch

Marketing message

Post-launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during post-launch

Marketing message

Non-marketing factors

INTRODUCTION

SECTION 2 MARKET CONTEXT

Market value

Value chain

A value chain dominated by publishers

Developers

Publishers

Distributors

Retailers

Issues

Gaming influence in Asia Pacific

Little localisation

Wireless gaming: the future of gaming?

Who is is the Asia-Pacific online gamer?

MEDIA-RELATED ISSUES

Above-the-line marketing

Magazines – specialists

Magazines – mass-market

Newspapers

Radio

TV

Cinema

Outdoors

Conclusion

Below-the-line marketing

Online

Point Of Sale promotions

Mailing

PR

Events

Conclusion

Regional variations

PRODUCT-RELATED ISSUES

Pricing

Hardware issues

Piracy: a bane for some, a blessing in disguise for others

Launch strategies: regional or staggered launch

SOFTWARE SUPPORT:

Software support

Console and game interaction

GAME-SPECIFIC MARKETING

Pre-launch

Launch

Post-launch

COMPETITOR POSITIONING

Overall positioning

Game genre positioning

Audience positioning

Device features positioning

Device price positioning

Marketing themes

PlayStation 2

Datamonitor' s opinion

Xbox

Datamonitor' s opinion

GameCube

Datamonitor' s opinion

GBA

Datamonitor' s opinion

COMPETITOR USE OF MARKETING MIX IN ASIA PACIFIC

Comparing Sony and Microsoft marketing strategies in Asia Pacific

Microsoft

Datamonitor' s opinion

Sony

Datamonitor' s opinion

Conclusion

SWOT ANALYSIS

Sony' s PlayStation 2

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Datamonitor' s opinion

Microsoft' s Xbox

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Datamonitor' s opinion

Nintendo' s GameCube

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Datamonitor' s opinion

Nintendo' s Game Boy Advance

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

Datamonitor' s opinion

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Pre-launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during pre-launch

Marketing messages

Launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during launch

Marketing message

Post-launch

Marketing mix

Targeted audience during post-launch

Marketing message

Non-marketing factors

APPENDIX

FURTHER READING

CONTACTS

List of Tables

List of Figures

Figure 6: Gaming influence in Asia Pacific

Figure 9: Marketing budget, splits by launch periods

Figure 12: Above-the-line marketing, expenditure splits

Figure 14: Below-the-line marketing, expenditure splits

Figure 15: Regional marketing spend, split by country

Figure 1: Product launch timelines

Figure 18: Marketing focus development

Figure 19: Competitive positioning

Figure 2: Usage of media mix matrix

Figure 1: Game software revenues, global market

Figure 2: Installed base, Asia Pacific

Figure 3: Game software revenues, Asia Pacific

Figure 4: The gaming value chain

Figure 5: The variable bargaining power of games developers

Figure 6: Gaming influence in Asia Pacific

Figure 7: The gamer segmented by age group and gaming propensity

Figure 8: Popular gaming genre by country

Figure 9: Marketing budget, splits by launch periods

Figure 11: Above-the-line marketing, media importance

Figure 12: Above-the-line marketing, expenditure splits

Figure 13: Below-the-line marketing, media importance

Figure 14: Below-the-line marketing, expenditure splits

Figure 15: Regional marketing spend, split by country

Figure 16: Above-the-line, country variations

Figure 17: Below-the-line, country variations

Figure 18: Hardware focus

Figure 3: Product launch timelines

Figure 19: Competitive positioning

Figure 4: Usage of media mix matrix

Figure 20: Game software revenues, global market

Figure 21: Installed base, Asia Pacific

Figure 22: Game software revenues, Asia Pacific

Figure 23: Regional marketing mix

Figure 24: Marketing mix, local variations, %