Nintendo and Green Marketing?

What does Nintendo have to do with green marketing?  The same consumer behavior watershed!

TIP ONE: Raving fans matter!

In an interview, Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's EVP/sales and marketing, says that the largest part of the marketing campaign will be the public-relations effort because "consumers are increasingly turning to friends, family and news articles as credible sources of information about products." Consumers are getting smarter, she points out, because they have more information than in the past and are able to share it online. They are bombarded with advertising messages -- so they have more tools to avoid that advertising today. Wall Street Journal

Having worked in marketing and communications for several decades, I've seen the entrepreneurial dream many, many times.  "We want to leverage our sales and marketing by getting into the big stores...the big chains...the big distributors.  We don't want to waste our bit of capital on local markets...."  That's the dream.

The reality is that EVERY market is a LOCAL MARKET.  Think friends, family, neighbors, and the retailers you shop with.  First.

The most successful entrepreneurs in my experience all started locally.  They sold out of the trunk of their car. They knocked on doors.  They served those first small mom and pop customers with careful attention.  Did they get rich that way?  No.  But they learned the ropes of customer service.  They learned what customers prefer, what they need, and where they buy the REST of their products.  And they provide testimonials that are the vetting tool of distributors and their cousins who work in the "big stores". 

Today, those same "first customers" are increasingly individuals without stores.  They are raving fans of your product and your service.  They love what you deliver so much that they get on email and social network sites and tell their buddies about this great solution they've found.  And did you know....?

That's how Nintendo and green marketing are connected.  Those same people are just as likely to talk about the Nintendo WII as they are to talk about their brother's green shampoo, or their cousin's LED lights, or their neighbor's crazy compressed air car. 

And if you can supply them with some video on YouTube, or a web URL they can remember, they'll be able to pass the work around to even more people!

TIP TWO:  Follow through matters!

WSJ: It's no secret that many women jump into buying gym memberships or the latest weight-loss devices -- only to have them end up collecting dust under the bed. Could that mentality hurt future sales of Wii Fit games?

Ms. Dunaway: Hopefully not. One of the things I like about Wii Fit is it tracks your progress over time ... Seeing your progress is motivating. So I think Wii Fit will keep people involved because they will be excited about tracking their progress and their family's progress. The families will egg each other on.

Social connections are vital to humans -- that's why we crave family, friendships and community.  The church as gathering place and the general store pot bellied store are part of the American cultural heritage.  Both are "businesses" that created community through shared activities.  Businesses today can create that same kind of connection with their "members" by providing TOOLS for SHARING.  A  blog with comments, a buyers club, regular participation in Earth Day events...etc. all create bonding through community membership and sharing opportunities. 

Even the birds share information with one another in their flocks.  I chuckle every time I'm at the beach and see one gull find a scrap of bread.  Within seconds, a whole flock of gulls, and ducks, and mudhens descend on the location!  People behave the same way -- we SIGNAL each other by behaviors as well as words...and we WATCH each other to see what  is succeeding in the search for survival and thriving.

That's natural marketing!  And natural is naturally --- sustainable because it taps our deepest roots of behavior.