A Grande Partnership
The Nintendo Switch has quickly risen to become one of the top-selling consoles, beating out the Playstation 4 and Xbox One in 2020 (Price 2020). The console has gained many new fans due to the pandemic, and the catalog of Nintendo Switch-exclusive games, including the virally popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons, bolstered the decision to purchase a Switch over other competing consoles. The next move for Nintendo could be to market to a target demographic that is typically underserved in gaming: younger females. Many games and game consoles often don’t market to girls as often as they do to either boys or to general audiences, and the demographic can unfortunately often feel alienated within gaming communities.
Having a female role model and ambassador for the console can help girls become more interested in the system and feel more seen. Actress Brie Larson fulfills a similar role, with her partnership primarily focused on the Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, but the more female role models the better! Pop star Ariana Grande would be a great fit for this role. Ariana has had some involvement with Nintendo in the past (not as an influencer), when she participated in a music video alongside Jimmy Fallon and The Roots demonstrating and promoting the new Nintendo Labo software for the Nintendo Switch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Ariana has also previously posted on her social media pages about Nintendo Switch games, such as Mario Kart and the Pokémon game series, which is partially owned by Nintendo and exclusively makes games for Nintendo consoles. She has posted pictures and videos of her playing one of the Pokémon games on the Switch, alongside the mobile Pokémon Go game for phones, and expressed her enthusiasm for them. She even has a tattoo of Eevee, one of the most popular Pokémon and the series’ secondary mascot behind Pikachu. The Pokémon series has new game releases coming this month, in late fall 2021 and in early 2022. This would be the perfect opportunity to bring Ariana in to sponsor and promote the new releases, like Brie Larson did with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Her clear enthusiasm and excitement for the series and games could help to create an authentic and genuine partnership.
Ariana Grande would also bring in a valuable demographic for Nintendo: female gamers. Whether casual or more hardcore, female gamers are an often underserved demographic. While some games may seem to be made in an attempt to grab this demographic/s attention, female gamers often like the same games that male gamers do. There is still a market for them, however, as demonstrated by the popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Many female players of the game posted about it on TikTok, and many songs from the game and videos of the game became wildly popular on the app. This likely had a hand in the game’s massive success. Female gamers deserve to be seen as well, especially younger ones, and Ariana Grande could help to bring that appeal and enthusiasm.
Source:
Price, C. (2020, September 29). Nintendo switch is top selling games console of 2020. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://www.techdigest.tv/2020/09/nintendo-switch-is-top-selling-games-console-of-2020.html
