Blue Ocean Strategy - You’re never too old to get back in the game!

Blue Ocean Strategy - You’re never too old to get back in the game!

We’ve been following closely the Blue Ocean Strategy-induced success of Nintendo’s Wii, Blue Ocean Strategy Company, (check out some of our previous postings here and here) and their push to open up video-gaming to untapped markets, more specifically, non-gamers.

That’s why, when we came across this amusing story about the Nintendo Wii being cleverly introduced to an entirely new audience, we thought to share it with our Creating Blue Oceans community as an ideal example of turning non-customers into customers:

Blue Ocean Strategy: The marketing minds behind Nintendo looked beyond the traditional gamer mediums and advertised its innovations at targets as far from gaming as you can imagine, such as retirees. Nintendo even went against the current and took the Wii to an AARP convention. “The AARP thing was a little bit tough at first. They were like, ‘We don't really want to talk to you because we're all grandparents and we already buy stuff for our kids,’ and so we said, ‘No we want to talk to you about you,’” said Perrin Kaplan, VP Marketing & Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America. “It took several attempts for them to finally say, ‘So why do you want to talk to us?’ And it's because we have products for them as well now.”

Blue Ocean Strategy: Nintendo’s efforts seemed to have paid off. The Chicago Tribune is reporting (registration required) that the Wii is now the latest rage at the Sedgebrook retirement community in Lincolnshire, where the average age is 77. In particular, the Wii Bowling component of Wii Sports has members of the retirement community hooked on playing the Wii installed inside the Sedgebrooks’s clubhouse lounge.

“I've never been into video games, but this is addictive,” said 72-year-old Flora Dierbach. “They come in after dinner and play. Sometimes, on Saturday afternoons, their grandkids come play with them … A lot of grandparents are being taught by their grandkids. But, now, some grandparents are instead teaching their grandkids.”

Nintendo’s Wii, Blue Ocean Strategy Product, is improving the quality of life for retirement community residents, their families and friends, and carving out new customers for itself. That’s Blue Ocean Strategy in action.