Over the last few years, video games have penetrated pop culture in a big way. Everyone seems to want a piece: the most popular franchises, like Halo, The Last of Us, and League of Legends, all have hit TV shows, while Netflix is trying to make gaming a pillar of its future.
Click here to read the story at theverge.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is a brand?
- Is Nintendo a brand?
- Is Mario a brand?
- What is a franchise as it relates to video games?
- According to this story, what are the most popular video game franchises?
- Why do the most popular franchises all have hit TV shows?
- Why is Netflix interested in gaming?
- What is brand extension?
- How might this story represent an example of brand extension?
- According to this story, why is Mario so important to Nintendo?
- In your opinion, should Nintendo’s marketing plan be focused on Mario? Why or why not?
- What is positioning?
- Based on information from this story, how is Nintendo positioning its brand?
- Why do you think that might be their positioning strategy?
- Why did Nintendo partner with Universal?