Nintendo recently announced that their new gaming console (previously known as the “Revolution”) would be called Wii. You pronounce that to rhyme with pee, by the way, and the whole electronic world is talking about how dumb of an idea that was. I have to disagree. It’s a remarkably smart decision.
Why? Word of mouth. Many Christians have looked at Evangelism this way for a long time–if you hear something from someone you know and trust, you’re infinitely more likely to pay attention. Just as the guy standing on the street corner can be “heard” by thousands of people, he’s unlikely to influence more than 1 or 2 (and that may be negatively!). In contrast, if he were talking to one friend, that single friend would at least listen as he finished his thought. So it is with Wii.
As we speak, those outspoken gaming nerds are all asking their Moms/Sisters/Non-Gamers (ie, the Wii’s target audience) what they think of the name Wii for the new Nintendo. All those people, obviously, are saying stuff like “What’s that? Nintendo has a new gaming system? etc.” Then they’re all being treated to this diatribe about how Nintendo is trying to get non-gamers to play by…yadda yadda…
So these people who would instantly tune out a Gaming system commercial are getting it first hand from someone they trust to know about gaming. They can’t forget the name Wii, (because of course they’re thinking “heh, heh, it rhymes with pee!”) and they’ll probably end up telling their non-gamer friends about it.
Nintendo wisely gave some touchy-feely cheesy reasoning behind the name, which will inflame gamer controversy even more, fueling the free PR fires.
Nintendo, can we have that ad guy? He’s got Insight. Genius.