Marching to the Beat of a Different Drummer
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An Uphill Battle
Donkey Konga was by no means a sure winner for Nintendo, despite the strong Donkey Kong brand. The rhythm genre has exploded this console generation, but it still represents a relatively small niche. In addition, although the game is playable with a standard controller, the drums are the real sell, and what gives the game its fun factor. Those drums are also what presented the greatest marketing challenge for Nintendo.
"Due to the tactile nature of the DK Bongo controllers, one of the biggest marketing challenges we faced was demonstrating the unique interface to players. Donkey Konga is one of those games you really need to play to understand how much fun it issomething that can be tough to convey through marketing," a Nintendo of America marketing spokesperson told GameDAILY BIZ
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Packing in these drums with every copy of the title created an additional challenge in its distribution: where to put the game. "Due to the pack-in of the DK Bongo controllers, the Donkey Konga packaging is not the standard snap case size of most video game software. Thus when merchandising this product on retail shelves, it often is placed with hardware and not software. This can be a challenge as retailers attempt to place Donkey Konga appropriately in front of consumers," Nintendo explained.
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Almost immediately after the demo kiosks were installed, reports began to turn up from employees, saying that three middle-aged Hispanic men played for a half hour, or two African American teenagers, or a mother and her daughter. Although purely anecdotal, these reports illustrated Nintendo's message better than anything else: Donkey Konga truly is fun for the whole family.
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GameCube - The Party System?
Donkey Konga's appeal as a party game for college-age gamers was smartly the focus of Nintendo's TV campaign for the title. Although there isn't a single Goldeneye-esque title that is almost ubiquitous in college dorms this generation, Nintendo's Mario Party franchise, along with titles like Wario Ware and Super Smash Bros. have helped raise the GameCube's profile as a "party game" system. Donkey Konga fits into that same tradition perfectly.
"It's been a favorite among store managers and seems to be very popular among the college crowd," EB Games Vice President of Merchandising Carol Beck told GameDAILY BIZ.
"Donkey Konga and the drum peripheral has performed very well," Beck continued. "We knew it would be a very strong performer, but it still exceeded those expectations slightly. We're continuing to reorder to meet demand." Nintendo told us that the title exceeded the company's expectations as well.
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