Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How Nintendo Marketed the Switch OLED Without a Launch Event
Transcript
- Lucas: So Nintendo has now sold over 150 million Switch units since 2017. It's one of the best-selling consoles ever, and the Switch OLED, which launched in 2021, has become the default model for new buyers. Luna: Right, and what's interesting is how they launched it. No big press conference, no E3 stage. Just a three-minute YouTube video. Lucas: Exactly. And that choice tells us a lot about how a mature product goes through the marketing funnel. Nintendo didn't need to build awareness from scratch — the Switch brand was already massive. But they still needed to move people from awareness to interest, then to decision and action. Luna: So they essentially collapsed the top and middle of the funnel into one viral moment. Lucas: That's the framing I want to drill into. The classic AIDA model — awareness, interest, desire, action — usually assumes you have to invest in each stage separately. But Nintendo's approach suggests that for a well-loved product, a single well-crafted piece of content can do the work of the whole funnel. Luna: Let's talk about that video. It dropped on July 6, 2021, and it was just a walkthrough of the new hardware. A slightly bigger screen, a better kickstand, an improved audio system. Nothing revolutionary. Lucas: But the tone was everything. It opened with a close-up of the screen, then a shot of someone playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. No music swell, no hype voiceover. Just the sound of the game and the tactile clicks of the Joy-Con attaching. It felt like an unboxing, not a press release. Luna: And that's the key. By mimicking the unboxing format, Nintendo essentially handed the marketing over to influencers and early adopters. The video itself became seed content for thousands of reaction videos and hands-on impressions. Lucas: Right. The awareness stage wasn't about reach — it was about seeding. Nintendo didn't buy Super Bowl ads. They created a piece of content that felt native to YouTube, then let the algorithm and the influencer economy amplify it. Luna: So the interest stage was driven by that initial wave of coverage. But how did they make the leap to desire and action? Because a bigger screen isn't typically a must-have upgrade. Lucas: That's where the framing of the OLED model as the 'definitive Switch' came in. Nintendo didn't position it as a replacement for the original — they made it feel like the version you should buy if you're new to the platform. And for existing owners, they focused on the tangible improvements: the screen is brighter, the colors pop, the kickstand actually works. Luna: I remember seeing a headline that said 'Nintendo Switch OLED: The Same Console, But Better.' That's a subtle but powerful message. It says: no need to learn anything new, no new ecosystem, just a better experience. Lucas: Exactly. And that lowered the friction in the decision stage. When you watch a review and see that the new screen makes Breath of the Wild look noticeably richer, the desire becomes concrete. You're not buying a spec sheet; you're buying a better way to play your favorite games. Luna: Let's talk about the price. $349.99 at launch, which was fifty dollars more than the original Switch. Did they need to justify that delta? Lucas: They did, but they did it implicitly. The video showed the wider kickstand, the improved speakers, the 64GB internal storage instead of 32GB. Those details made the price feel reasonable. And by not having a press event, they avoided the pressure to over-explain or defend the price. The influencers did that work for them. Luna: So the action stage — actually buying — was fueled by that same influencer ecosystem. Preorders opened the day after the video dropped, and they sold out quickly. Nintendo created scarcity without manufacturing it artificially. Lucas: Right. Limited supply was real — chip shortages were hitting every hardware maker in 2021. But Nintendo turned that into a marketing asset. The message became: if you want this, you need to act now. That urgency compressed the funnel even further. Luna: Compare that to how Sony launched the PlayStation Portal last year. They did a full reveal stream, detailed specs, interviews. But the Portal has struggled to find its audience. Lucas: The Portal is a good counterexample. Sony treated it as a major new product category — a remote player for PS5. They spent a lot on awareness, but the interest stage was muddied. Is it a handheld? Is it a peripheral? Nintendo, by contrast, made the OLED model feel like the obvious next step for anyone already in the ecosystem. Luna: And then there's the Steam Deck. Valve launched that with a lot of developer communication and early access units for reviewers. But they had a different challenge: building a new market for PC handheld gaming. Nintendo was optimizing for an existing market. Lucas: Exactly. So the lesson for marketers is: don't default to a big launch event just because that's what everyone does. If your product is an iteration on a beloved platform, consider a more focused, content-driven approach. Let your best customers become your loudest advocates. Luna: And Nintendo has done this before. The Switch itself was announced in a three-minute video in 2016. They've mastered the art of the understated reveal. Lucas: It's consistent with their brand identity. Nintendo has always seen itself as a toy company, not a tech company. Toy companies don't hold tech keynotes. They show kids playing with toys. That philosophy runs straight through the marketing funnel. Luna: One more thing: the OLED model also benefited from a halo effect. Every time someone bought one and posted a photo of that vibrant screen, they were doing free marketing for Nintendo. The hardware itself became the ad. Lucas: That's the ultimate goal for any product marketer — have the product sell itself. But it only works if the product genuinely delivers a visible, shareable improvement. A bigger screen is easy to photograph. A faster processor is not. Luna: Quick honest thing — this episode is brought to you by listeners who chip in through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small group, but their support keeps the show ad-free and lets us dive into cases like this. Lucas: Yeah, and we're grateful for that. It means we don't have to chase sponsors or compromise the content. So if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used at work, consider joining them. Luna: Alright, back to the funnel. Nintendo's approach also highlights how trust compresses the decision stage. When you trust a brand, you don't need a long research phase. You see the video, you want it, you buy it. Lucas: And that trust was built over decades of delivering on promises. Every Zelda, every Mario, every hardware that just works. The funnel didn't start in 2021 — it started in the 1980s. Luna: So for a brand that doesn't have that legacy, would this strategy work? Probably not. But for a brand that has earned deep loyalty, it's incredibly efficient. Lucas: Right. The key takeaway is: understand where your product sits in its lifecycle. If you're launching a new category, you probably need the full funnel. But if you're iterating on a beloved product, you might be able to shortcut it with smart content and community amplification. Luna: And that's the real magic of the OLED launch. It wasn't a new console. It was a better version of the same thing. And Nintendo made that feel like an event without a single stage. Lucas: So the next time you're planning a launch, ask yourself: do we need a big reveal, or do we just need a great video and a few trusted voices? The answer might save you a lot of money and build more buzz. Luna: And maybe get you to a hundred fifty million units sold. Lucas: Well, they were already there. But the OLED model helped keep the momentum going. And that's the final lesson: the funnel doesn't end at purchase. For Nintendo, the purchase is just the beginning of a long relationship.