A twisted Pikmin marketing scheme
by Julius Bautista

Friday, December 14, 2001

Nintendo announces the real "Pikmin Flower".

Nintendo and S&G Flowers/USA announced the "existence" of a real-life five-petal flower with a yellow center, like the ones attached to the heads of little alien grunts from the recently released "Pikmin" on GameCube. In a "brilliant" move, it's been named "The Pikmin Flower," and will be available for sale in April 2002. How this will help the game's sales (or if this is some joke), escapes me. Maybe later they'll start selling REAL Pikmin...


--- Nintendo Press Release

"REDMOND, Wash., December 11, 2001 – You may not be able to plant a Donkey Kong Daffodil or a Mario Marigold, but soon you can grow a flower named after a brand-new Nintendo franchise right in your own backyard. “The Pikmin Flower” is a real-life white flower with a yellow center that closely resembles the loveable plant-like characters from Nintendo’s newest action-strategy game, Pikmin, only for NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Created by renowned game-designer Shigeru Miyamoto, the developer responsible for such perennial video game favorites as Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, Pikmin was released on Dec. 3, two weeks after the Nov. 18 launch of NINTENDO GAMECUBE, this year’s gotta-have-it holiday video game system.

A promotion between Nintendo of America and Syngenta Seed’s flower brand, S&G Flowers/USA, the five-petaled “Pikmin Flower,” a member of plant genus Sutera, will be available to gardeners, video game enthusiasts and consumers alike in April 2002.

“This extraordinary marketing initiative to consumers demonstrates that at the core of Nintendo is creativity,” says Peter Main, executive vice president, sales and marketing, Nintendo of America. “We used a variety of innovative and unusual activities to build anticipation for the NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Naming a flower after a video game is just one more way Nintendo is 'seeding' creative marketing.” “As the number one pastime in America, gardening continues to take on broad consumer appeal among people of all ages,” says Keith Cable, S&G Flowers’ vice president, sales and marketing. “With fun products like Pikmin, Nintendo is connecting with consumers outside of the living room. ‘The Pikmin Flower’ truly captures the essence of the Pikmin video game characters.”

Pikmin tells the story of an alien traveler trapped on an unfamiliar garden-like planet in search of the pieces he needs to repair his space ship. Only with the help of the indigenous Pikmin, colorful plant-like creatures that he extracts from the ground, can the spaceman gather all the parts to repair his ship and escape the poisonous atmosphere of this strange planet.

This new flower breed, Bacopa Cabana, will officially be named “The Pikmin Flower.” It will launch to the agricultural market in April 2002, and will be brought to consumers the second half of 2002, under the Proven Winners brand, a top-selling line of plants and flowers. Available at garden centers nationwide, the Pikmin flower will be featured in hanging baskets, and mixed containers.

Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness. The company ranks first in crop protection, and third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Syngenta’s worldwide flower brand, S&G Flowers, is headquartered in Enkhuizen, Holland, with breeding and distribution facilities all around the world. S&G Flowers is today’s leading breeder of major bedding and container flower plants, including impatiens, pansies, geranium and petunias; and has symbolized excellence in flower seed genetics and technology since the early 1800’s."