20y in - Sales & Commercial (field sales, National KAM, RGM, Route to Market) - Marketing (Brand, Media, Trade Mktg) - Data, AI, Digital Transfo. - Strategy / consulting (ext. & int) - International / expat' - Team mgmt
For once, I’m not gonna talk about Matrix, but about a personal point of interest for me : the launch of the latest Zelda game on Switch 🎮. My wife bought it to me last week, and beyond the great gesture to please me, I understand now she very likely wanted to pass me on a message... Because indeed, the new Zelda has a very unique specificity from a cultural point of view, beyond video games. Let me start with the non-event or semi-non event: #1 - Non-event: My little rascal of a son is already ahead of me on the game (I’m still not recovering from the moment he candidly showed he finished the previous one, when I’m still struggling to do so…) 🙄 #2 – Half-event: Like the previous game, Creativity is at the core of the gameplay, i.e. you need to be extra creative to solve puzzles, instead of having a thumb-throat trying to maniacally use your sword to kill as many enemies as possible. There is actually several/many ways to solve each puzzle, which is a great ode to creativity as a solution, in many different/diverse ways. And loads of fun.💡 #3 – THE real event: The hero in Zelda is… Zelda. I must confess, (and I’m sure I’m not the only one), I’ve always thought that the little guy in green who’s always been the hero of each episode was Zelda. Then I realized pretty late (yeah I know, I’m not a real Zelda geek, then) that the guy’s name is Link, and that Zelda is the name of the princess being rescued. So every single game (29) has been called Zelda (to be fair, with some subtitles mentioning Link), when actually the hero was not Zelda. 🙈 It’s a bit as if the Mario Bros games were called Peach (name of the princess being rescued by the Italian plumber). At least Disney gave credit to the female heroin right from the beginning, and in 1937 entitled their 1st movie Snow White (vs Prince Charming), and in 1959 Sleeping Beauty (vs Prince Philip [I had to google this one, which is a sign he really has a marginal role]) 👸 🤴 Anyway, back to Zelda, it's great to finally be able to play with princess Zelda as the hero of the game, to use ingenuity and creativity as a way to solve puzzles, and for once to save… the guy who used to be the hero and is now a secondary character : Link So that’s the real event, for me, beyond video games, but in culture in general. Finally a story of a princess saving the prince, with her name still in the title, but this time reflecting her as the hero/lead character. 🏋♀️ <= (Woman lifting weights icon). Thank you Jennifer for your gift and feminist message 😀 PS : the game is great fun!
Jérémy Fieno
2mo
J'adore ! 💜 Zelda l'un de mes meilleurs jeux EVER !
Antoine Genot I know you put down your Marketing hat for a second for this post and spoke from your heart as a FAN. And Fandom is in part what this change is about. Where we marketer are in constant pursuit of customer centricity, Culture and Entertainment cultivate and nurture FANDOM. Probably the most powerful form of customer centricity of them all. Many long-time fans have expressed a desire to see Zelda take on a larger role over the years, and Nintendo has a history of listening to its fan base. They prove it time and time again. PS : you are not catching your son anytime soon 😂 sorry for being the bearer of bad news. I have been there before 😬