In one of the most bizarre developments we've ever seen from
Nintendo, the company today announced a promotion with S&G
Flowers to create and market a new flower breed to be titled,
"The Pikmin Flower." The five-petal flower resembles
little Pikmin characters.
Executive VP at Nintendo of America, Peter Main offered an honest
explanation, "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' VP of 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."
"The Pikmin Flower" will soon be known among botanists as
Bacopa Cabana - of course part of the plant genus Sutera. For those
of you wondering, the flower will be made available to agricultural
markets in April and to the general
public in the second half of 2002. Click to view image of the cool Nintendo flowers. The full press release reads as
follows...
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Nintendo Redefines
"Grass Roots" Marketing for Pikmin Game
REDMOND, Wash. Dec. 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.
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