Wii The Strongest Tech Brand Among Youths, Says Study

Nintendo's Wii is still the king of video game consoles: that is, if you ask enough young people. A recent online survey by Harris Interactive showed that among 5,077 consumers aged 8-24, the Wii was shown to have the strongest brand equity. In other words, participants responded to the Wii branding more favorably than any of its competition. Not only was Wii the highest-rated video game brand, it also had the highest equity score among all tech brands included in the study, edging out even Apple. The results suggest "that Wii has serious potential to stretch into other products," according to Harris Interactive's Jeni Lee Chapman. "Just as Apple entered the hearts and minds of consumers through music with iTunes and the iPod, Nintendo has entered into youth's heart with their video gaming platform. One day we may be saying, 'move over Apple, here comes Wii'." Nintendo already has plans to extend the Wii brand to new products, specifically its upcoming tablet-controlled follow-up, the Wii U. In the video game category specifically, the Wii was followed by Sony's PlayStation 3 in second and the Nintendo DS in third. As of this June, 73 percent of North American consumers who use dedicated video game consoles play on Nintendo systems either exclusively or in addition to others, according to Nintendo.