What price, good press?

This weekend, I attended Nintendo's first annual College Media Day as a representative of the University of Maryland's student newspaper, the Diamondback. I will give a full account of the press-only event in a seperate post, but first, in the interest of full disclosure, here's a list of the goods and services I received on this trip at no cost to myself, listed in order of their estimated retail value. I don't think many people outside the industry realize just how much companies are willing to spend to influence the press. Hopefully this will help correct that problem.

• Round-trip airfare from Washington D.C. to Seattle, WA: $1,000
  
  
• Two nights at the MarQueen hotel in downtown Seattle: $300
  
  
• **A black Nintendo GameCube: $99
  
  
• *A ruby Game Boy Advance SP: $99
  
  
• Cab fare to and from the airport: $70
  
  
• A copy of F-Zero GX: $40
  
  
• A copy of Soul Calibur II: $40
  
  
• Dinner in a private room at the Pyramid Alehouse (including two rounds of appetizers and unlimited alcoholic beverages): $40
  
  
• *A copy of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3: $29
  
  
• The Evanescense album "Fallen": $15
  
  
• Catered lunch at Nintendo HQ: $15
  
  
• Two breakfast vouchers at the hotel's Cafe Ladro: $10
  
  
• An F-Zero GX duffel bag: $10
  
  
• An F-Zero GX T-shirt: $10
  
  
• A copy of Electronic Gaming Monthly #173 (Dec., 2003) (Game of the month: Mario Kart: Double Dash): $5
  
  
• Two reporters notebooks with GameCube and Game Boy Advance Logos: $5
  
  
• A deck of Advance Wars 2 playing cards: $1

Total estiamted value: $1,788



*- These entries were not received by all 24 attending college journalists, but only by the top two finishers in the Mario Kart: Double Dash tournament held at the headquarters. I placed second.

** - This is in addition to another GameCube that they will be sending to the newspaper offices to ensure a staff member will be able to play the games they send in the future.



Keep in mind that in a litle over two years I've worked at the Diamondback I've made a little over $1,000, less uncovered expenses (i.e. buying and renting games for review). Also keep in mind that each of the 24 reporters from around the country that gathered for the weekend got a similar deal and that this figure does not include the time spent by a team of about a dozen representatives from Nintendo and PR firm Gollin/Harris to show us around and give presentations.



All in all, I'd estimate the event easily cost Nintendo over $100,000. This isn't that much compared to the amount spent on events like E3 each year, but, if nothing else, it indicates a pretty major push by Nintendo to cater to the key college-aged demographic.