Topic: TV Ad from a Very Different Nintendo

[Pale]

In response to Ian:

The interesting thing though, is that while they didn't turn anything around image wise on the Cube, they did the exact opposite on the Wii.  They pushed the system towards being extremely family friendly and it has garnered them massive success.  As usual, it's hard to argue from a business standpoint with Nintendo's decision.

I just still think it's so strange they spent so many years trying to change their console's image to match their competitors (marketing wise) and achieved little success, only to say "F it, we're going to be different and we don't care" and blow their doors off.

I don't watch enough non-tivo'd tv to really catch a lot of ads these days.  Are there any more mature ads put out by Nintendo themselves these days?  We all know that Prime 3 was grossly under-advertised.

[Pale]

Nintendo just doesn't make ads (or games...) like that anymore.

Cool ad, but nothing beats this one. 

Heh, I kind of like that.  They should bring it back but stick some stuff in there to make it for the Virtual Console. =P

[BeautifulShy]

I can't think of many these days.I don't really get to watch much TV so I'm not really sure.

[BeautifulShy]

Nintendo just doesn't make ads (or games...) like that anymore.

Cool ad, but nothing beats this one. 

Heh, I kind of like that.  They should bring it back but stick some stuff in there to make it for the Virtual Console. =P

Pale that was one of the ads from Australia back in the day.
It's pretty creepy.

[King of Twitch]

I remember that ad.  When Perfect Dark came out a friend of my brother's was convinced that it would be ported to the Playstation.  When we pointed out that the game was published by Nintendo and thus would obviously remain an N64 exclusive he wasn't convinced.  It was apparently too cool of a game to not be on the Playstation as all the cool games end up on there eventually.

One thing I really notice about that ad was that it had quite a lot of shots of the game at the end.  On the Cube Nintendo had this annoying tendency to hide the damn game in the ads.  You would see like three seconds of footage and that was it.  You had to know the game to even get the ad and if you know the game already what's the point of the ad?  The Cube had nice graphics and yet Nintendo always hid them but here we have blocky N64 graphics and it's in your face.  Now most of the ad is still Joanna being hot and all but you still saw a lot of the game.  A lot more than I remember with the Cube ads.  One thing Nintendo does do right these days is often demonstrate the game in their ads so you get an idea of what the product is.

Perfect Dark was such a wasted opportunity for Nintendo.  Apparently the game didn't sell quite as good as they would like (though ironically anything that sold that well on the Cube would be one of the bigger Cube hits).  For a brief period of time you had this and Conker and Majora's Mask released around the same time and it seemed like Nintendo was acknowledging that they had an image problem and needed to offer some more mature games to go with their family friendly stuff.  Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 0 were in the works as well before moving to the Cube.  These games didn't sell as well as they could have but I think Nintendo's reaction to that was completely wrong.  Those games were released within the last year or so of N64 releases.  The N64 was already considered a "flop".  Nothing was going to turn it around.  But the Cube was a fresh start and they could have tried to give it a more balanced image.  But they ended up turning Zelda from one of the few Nintendo IPs that was considered cool to the Playstation crowd into a cartoon.  Rare released one game (which Nintendo themselves contributed to the suckiness of by forcing them to shoehorn Star Fox into it) and they sold them.  None of Nintendo's Cube launch games were "mature" (though they could have promoted Rogue Leader as the flagship title instead of Luigi's Mansion).  Whenever I talk about Nintendo doing a token effort on something this is a great historical example.  Everyone complained that they needed some mature games.  They released SOME mature games for the N64 at the end of the console's life when any game but a Mario spin-off was doomed and then they just abandoned the whole thing once what they didn't want to do was "proven" to not work.  It drived me nuts then and it drives me nuts now.

I think Nintendo could have really started to turn things around with the Cube but it was like they looked at all the negative expectations people had of them and specifically tried to meet them.

The best thing about Perfect Dark was that it was such an awesome game too.  It shows that a mature game can still feel like Nintendo just like the Metroid Prime games do now.  What makes Nintendo great is that they can make awesome games and they can do that regardless of what age group is being targetted.

The only non-gameplay-in-commercial-problems I remember were the early people-in-cubes, the stupid nerd-in-the-office-settings, and the Sunshine commercial which confused people to the nature of the game... unless someone can refresh my memory?

[bustin98]

I want to add that Nintendo was never willing to jump all the way in the deep end of the 'core' pool. They always tempered their efforts in some way. They offered a broadband adapter but only sold it through their web site. Then only one game went online while another allowed local lan play. They fought for exclusive content but didn't back it up with the advertising to bring in the masses.

Its the same thing this time, only they have a killer app in their pocket.

And I'm not knocking Nintendo, just saying that I think Nintendo is doing the same they've always done. The microphone could have allowed for a headset along with the whole room device. Friend codes could be something turned on and off. They take a cool idea and then knock it back a few notches so it may be functional but limited in scope.

Anyway, I remember Perfect Dark and being hyped for the game. Turok 3 was also about the same time. And I also got a Dreamcast for under $100 thanks to some rebate thing. I've never loved gaming as much as I did during the N64 period.

[NWR_pap64]

Going back to the discussion the ads are definitely a product of their time.

In the 80s Nintendo did A LOT of silly ads, including the classic Zelda rap, Zelda Gameboy Rap and many more.

This was because gaming was still seen as a child's pastime, a family recreation that delighted people with cute characters, simple gameplay and lots of commercial appeal. It was during the 16-bit era in which things started to get serious. With Nintendo fighting Sega they now had to focus on adult, serious and powerful ads that attracted the young male audience. Their commercials were more about the attitude than the game itself.

This continued on during the N64 and GC years. Nintendo was afraid of losing their fans to MS and Sony, so they worked hard towards marketing their core titles through epic and cinematic trailers, ads and TV spots.

With the Wii, however, they decided to go back to basics. Instead of advertising the Wii as a powerful gaming console they sold it as a gaming system everyone can enjoy. But instead of being silly about it, they did calm, cool and collected ads that captured people's attention.

So the "Wii would like to play" ads are a mix of cool advertising and old school mentality, and like its been said its been a great success for them. Since then, everyone from Sony to MS are trying to capture the "get together and play" feel of the ads, even for stuff like "Gears of War" and even "Resident Evil 4".

[Jonnyboy117]

Yes, I think Nintendo's ads for Wii have been absolutely brilliant.  I really like the Wii Fit one where the screen keeps flipping around.

[NWR_pap64]

Yes, I think Nintendo's ads for Wii have been absolutely brilliant.  I really like the Wii Fit one where the screen keeps flipping around.

This begs the question...

After Brawl Nintendo stopped the "Wii would like to play" ads and focused on more traditional ads, like the "Cowboy Jed" ads for "Mario Kart Wii". MK Wii has become a massive hit, especially in comparison to Brawl. I know that Mario Kart has a much bigger fanbase than SSB, but still the sales for it is astounding. Clearly the new gamers are buying it in the droves. But, did the Cowboy Jed ad helped? It was very silly and very stupid, perhaps not as effective as the previous Wii ads.

[BeautifulShy]

I think the Cowboy Jed commercials went back to the Nes games for insperation.It was a mix of the sillyness of the Nes commercials and the straightforwardness of the Wii would like to play commercials.

[Ian Sane]

Are there any more mature ads put out by Nintendo themselves these days?  We all know that Prime 3 was grossly under-advertised.

Well mature ads have to go with mature games.  Since Metroid Prime 3 I can't think of a first party game where it would make sense to advertise it like that.

I saw the Metroid Prime 3 ad a fair amount.  I think it just wasn't really the right kind of ad.  With Wii Sports the "Wii would like to play" campaign makes sense because the thrill of that game is that you swing the remote to hit the tennis ball.  With Metroid the thrill isn't from aiming where you shoot.  It's all about exploring a hostile alien world and discovering secret passageways and such.  You can't really advertise that by showing people playing it.  It needs a more trailer-style ad where you show footage from the game and hook people in with the cool alien world presented in the game.

Ironically Mario Kart Wii would have been ideal for "Wii would like to play" as you could show people using the wheel.  The used car dealer ad is pretty much a Cube-era ad for Nintendo in a nutshell - goofy skit that only people who already know the game will really get.

One thing that really affects things though is Nintendo's current status in the game market.  They're the market leader.  They pretty much just have to acknowledge the existence of a game now and people will consider buying it.  When they were coming from behind each ad effectively had to act as an ad for the console itself as well.  You're not just selling Metroid Prime but Metroid Prime for that console the viewer doesn't own and knows little about (and likely is biased against already).  In that light the Mario Kart Wii ad is more effective than it appears because it's just "hey look there's this racing game staring Mario" and when most of the viewers already have a Wii or want one that's all you need.

When no one knew about the Wii yet though the "Wii would like to play" ads were PERFECT.

[UltimatePartyBear]

"Look!  It's my favorite book:  War and FOOTAGE!"

I didn't think much of Cowboy Jed until I saw all the extra clips.  Now I can't say "footage" without cracking up.

[Jonnyboy117]

Somehow the "Clean is Better Than Dirty" video led me down a twisted path to... this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCfG4ejpZpI&feature=related

Sorry it's off-topic, but I just had to share.

[Mop it up]

For me, the best Nintendo ad shall always be the one for Super Smash Brothers for the N64:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNFVCBkOoGI

Although, any of the ones which used real people dressed up in Mario character costumes just crack me up for some reason. Here's the Mario Superstar Baseball one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32w1DpoHvJA

The Mario Strikers one is good too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S***5jVrKBY

Mario Party 8 should have been advertised like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwEszuukeF8

There were quite a few commercials for Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games which used costumes, but I'm too lazy to poast the links here (perhaps I've poasted too many already... )

EDIT: Um... the link for Mario Strikers contains letters which form a banned word... 

[AV]

The perfect dark ad is SEXY. I loved it.

It's interesting when Nintendo wasn't #1 they seriously tried to impress us. Metroid Prime blew me away, when they were successful but not leading with n64 Perfect Dark, was amazing. Pikmin games were really innovative and fun. I was so happy when they published Eternal Darkness now that was one amazing experience.

Casual gamers sort of made them complacent. Wii sports 2 under normal circumstances would have online since right now pretty much every nintendo game does. However since it will be casual focus they won't bother put extra money into development. My guess is the game was done back in September they are just sitting on it and thinking of best time to release it, and getting WiiMotion Plus supplies ready.

The huge success with Wiiplay, Wiisports, and WiiFit has made them lazy. If x game will sell with horrible games, no online, and very basic features, why invest more money into it and just keep the profits. Casual gamers won't care if Wiisports Resort only has 3 mini games, it will sell 10 million copies regardless.

They don't have an incentive to really try any more. I will defend Twilight Princess forever because I love that deep Zelda gameplay. Sure it played similar to other zelda games, but it was epic and huge and exactly what I wanted. Nintendo put that on Wii as launch title because they were fearful they needed a big hardcore game for launch. That fear of not succeeding pushed them into making a epic zelda.

However who knows if that franchise will continue ? When Wii Play sold probably 2x more than Zelda Twilight Princess, and cost 1/10 in production costs as a business model why bother making more games like zelda when profits go way up with thrown together mini game collections.

Games like upcoming Sin and Punishment 2, Punch - Out make me feel that Nintendo hasn't forgotten the hardcore base. However I still feel they aren't trying as hard as they did in n64 or GAMECUBE era where they really gave me lots of quality new content for hardcore gamers. Metal Gear Solid twin snakes, would never been made if it wasn't for Nintendo.

Would Nintendo do that in 2009 ? I don't know.

[BeautifulShy]

Vega this is a topic about Nintendo ads not why you think Nintendo has become complacent.

[Kairon]

I just still think it's so strange they spent so many years trying to change their console's image to match their competitors (marketing wise) and achieved little success, only to say "F it, we're going to be different and we don't care" and blow their doors off.

There's something very zen about that.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The thing about looking at the effect of past and present TV ads is the communication landscape has noticeably changed when comparing this console cycle with previous console cycles.  Nintendo's TV ads can be treated like snowfall on a moutaintop, like a first sighting or first warning (the ads aren't the only snowfall; product novelty/newness/appearance/etc also come into play).  Word of mouth is the gravity that helps the snowballs become avalanches.  In our particular cycle, Youtube/web video is an inseparable extention of word of mouth; word of mouth is stronger than ever thanks to the prosperity and penetration of web video.  Not only do you "say", but you can also "show" what you "do".  Regular people, the entertainment industries, and the press all pay attention to it.

Nintendo's image is being defined more vocally thru its modern Wii customers than the products+ads by themselves.  You can't look at just the Cowboy Jed commercial (which stopped running a long time ago didn't it?) and try to determine its long term image+sales effects when it's not the continuous driving force; the ad campaign may have had zero initial impact compared to something like an in-store image of the Wii Wheel with a label that said ``*Wii* Wheel`` associated with a familiar brand like "Mario Kart."  SOMETHING (TV ad or not) was there to spark an interest, but it's word of mouth that's carrying the products' success and image.

Was word of mouth this versatile during GameCube's time?  Was the GameCube product even worthy to take advantage of today's word of mouth media?

aaarrggh too many words

[Kairon]

Whenever you post something serious Pro, you blow my mind away.

[Peachylala]

Whenever you post something serious Pro, you blow my mind away.

Second'd.

[King of Twitch]

I don't know if these Cal Worthington commercials play elsewhere in the country or if they've already been linked to, but it totally reminded me of Mario Kart Jed:

2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCNphyw2OE

1990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F544AHaaGAE&feature=related

1986:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYCsvPJzw&NR=1

GO SEE CAL GO SEE CAL GO SEE CAL

[NWR_pap64]

I don't know if these Cal Worthington commercials play elsewhere in the country or if they've already been linked to, but it totally reminded me of Mario Kart Jed:

2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCNphyw2OE

1990
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F544AHaaGAE&feature=related

1986:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYCsvPJzw&NR=1

GO SEE CAL GO SEE CAL GO SEE CAL

If these ads are similar to the Cowboy Jed ones is because Cowboy Jed is a spoof of hyperactive and stereotypical car salesmen.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

We can conclude that the HD systems have not been worthy of today's [positive] word of mouth compared to Earth's favorite video game system.

"PS3:  Six hundred U.S. dollars..."

ahahahahahahaahahahahahahhaahahhahah