Gaming Forums => Nintendo Gaming => Topic started by: KnowsNothing on April 16, 2006, 03:24:06 PM
Title: Brain Age commercials
Post by: KnowsNothing on April 16, 2006, 03:24:06 PM
HEY
Apparently on the Discovery channel (or science channel) there are a few infomercial-style adverts for Brain Age. I've personally never seen one (couldn't find it on google video either), but I guess it's on fairly often, so I'm looking out. Cooelst of all, it's endorsed by the science channel, it's not just an independant Ninty advert.
Pretty useless news! It's pretty cool though to see Nintendo doing some appropriate advertising, they've been handling the DS pretty well so far, gives me hope for the Rev. Reggie :rock:
Edit: Just saw one, it's a fantastic commercial! It's a non-game commercial! It does a great job of explaining the purpose of the game, how to play it, and all the features. It targets the right group, and it's very effective. Thumbsup.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercialsE
Post by: Infernal Monkey on April 16, 2006, 05:29:45 PM
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: KnowsNothing on April 16, 2006, 05:40:18 PM
It's just about the greatest commercial ever made.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on April 16, 2006, 06:16:23 PM
Is Brain Age out yet? I want to buy that game for my mom, she could use something else to spend some time using her DS for other than Texas Hold 'Em
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: darknight06 on April 16, 2006, 06:27:01 PM
This was probably the smartest move they could've done with this, knowing that doing this like a regular advertisement to gamers would not have cut it. Very good commercial, it's informative and it's as mature as the audience who this is supposed to appeal to.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: RiskyChris on April 16, 2006, 06:27:36 PM
Wow Brain Age is really really powerful stuff. I had my 7th grade cousin (female) playing the brain age demo for at least half an hour before I could pry the system from her. My younger brother (freshman) also enjoyed it immensely.
The real kicker is I casually showed it to my mother (nearly 50). She got a kick out of the voice recognition, and must've done 4 or 5 sets of math problems in a row. After she was done, she asked me how much a DS would cost. Bravi, Nintendo, bravi...
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: wandering on April 16, 2006, 08:49:28 PM
Quote Toot toot
That website....looks like a spoof. Look at those over-the-top facial expressions!
Whatever. I love the way Nintendo is marketing this game.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on April 16, 2006, 09:16:25 PM
Now if only they would extend the "non-commercial" into an "info-mercial" and put it on late night during some paid programming blocks.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: jasonditz on April 16, 2006, 09:44:30 PM
In due time I can see the infomercial, but early on I'd rely more on traditional commercial spots and media coverage to get the word out. Then you start moving to things like infomercials and home shopping networks.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: Caliban on April 18, 2006, 06:23:40 AM
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: Renny on April 18, 2006, 06:40:35 AM
I read it. Now where's my lollipop? It seems like Brain Age is really poised to be as mainstream in the West as in Japan. Though following the mentality of our culture, the DS will go from the 'tiku tiku tiku! portable' to the 'elderly portable.'
I hope they don't stoop to the level of infomercials. I associate that with crap like BOSE. Promoting it in channels unassociated with conventional entertainment, as in medical treatment programs like the Toronto Memory Program, seems like the ideal way to achieve the "blue ocean strategy." The Discovery bit is an interesting way to do that in the familiar environment of television. That was the first Nintendo commercial I've seen in awhile.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: eljefe on April 18, 2006, 10:42:46 AM
I just saw two-page ad for it in Discover magazine
today
I was shocked
It had a similar tone as the video above, which, of course, is appropriate for the target audience.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: DAaaMan64 on April 18, 2006, 09:27:19 PM
Hmm this just made me want to but this game. The commercial makes it look pretty fun. And I like sudoku.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: wandering on April 19, 2006, 07:57:40 PM
So, I watched Mythbusters tonight. No Brain Age ad. If you're not going to advertise during the station's most popular show, why bother advertising on the station at all?
Actually, I haven't seen a single Brain Age ad in the wild yet. E for Effort, Nintendo.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: animecyberrat on April 19, 2006, 09:24:23 PM
Sega made infomercials for Sega CD and it.. helped... sales...
oh crap Nintendo is doomed.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: eljefe on April 20, 2006, 04:49:00 AM
I saw a one-page version of the same ad in TIME later that evening
two Nintendo ads in one day? unheard of for me
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: KnowsNothing on April 20, 2006, 05:19:22 AM
Quote So, I watched Mythbusters tonight. No Brain Age ad. If you're not going to advertise during the station's most popular show, why bother advertising on the station at all?
First of all, Mythbusters just isn't that good anymore, so nyah.
Second of all, Mythbusters is about the only show on Discovery (besides American Choppers, I guess) that attracts a different demographic than the one Ninty's going for. Mythbusters is Discovery's 'cool' show, Brain Age is definitley not cool.
Sure, it couldn't hurt, but it'd probably be a lot more expensive too. Or something.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: Mario on April 20, 2006, 08:54:42 PM
KN is spot on, advertising is all about strategy. Paying 500,000 for a spot with 1 million people watching (just making up these numbers for example) means nothing if it's the wrong audience, maybe only 5% of people watching that show will actually watch the Brain Age commercial all the way through with interest. However if you advertise for $200,000 on a spot with 500,000 people watching with a different demographic you get maybe 30% of people watching the ad all the way through. So you save money while making the commercial speak to more people.
I'm interested to see how well this game sells in the US where Nintendo actually has a launch advertising strategy for it. In Japan I don't think they took it this seriously when it launched there, could it be even bigger in the US? We might have to wait a while to find out.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: wandering on April 20, 2006, 10:14:32 PM
I suppose. Though I also watched How Stuff is Made before MythBusters, and a bit of one of those crappy recreations of the exploits of a serial rapist things...still no dice.
A bit off topic, but I think what Nintendo really needs is alternative distribution. I'm thinking a special boxed set of the DS and Brain Training in coffee and book shops.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: Mario on April 20, 2006, 10:18:52 PM
That brings up another thing... sales of this game reported by NPD could be inaccurate since the games' better selling stores wont be the traditional game stores that NPD tracks like EB / Gamestop etc.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: stevey on April 21, 2006, 05:47:27 AM
I watched the Discovery channel on thursday for about five hours to see the ad and finnally I saw it(at ~6pm) and it was best type of commercial nintendo could ever make for brain age, but it also was a little like a science channel commercial since it was on durning(or just right before) a science channel show and with their logo in the ad so I dont know if nintendo made it themselfs.
Title: RE:Brain Age commercials
Post by: vudu on April 21, 2006, 09:53:15 AM
Wow. I just went here and watched it right off the bat. But at least you're smarter for having watched five hours of the Discovery Channel.
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: wandering on November 30, 2006, 04:29:00 PM
Quote First of all, Mythbusters just isn't that good anymore, so nyah.
Well, they've run out of good myths. So they try to make up for it with (painfully boring) filler. What they need to do is follow Radio Free Nintendo's example and cut the show by half an hour. But they'd never throw away the advertising dollars unless they absolutely had to.
...Though now that I've said that, the show has gotten a bit better recently.
Anyway. What were we talking about?
Title: RE: Brain Age commercials
Post by: BranDonk Kong on November 30, 2006, 05:00:35 PM
I saw a Brain Age commercial during Dr. Phil this morning (I swear my wife had it on). It was 2 senior citizen couples (or 1 couple and 1 single guy), the one guy saw an old high school friend (the other guy), and talked a bit. Then when the second guy went to introduce the 1st guy to his wife, he was like "...this is...um...", and the announcer says "has this ever happened to you?" Then it says you should buy a DS and plain Brain Age, to keep your brain sharp, and shows the second old old man playing it. It was weird seeing a Nintendo DS commercial specifically targeted to seniors.
