Topic: Where the hell are the US Wii ads?!

[Pittbboi]

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
I'm not exactly ready to buy that a long, sustained TV blitz is the best way to use money. I rather like Nintendo of America's new strategy of subtler advertising through:

-Retailer promotions and ads
-Mass coordinated drooling media impressions everywhere from Time to Forbes to PC Gamer
-Viral Wii Fusion tours
-Viral Wii Ambassador parties
-Wii give-a-ways left and right, from 7-11 to Comedy Central, EVERYONE seems to have Wiis to give away to viralize people who would't buy at launch anyways

All these methods are more focused and can get Nintendo more bang for their buck. THEN, all Nintendo needs on TV is:

-punctuated tv ad blitzes

that fire small spikes of overhype into the machine. Wrap it all up in Christmas hysteria and you're going to do fine. ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THAT EVERY CONSOLE SELLS OUT AT LAUNCH ANYWAYS!!!

I've never believed in big TV ad campaigns. People don't need to know that the Wii exists, they need to get excited over it. And you need viral for that, you need something less manufactured and more earnest. Something less flashy and glitzy and hollywood, yes, but something less artificial and less manufactured as well.

After all, playing = believing.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

You can't get excited over a console you don't know exists. Period. Mass hysteria doesn't just happen over night. Mass hysteria (for whatever season) is the product suspense and hype, news blurbs and word of mouth, and knowing that something that you've been wanting and waiting for is FINALLY on its way.

That's what MS and Sony did with their marketing, and they've been doing it for a lot longer. Nintendo isn't the only company to make use of viral marketing and give-a-ways. They're still really late no matter which way you slice their strategy. I'm not at all interested in a PS3 but they've still been pretty effective with generating hype. And, as a result of that, it's highly likely that not only are PS3's going to fly off the shelves REGARDLESS of that godawful price, but the public outcry and demand for more PS3's is going to be deafening.  Shortages are going to be reported in just about every media outlet, and your local news at 10 is going to air videos of people doing wacky things to get their hands on one as well as stories of people buying PS3's resold on Ebay for three--maybe even four-- times what they're actually worth. All of this is going to raise the "percieved" value of the PS3 and more than likely attract some of Nintendo's target non-gaming audience. Sony is creating that hysteria early, and hysteria is WHOLE lot of free publicity. The PS3, regardless of its MAJOR flaws, is going to be seen as something people NEED to own because of Sony's expert hype machine. Don't expect Nintendo to just come out of nowhere at the absolute last minute and just steal their thunder.

In short: it'll be the PS2 launch all over again.

Sure, Wii's are going to sell out at launch, and I'm going to be camping out for my very own, no doubt. Nintendo has done all they've needed to do to attract their established fanbase. But this target audience they're going after doesn't even know it exists yet for the most part. Because of this, I think Wii's launch is going to be a lot quieter (Which will make early adopters happy, as I'm sure it'll be a lot easier for them to find a Wii at launch than it was for any other console). It'll still sell, but don't expect the market demand to be as great when the launch stock is all gone, and because of that, I think Nintendo's missed out on generating a LOT of free and effective publicity.  

[Kairon]

I disagree Pittboi. Word of mouth over Halo is what sold the XBox over the GC, not excessive hype. If Nintendo can get Wii word of mouth activity high among non-gamers, then it can EASILY sustain itself.

Just look at the Nintendo DS, it's launch was lackluster but a strong viral effort puinctuated by relatively few commercials is sustaining it to record sales.

Marketting the Wii will be a marathon and not a sprint: it will be a slow burn. And that means we need to start with a soft sell, not a hard one. Only enthusiasts like you and me overrate hype (and masculine adrenaline-based posturing) so much at a time when a sell-out is assured no matter how something is marketted.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Pittbboi]

I'm not so sure, though.

I'm glad Nintendo is investing so much in their marketing as far as money is concerned. They're showing that they can throw major money into a project like Sony and MS, and that they're not some baby company that'll go bankrupt at the slightest loss of revenue (something not even most fanbois give them credit for) But as for strategy, they're not really doing much that the competition isn't. Not only are Microsoft and Sony advertising through alternative means for the long haul, but they also hit the ground running early and now they have much more widescale recognition to show for it. More people know the Xbox and PS3 exists than do the Wii, and that counts for something.

This gen for Nintendo is about more than just sustaining themselves. I'm confident that they'll atleast do that; I refuse to believe that Nintendo will lose more of the market this gen. I refuse to believe that that's even possible. But I really want them to RECOVER marketshare, because as a Nintendo fan that means more for me.

[couchmonkey]

Quote
Originally posted by: Pittbboi
Don't expect Nintendo to just come out of nowhere at the absolute last minute and just steal their thunder.

In short: it'll be the PS2 launch all over again.

Sure, Wii's are going to sell out at launch, and I'm going to be camping out for my very own, no doubt. Nintendo has done all they've needed to do to attract their established fanbase. But this target audience they're going after doesn't even know it exists yet for the most part. Because of this, I think Wii's launch is going to be a lot quieter (Which will make early adopters happy, as I'm sure it'll be a lot easier for them to find a Wii at launch than it was for any other console). It'll still sell, but don't expect the market demand to be as great when the launch stock is all gone, and because of that, I think Nintendo's missed out on generating a LOT of free and effective publicity.

I agree that Nintendo isn't that far in to the general public's mind yet.  The system has been mentioned in the news, but people who don't pay attention to the news don't know what Wii is.  So yeah, marketing is necessary.  And it has begun.

The other side of the coin is that Nintendo can't possibly match Sony's "free" shortage publicity because PS3 is coming out in extremely limited quantities.  The only way to do it is to cut launch shipments (intrestingly, Nintendo is supposedly saying 500K-700K instead of 1 million, I wonder if that's a real shortage, or a plan to capture some of that free publicity?)  Here's the point: Sony's shortage publicity isn't "free" after all, because once Christmas has come and gone, demand for the system will drop dramatically.  By having such major shortages, Sony is giving up its chance to capitalize on the hype.

Edit: But in the end, if the question is one of marketshare, Nintendo will win that through games that grab the attention of the target audience.  Just as PSP has nothing to compete with Animal Crossing, Nintendogs or Brain Training, Xbox 360 and PS3 will have nothing to compete with Wii's killer apps...if they exist!

[Kairon]

I don't think that Sony and MS have more widespread recognition because of ads, but becasue Sony won last generation and Microsoft has been in the market uncontested for a year already, AND was the original launch-short-supply-news-story.

They are not being watched due to their advertising, consumers only know them because of their brands. For example, when a ton of people still believe that the PS3 will cost $300 at launch, then that suggests that all that consumers know about the PS3 is that it is the PS2 + 1, and that they're not really paying attention to most media.

I still believe that big TV commercial campaigns are NOT the way to go if you want really smartly targetted marketting. You need them, sure, but especially for videogames it'll take more than the usual hype for anything to sustain sales. Just look at the commercial campaigns for Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and the GameCube.

This is why I believe that Nintendo isn't making any major mistakes: the more money they spend on slow-burning, more direct and targetted and actually play-based marketting, the more likely they can generate sustainable hype throughout next year that'll be remember long after a commercial spot is forgotten in lieu of the cliffhanger of Heroes.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

[King of Twitch]

I definitely liked the RS commercial. The Wii commercial was fair; no date or price, doesn't explain the revolutionary new controls or the dozens of classic downloadable games - just an introduction to ease people in.

"We would like to play" vs "YOU SUCK!"

One of those could've been a Reggie line, the other is Nintendo's longtime cowardly lion approach. Needs more Reggie.

[couchmonkey]

Yeah, cause "you suck" is just what non-gamers have been waiting to hear.

[JonLeung]

Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
Yeah, cause "you suck" is just what non-gamers have been waiting to hear.

In one of Nintendo Power's videocassette promos back in the Super NES days, "Invasion Of Nintendo", two older gentlemen (I assume they're custodians by their uniforms) are sitting at a table.  (Like the other snippets in that video, people who you wouldn't think would play video games make mention of Nintendo games.)

The dialogue, regarding Killer Instinct, goes like this:

"Jago rules."
"Riptor rules!"
"Jago rules!"
"...Jago sucks BIG TIME."
"...YOU suck."

The delivery of "(pause) YOU suck" is the ABSOLUTE BEST "YOU SUCK" EVER delivered by Nintendo.  I have yet to hear Reggie ever say that but if you saw it too you would have to agree.

That said, I suppose trash-talking doesn't fit with the Wii's image, so I'm sure they'd never say that.

[Dirk Temporo]

Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
Yeah, cause "you suck" is just what non-gamers have been waiting to hear.

Tell me I've been bad...

[SixthAngel]

I don't see commercials as very necessary especially recently because everyone seems to be pushing Wii.  The Today Show had Al Roker check it out recently and it was called THE item for teens to get.

Pittboi it isn't going to be the ps2 all over again.  This time every time the news mentions a ps3 sellout they will also bring up the very recent competition, Wii, which will also be selling out but in much higher numbers.  High ebay sales will be the only thing ps3 has going for it over the Wii.  Wii will be selling out simply because it is launch and it is Christmas stealing much of the ps3's thunder, you overestimate the hype do to the ps2 being basically the only kid on the block at the time and not launching beside competition.  

[NWR_pap64]

Sorry to bump this again, but I just caught a commercial for Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.

It starts with a shot of people waiting for the bus on a down hill. Suddenly, a gush of wind goes through them, taking their clothes with it. It is then revealed that the gush of wind was caused by Tony Hawk and his co horts of Downhill racers. It then proceeds to show gameplay footage, as well as footage of how the game is played with the Wii.

It then ends with the Wii logo.