Topic: Nintendo sucks at marketing and PR

[ThePerm]

Reggie is cool though. Heres the deal though, Nintendo is cheap with advertising. I barely ever see Nintendo ads like I used to back in the 80s. Nintendo is totally behind the times. Advertising is important. I would say one of the biggest reasons Nintendo isn't number 1 is because nobody knows whats coming out for its systems. Advertising isn't just spending money on tv commercials. Releasing screenshots and providing news is free advertising. If Nintendo had released more screenshots of eternal darkness...or did something like invite a reporter over to play the game then it would get more attention. EGM is probably the mainstram source for your casual gamers news for example. When I actually still read Magazines(before I became an internet god). I would first go to the previews section and check out all the games. I wouldnt have been interested in Zeldaot otherwise..and perhaps i would have jumped ship back in the day. They hooked me because there was a big page full of screenshots. 8 years later I'm building freaking link statues out of bronze.

Also, Nintendo needs to learn how to keep their systems alive. These system deaths dont happen with everybody else. There are still alot of games coming out for xbox even though 360 is out. I think there are still even psx games coming out.  

[MysticGohan24]

Perm, internet god? I was on the internet before it was cool Bow DOWN MORTAL!!  Well the snes had games still coming out for it well into '98. Even after nearly 3yrs of the n64 being out "if memory serves me" So I wouldn't worry too much, but I blame sony and my post is a train wreck for rushing into another gen, it wasn't this way until they decided it would be grand if they could make videogames, and I use "make" lossely"

[nemo_83]

"I barely ever see Nintendo ads"

I didn't realize they had a product to sell anytime between since the last Metroid came out and whenever Zelda and the Revolution come out this time next year.  

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

With so many venues for downloading game trailers and such, it's easy to spread high-quality media, for free.  Granting exclusives to IGN or hosting things only on Nintendo-owned sites is not the way to spread the word around.

"I didn't realize they had a product to sell anytime between since the last Metroid came out and whenever Zelda and the Revolution come out this time next year."

That'd better be sarcasm, otherwise that's outright moronic.

[MysticGohan24]

does any notice when you put M $ together you'll get this? "my post is a train wreck" lol messed up deal there. it should read I blame Sony & M $, heh odd system this forum has

[ThePerm]

Quote
Originally posted by: nemo_83
"I barely ever see Nintendo ads"

I didn't realize they had a product to sell anytime between since the last Metroid came out and whenever Zelda and the Revolution come out this time next year.

even if they don't have new games out..they should advertise the old ones. Hopefully around the time revolution comes out Nintendo will take its solid players choice lineup and advertise it heavilly.
Zelda: TP, Metroidrime 1&2, Mario Sunshine, Eternal Darkness, RE4. All these games will be backwards compatable and most of them might be games people have missed. They should be at an extremely low price of $9.99(except Zelda:TP). That may sound too low...but too low isnt a bad thing. PSX games sold at $9.99 at the end of the last generation and it was one of those boosts that really hurt Nintendo which couldnt get the prices down as low ith their damn cartriges.

[Hostile Creation]

The badness of Nintendo's marketing is severely exaggerated.  The vast majority of their commercials are really good.  They just need more gameplay footage and they need the word of mouth/cool factor going for them.

And I've been seeing many more DS ads than PSP ads.  I've seen many Nintendo ads offhand on public televisions around campus, because I hardly watch TV.

[ThePerm]

I dont hate all of thier commercilas, i just think alot of them are ineffective. Thier put on at weird hours. They are not often enough. They dont advertise for free like every other game company does. They are highly secretive..to the point that most people don't even know when games are coming out. Even Nintendo fans sometimes don't even know. There are a few games that came out that I wasn't even aware of..amnd im on a nintendo forum every two hours!

[eljefe]

I will say this, I did see DS commercials when the system launched. I don't watch much TV at all, and its mostly football matches when I do, but I tend not to have seen many ads for Nintendo exclusives for GC. I've seen multi-platform ads like Madden and TH, and of course movie-spinoff ads; and they all have the GC logo at the end. But, the only Nintendo 1st party ad I distinctly remember seeing was MP 1.

I already knew about the game by then, and it made me wonder how many people would see the ad and go buy it. I doubt any of those people even knew about MP 2, I certainly never saw an ad for it.

Anyway, after the initial onslaught DS ads have trickled. Fortunately, its been successfully spread by word-of-mouth, but Nintendo can't rely on this. None, of the people I know who like gaming are willing to check the net, and therefore DO NOT KNOW THAT MKDS EXISTS. There have been absolutely 0 ads for it (its a shame because I actually like the new DS ads on their site). They also DO NOT KNOW THAT THE DS HAS FREE WIFI.

If the Revolution is marketed like this, it will sell, but it will never reach its full potential. Particularly the casual gaming market, which are apparently so casual that  THEY DO NOT LOOK UP GAMES ON THE INTERNET!

Nintendo does need to fix the situation.

[animecyberrat]

I used to think Nintendos advertising ceretainly isnt what it used to be, until I realized I dont watch the same shows/channels as I did  growing up, so I did an experiment,

When iw as a kid I only watched cartoons and kids shows, as a teen I watched Mtv and Scifi then when i got older I practiclay qwuit al together so to me it always seamed Nintendos ads were diminishing.

Then I chose to exsperiment and decided to wactha fwew hours of cartoons/kids programing with my 2 year old nephew and was SHOCKED at how many Nintendo ads I DID see. People always seam to forget they are an Entertainment company geared towards CHILDREN. I realized this a long time ago when I played Mario Sunshine, an unmistakably childish game, fun for longtime fans but definatley geared towards kids. Continueing my experiement i choses (rather reluctantly) to watch some MTV and since my sister is into Making the Band I watched it with her for a couple episodes and again to my shock I was shown a Nintendo ad EVERY commercial break! During a show that stars P-diddy putitng together teh next Spice girls act, certainly not Nintendos target market until I realiazed teh ads were for Animal Crossing WW, and some Mario Kart DS and other Wi Fi ads.

So It seams to me they most certainly are re4aching their target audience, however the older gamers, who some mistakingly refer to as hard core, like myself and others who watch more grown up tv shows and not kids stuff dont get as many ads, but I did notice Sci-fi channel and G4 still get plenty of GC ads and even some exclusives are shown regularly. I know this may bea shock to people but its no different now than back in teh 90s, the only difference I can point to of hand that I KNOW has changed is in the early Ninties many popular family sitcoms9 Roseanne, Home Improvement etc) not only had Nintendo ads they occasionaly had kids mention they were going to play Nintendo.  I now see they same stuff in sitcoms only its now Playstation that gets the ads and mention.

So what I see is Yes tehres a shift, but to be honest Nintendo KNOWS who thier target market is and frankly it the kids, hands down, tehy make up the game parket, teens and younger are the age groups playing video games, so it makes sense to advertise durring show they watch, and if they had a sports game they would advertise it durring a related sports event, and such but currently Nintendo has no major sports titles worth mentioning to sports fans (Mario sports doesnt count cuz only Mario fans care about those) peopel who want good sports games that emulate real sports generaly dontgo to Nintendo anymore, which sucks cuz they used to make some pretty good Sports games and had some good advertising durring football games and such, now Sony and Microsoft get those spots.

So inconclusion if your not seeing Nintendo ads on whatever station you watch, ask yourself if its something other Nintendo gamers would watch and then decide if there should be ads or not. I will say that I went to school and studied bussiness and marketing was one of the biggest subjects covered and looking at it form thier perspectibve of who the target audience is I see they still do the same level of advertising as before. Whats lacking is promotions and movie tie ins and such, like back when Pepsi and Shasta both ahd Super Mario 3 givewayas or how ever magazine on teh face of the earth was trying to giveaway a SNES when it was new and cool. Stuff like that is where they need to pick it up again, and with Revolution they sure as hell better make some changes cuz if they let people know it will play those old NES/SNES favorites like Mario BRos, DUCK HUNT, and Dr mario, etc, that should be enough to entice thousdands of gamers and non gamers who have given up on Nintendo, if they advertise it well. To me I honestly think thats the storngest selling point they have going for them with Rev and itrs what NEEDS to be pushed AT LAUNCH.  Anywyas sorry for long post just wanted to share everything I had. Ok im cool now.

[Ian Sane]

"I barely ever see Nintendo ads like I used to back in the 80s."

I wonder if there actually is a difference in the amount of ads Nintendo shows.  Remember in the 80s you were a kid.  I used to see Nintendo ads all the time but it was during weekday afternoon or Saturday morning cartoons.  I don't watch cartoons that much anymore so for all I know they are still advertising just as much during that time period as they did before.  Yesterday I was watching the Garfield Christmas special and saw tons of commercials for toys I had never heard of.  I thought to myself "gee they should have been advertising this sooner to tie in better with Christmas".  Then I realized I was watching YTV, a kids network, and for all I know this ad had been on for months but I just didn't notice because I rarely watch YTV.  Of course they're not going to advertise these toys during prime time.

Nintendo's advertising still needs a lot of work though because gaming isn't just for kids anymore.  I should be seeing ads in my regular TV watching.  Lately I only know when a game comes out if it's one I'm really interested in and thus are following.  Normally I'm in the store and go "oh that Mario soccer game's out now."  I agree with Perm completely about this.

Now for the last year or so Nintendo of Canada has been running their own commercials (which are not that bad actually) so I don't see NOA commercials as often anymore so I can't say if they've fixed thing or not.  But from the ones I have seen throughout the Cube's life they almost all suck.  They don't give any indication about what the game is about or why you should buy it.  The ads are full of obscure references you would only pick up on if you were familiar with the game.  If I have to know about the game to "get" the ad what's the point of having an ad at all?  They also have virtually no gameplay footage at all.  This isn't the NES anymore.  Graphics look good so SHOW THEM.  GTA is THE game this gen and it's ads are nothing but footage from the game.  Hell they look like blocky crap but they show you what the game is like and that makes a big difference.

Third party support helps with advertising too.  Every third party PS2 ad is in reality a PS2 ad.  Games for the console advertise the console.  Seeing "for Xbox" or "for PS2" at the end of the third party ad really helps make the console look like it's successful and has a healthy lineup.  On the NES 90% of videogame ads period advertised the NES.  It's largely a different issue altogether but it relates to advertising.  The lack of Cube exclusives made for a lack of ads.  And if an exclusive has no advertising Nintendo should provide it themselves.

It's a shame because I felt the N64 had really good advertising.  Perfect Dark's ad for example was fantastic.  Somehow in the year between Nintendo's advertising turned to crap and I had serious doubts about the Cube's future the second I saw those horrible "life in a cube" ads and saw that the Cube killer app, Rogue Leader, was only on screen for half a second.

I think game trailers like they show at E3 would make the best ads.  Screw this skit crap.  That footage makes us all wet out pants.  Why wouldn't it do the same for the general public?  Movie ads mostly just show footage so why no games?

[JonLeung]

Talking about third-party ads reminds me that is really the case now, isn't it?

I remember that for the longest time, whenever I saw a television ad, it was always for a Nintendo game on the NES or Super NES or a Sega game on the Genesis or Game Gear.  First-party stuff.

The first time I saw a Street Fighter II television ad, I was thinking..."can they do that?"  o_0  And now I remember that moment, looking back and wondering why I thought Capcom couldn't.  I think it was just unusual at the time.  Now I see ads for third-party games much more, at least the few times I watch TV.

Most of the Nintendo Player's Choice games are Nintendo's own.  But there are lots of PS2 Greatest Hits commercials now, and I don't think most are Sony's own.  Sure, there's Sly, Jak & Daxter, but the others?  I don't think so.  That's a more direct example of how the commercial is one for the PS2 itself rather than just the games but I know what Ian is saying about third-party games seemingly emphasizing the consoles they're on.

[Caterkiller]

Im 19 and not afraid to say I watch mostly cartoons and kids networks. During work I get 2 half hour breaks, a  45 min lunch and then a final hour break befor I have to work again. The other guys don't really like it but they allow me to watch just about what ever I want and its usually cartoon network, Nick, or Nicktoons, Toon Disney and so on and so forth. During each of these times I can usualy catch at least one Nintendo commercial, especialy for the DS. I have seen 2 different Mario Kart commercials(well one just for Mario Kart and the other mainly for Wifi) and they were both pretty good at getting their point across.

Though lately Saturday mornings I seem to catch nothing but Shadow the Craphog commercials. Ether way alot of Nintendo's commercials are on these kids networks, its just they defenitly need to be shown more during prime time on the WB and FOX.

I remember the N64 ads and I use to love them. Any one remember Mario Kart 64? "It kicks asphault!" I was still only in the 5th grade or so and that combined with Donkey Kong getting knocked in the air by a bus made me think that was the coolest thing in the world. Also I use to love the slogan "get N or get out."
Man did that ever speak to me.  

[Cap]

I actually see a lot of nintendo ads, but none are very good. They very rarely show any real gameplay, and when they do it is letterboxed not filling the entire tv screen for some reason. They just seem to lack something in them that would actually make anyone want to go out and buy their games. I'm extremely excited about revolution and the possibilities it could bring, but i'm extremely sceptical about how nintendo is going to market it.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Nintendo sucks at marketing and PR

Reggie is cool tho

[odifiend]

I think Nintendo's ads are definitely getting better and they are distancing themselves from the stupid "Who are you?" campaign going with the GBA-like commercials for GCN.

[JonLeung]

I was thinking not too long ago that even though the GameCube is third this generation, it's not that far behind the Xbox.

When you consider how many people mention in Xbox in casual speak, and the GameCube next to never, then Nintendo's actually doing a good job with their sales.  They're selling more than you would think with only a few commercials which many of you think suck.

So if they had lots of commercials, and they were all good ones, wow! Wonder how much more they'd sell.

[odifiend]

Yeah Jon, that is why their standing is that painful to Nintendo purists.

[archioverload]

I work at a pretty large advertising agency; not that I'm an expert on any of these fields, but I thought I'd throw out some thoughts. You have to look beyond whether the 30-second TV commericals are working or not as the sole basis of whether Nintendo is doing successful advertising. There is also: Print, Radio, and Guerrilla/Viral marketing. The percentage of Nintendo's/their agency's marketing budget that is allocated to each category is directly proportional to the market they're trying to reach.

Print gets lost in the shuffle often but it can be highly effective to target specific groups. E.g., I saw some Super Mario Strikers ads in Maxim and FHM. The art style of the game seemed to make the game feel less out of place there than, say, Animal Crossing.

I haven't ever heard a Nintendo radio commercial. I know there are some for PS2/Xbox 3rd party games.

Viral and nontraditional advertising. Everyone wants to jump on this bandwagon but few, I think, know how to do it really well. And it can backfire (e.g., the PSP graffiti ads pissed some people off because they were, well, grafitti and ugly to boot).

There is no magic bullet. Nintendo I think still has a huge cache with its brand, although tied to people's memories of the past, not as much the future or present. But many people will tell you the right advertising is less about selling specific products than the cultivation of brands. And with the right advertising, Nintendo can tap into that good brand vibe. It needs, however, a consistent message with whatever 3rd parties decide to hitch themselves to the Revolution wagon.

[Dirk Temporo]

GBA ads rule. GCN ads are teh suck.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

You know what's odd, I see nintendo ads all the time when I watch TV, maybe you guys watch the wrong channels

[odifiend]

If we are gamers and Nintendo is(?) targetting us, how could we be watching the wrong channels?

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Even gamers have different tv watching habits, so its likely that the channels you guys watch aren't necessarily the ones that get ninty commercial, maybe they stick to other channels.

[ThePerm]

Quote
Originally posted by: Avinash_Tyagi
You know what's odd, I see nintendo ads all the time when I watch TV, maybe you guys watch the wrong channels

i have 200 tvs....i watch every channel at the same time...like shredder

[MysticGohan24]

Really..? wouldn't you have to blink at some point...? I'm sure ADD will kick in anytim.... *chases butterflies*