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

[JonLeung]

Quote
Originally posted by: Smash_Brother
The best time they could likely send the advertising machine into full tilt is after the launch of both consoles when you just can't get a PS3 anymore.

Still, I do find no advertising a surprise...

Agreed on both counts.

It would be a smart idea to bury everyone in Wii ads when PS3s will be extremely scarce.  People who are holding out, waiting for the next shipment of PS3s, will be susceptible to all the Wii stuff they'll see.  Initial shipments of Wiis and PS3s will sell out regardless, but by saving their dollars for later, Nintendo can slow down the selling of future PS3 shipments.

Then again I'm not in advertising so I don't know jack.  Though I pretty much expect that the Wii doesn't particularly need much advertising right now to sell out.

[Ceric]

Quote
Originally posted by: Plugabugz
When the BBC started advertising for Torchwood (spin off to Doctor Who), i only began to see it just over a week before it started.

It's likely they will push it as close as possible to release to create more OH MY GOODNESS IT'S OUT ALREADY hype.

On another note.  How is Torchwood?

[Spak-Spang]

Trailers in theaters are different than on television...and yes I won't care that much later...and it doesn't really build that much more hype than if you waited and did a good marketing blitz the week of release.

[couchmonkey]

What is Nintendo thinking?  Nintendo has said that it expects to have shortages even though it has 4 million units in the next two months.  For comparison, that's about 160% more than GameCube or Xbox had in their launch holidays, and 340% more than Xbox 360 had last year.  In spite of these huge numbers, Nintendo still says there will be shortages.  

Maybe Nintendo is just trying to ramp up demand (actually it's definitely trying to ramp up demand) but maybe Nintendo is also being sincere, and that's why it sees no need to start advertising two weeks in advance.  I do believe we'll see ads, in fact I think they'll start this weekend, but with all the hype coming from the likes of Toys R' Us and the media, Nintendo may not see the need for a huge campaign.

This could be a bad move, but you have to admit, more one of us is afraid of not getting a system on launch day, even with 1 million to choose from.  Personally, if Nintendo doesn't feel like adding that much extra competition to launch day, I'm not going to complain.

[Zach]

I found an Ad!  Not a tv add unfortunately, it was one of those bars at the top of a website.  Nothing special, pics of people having fun playing the wii, but at least its something.

[ThePerm]

what if nintendo instead of spending a months of money to advertise for a month, spent a months of money to advertise for a week?

[Mikintosh]

Yeah, there was a Wii ad on the front page of Yahoo tonight, and with the election results coming in (I'm sure I'm not the only one refreshing the home page over and over...i'm writing a paper so I have nothing to do), it's probably getting them a lot of traffic, and it cost almost nothing.

[Pittbboi]

I don't think it's a good idea for the Wii to hold off on advertising. At this point, advertising is the only way to get people who don't follow gaming interested in the Wii. And people who don't follow gaming are who Nintendo's allegedly going after, but PS3 is doing a better job.

My mother, who knows jack about gaming always mentions the PS3 when she hears me mention video games. I never talk about PS3, I couldn't give a damn about that system, I only talk about the Wii. However, my mother and sisters always bring up the PS3 when they hear me talking about the Wii because they don't know much about the Wii, but they watch a lot of TV, so they know about the PS3.

Nintendo has done enough to get gamers interested in the Wii. And I think they feel that's all they need to do. I think they're making a mistake by not getting their console out there in mainstream media so that people who don't give a ish about gaming websites atleast know of its existence. I think we'd all be surprised by how many people STILL don't know about the Wii console, especially in comparison to how many people know about PS3 and Xbox360.

[King of Twitch]

But if they bought television ads and let people try out wiiosks too far in advance, more people might want to buy it.

[Mario]

They are doing the advertising that matters, TV commercials wont really add much, especially right now.

[Hocotate]

The least amount of advertising right now the better. I'm scared enought I wouldn't be able to get a launch unit despite capming 4 hours in advance... I think the marketing blitz will occur about a week before launch... maybe not till after launch, but regardless it'll be soon.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Maybe Nintendo's strategy is to let MS and Sony spend their advertising budgets on TV to get people in the stores while Nintendo spends their advertising budget in the stores and attempts to steal the purchase at the pick-up point.

But seriously, I think it'll be more like ThePerm said, instead of a costly spread out month long pre-launch ad campaign, they take all the same money and airtime and cram it into a wiik long pre-launch Wii ad campaign.

[BlkPaladin]

There really is only one Xbox 360 commerical that I have seen. Outside the game commercials (Dead Rising and Gears of War). The only game commerical I have seen is Ultimate Alliance on G4.

[Hocotate]

Yeah, there is This US Red Steel commercial, but I'm not sure if it's been aired yet or not.

[BlkPaladin]

It seems Ubi Soft is going all out with the Sensei thing. First they used him to crank call you friends to tell them about Red Steel and how pitiful and ready to die the person is.. I'm currently look for the url for the site.

[Spak-Spang]

The Perm has the right idea.  The week before or the week of release...Nintendo could spend a huge marketing blitz on television hitting a vast variety of channels that represent who all will play the Wii.

Right now you can only see PS3 commercials on like a few cable channels that are predominantly male audience.

If Nintendo could hit Oprah, and Food Network, Home and Garden, Comedy Central, ESPN, then also hit prime time television and Saturday morning cartoons, it would be set to reach as many people as the stupid PS3 commercials have.

[wandering]

Quote
Originally posted by: Hocotate
Yeah, there is This US Red Steel commercial, but I'm not sure if it's been aired yet or not.

I don't like the 'floppy i' logo they ended with. You'd think, after watching 8 years of successful playstation commercials, Nintendo would get the idea that picking a strong ending logo/tone for commercials, and then sticking with it, is important. I like the one with the circles they use on the website...why didn't they go with that?

[Dozy Boy]

I like that floppy 'i' thing. I think I get what they're going to do. Every game commercial will end with the Wii logo (which is appropriate and consistent), but they will make the letters do different things for every game. In the red steel ad, the 'i's are bowing because of the Japanese theme. In Mario, one 'i' could bounce on the other 'i's head fat-italian-plumber style. In Zelda, they could sword fight. It always ends with the letters falling into place so that you make sure and read 'Wii' clearly. I think it's brilliant. People will become accustomed to the brand very quickly this way and perhaps even pay attention to the commercials just to see "what the letters will do this time." Very effective in my opinion.

[wandering]

AH, if that's what they're doing that's pretty brilliant.

[couchmonkey]

Speaking of commercial endings, I think the monotone Japanese guy saying "Wii" at the end of every commercial is pretty memorable.

[Ceric]

Wii on the Price IS RIGHT!!!! That would hit all of the non-gamer demographic right there.

[Ian Sane]

So far I've been quite impressed with how much Nintendo's reputation has improved with the gaming media and with the online gaming community.  This is a lot more interest on forums and such for the Wii then there was for the Cube.

But the only piece of marketing I've seen for the Wii at all is a little sticker on the counter at EB shaped like the remote with the launch date on it.  I've seen no ads of any sort and there are no demo kiosks in any of the stores in my area.  No one I know who doesn't follow gaming online knows that the Wii even exists and those that do don't know it's coming out next week.  I'm not getting one at launch so I don't know the launch date off the top of my head.  I SHOULD.  There should be enough marketing that I can't not know when the launch is.  I know the release date for movies I never want to see all the time so it shouldn't be difficult to make me know this.

I don't get this.  They've done such a good job of building interest with the hardcore community but I see nothing marketed towards the non-gamers which is supposed to be the whole point.  If you're going to target non-gamers then market to them.  If you're only going to market worth a damn to hardcore gamers then make a console designed with them primarily in mind.  Nintendo is attracting the wrong group with the wrong console.

[ThePerm]

really Ian? I can't walk into a video game store without some gigantic Wii promotions. Like Toys R us i can pick up the box andlook at it. Theres a hughe empty wii shelf at the front of the store and ANOTHER in the game section.




when I go to EB games its just like that

I think its just your area, from what I can tell Nintendo spent alot of money on promotional displays.
Also, first thing you see when you walk into Wal-Mart is a big Wii.

The eb games nearest my house has a shelf with all the Wii games on it already there. They are display boxes, but its like the systems already out.  

last week at Wal-Mart I was pondering whether i could afford to buy a mario shirt, at the same time I could visibly see some Wii ads, and on the intercom speaker above my head they were telling me to buy Nintendogs.

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Hocotate
Yeah, there is This US Red Steel commercial, but I'm not sure if it's been aired yet or not.

BWAHAHAHAH! That was great!

"Bah, get the gun..."

Sorry, but we need in your face commercials like this to get people's attention.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if Ubi winds up doing better advertising than Nintendo. In fact, I remember seeing Red Steel for the first time and saying, "This is JUST the kind of press the Wii needs: press which makes it look like a serious console and not a child's toy."

[Ian Sane]

"really Ian? I can't walk into a video game store without some gigantic Wii promotions. Like Toys R us i can pick up the box andlook at it. Theres a hughe empty wii shelf at the front of the store and ANOTHER in the game section."

My Toys 'R' Us has a poster, maybe.  I can't say for sure but there sure as hell is no huge display.  Now I am in Canada so I guess any weak advertising in my area is due to Nintendo of Canada.  I don't live in the sticks or anything like that.  Hell our theatre got Borat opening night!  Surrey, Abbotsford and Mission didn't.  Only Langley.

Ideally I think at morning coffee my co-workers should be saying "have you seen that new Wii thing?  That's looks pretty cool."  Lord knows everything else gets brought up.  The Xbox 360 did and the PS3 is currently getting talked about a lot.  Ideally the middle aged women at my office should show interest in trying the console out, not being completely oblivious to its very existence.