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Forums - Nintendo - Why Does Nintendo's US Advertising Suck?

I mean seriously, why do we get those crap "little 8-year-old Johnny playing LEGO City while his mom and dad watch on" to annoying music, whereas Japan gets these nice, elegant ads with an ADULT as the only actor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-928SUSoITo

Instead we get this garbage, presumably aimed at 8-year-old kids (complete with requisite older sister who wants to watch TV):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBlBe06Xm0c

Why can't NOA makes ads like the Japanese Pikmin spots? Hire an American model like a Kate Upton and make the *exact same freaking ad*. It would be 100000000000000000000000000000000000000x better than what we get here.



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Because NoA are incompetent.



         NoA and NoE just suck at marketing and I don't really wanna  talk about this. Makes me sick.



                
       ---Member of the official Squeezol Fanclub---

They were on point with the Wii adverts

I think they should avoid serious adverts until the Wii U can be had at the $249.99 price point and a few more games are available

Basically until this holiday season



Its ads like those that give Nintendo fans a bad name, they make everyone think the fans are pre teens.



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Nintendo copies Sony confirmed. Also, Sony copies Nintendo. Sony has the great ads now and Nintendo sucks.



Nintendo of America's (and I would assume NoE as well) marketing absolutely sucks because, for the most park, NCL in Japan runs the marketing. According to some employer reviews, NCL has a hard time trusting their int'l subsidiaries. The higher ups in Japan micromanage everything, so while it looks like NoA/E can't market worth crap, they're not the real reason.

Reggie himself has a marketing background and worked at VH1 before Nintendo. He knows how to market to the core audience. unfortunately Iwata doesn't trust him enough to let him. The higher ups in Japan think they know the hardcore western gamer, when in reality, they are EXTREMELY out of touch, and the horrid Wii U launch ads show just this.



IamAwsome said:
Nintendo of America's (and I would assume NoE as well) marketing absolutely sucks because, for the most park, NCL in Japan runs the marketing. According to some employer reviews, NCL has a hard time trusting their int'l subsidiaries. The higher ups in Japan micromanage everything, so while it looks like NoA/E can't market worth crap, they're not the real reason.

Reggie himself has a marketing background and worked at VH1 before Nintendo. He knows how to market to the core audience. unfortunately Iwata doesn't trust him enough to let him. The higher ups in Japan think they know the hardcore western gamer, when in reality, they are EXTREMELY out of touch, and the horrid Wii U launch ads show just this.


I don't understand why NCL feels like 80s-style family sitcom kiddie marketing works for North America, but Japan gets fantastic ad spots with a nice looking Japanese female model that feel more like something Apple would make.

How many freaking 8 year olds have $350 burning a hole in their piggy bank anyway? Market to adults for crying out loud Nintendo, kids pick up on that and want what their older brother/sister/parents want too.



Is the Japan ad really that great? Assuming the people who like Pikmin are already planning to buy it, Nintendo should be targeting people who are unfamiliar with it. The ad only has a few seconds of gameplay footage, and wouldn't really tell me what the game is like if I didn't already know.

I think that's what NoA are going for with their ads. They don't need to make a Mario ad that targets the core. We already know about Mario! They want kids who might not know to go 'hey, mom, I want this!'. I'm not saying NoA's ad is great; it's not, but I think that's who they're targeting with this kind of ad. We might think it's crappy, but we're not being targeted.

Really though, Nintendo need to think of a way to make the gamepad appeal to people the same way they did with the wiimote, which that ad just doesn't do. Do that, and then they'll be in business



Albicant said:
Is the Japan ad really that great? Assuming the people who like Pikmin are already planning to buy it, Nintendo should be targeting people who are unfamiliar with it. The ad only has a few seconds of gameplay footage, and wouldn't really tell me what the game is like if I didn't already know.

I think that's what NoA are going for with their ads. They don't need to make a Mario ad that targets the core. We already know about Mario! They want kids who might not know to go 'hey, mom, I want this!'. I'm not saying NoA's ad is great; it's not, but I think that's who they're targeting with this kind of ad. We might think it's crappy, but we're not being targeted.

Really though, Nintendo need to think of a way to make the gamepad appeal to people the same way they did with the wiimote, which that ad just doesn't do. Do that, and then they'll be in business


There is no commercial that's going to make the Wii U controller as appealling as the Wiimote was for 2006. Just not gonna happen.

All their commercials now are doing is making the machine look like a novelty product for the 8-year-old kid in the family that mom and dad can help out with.

Marketing is about the image you create for the product, not neccessarily being a banner point for every feature of your product. Apple doesn't explain everything the iPhone does in their commercials, that's not good marketing. The Japanese ad is funny, clean, and elegant and protrays how cute the Pikmin are while meshing it with an attractive looking Japanese model, which creates the impression that this is not just a product for kids but for adults too. Do the exact same ad for the West, but substitue in a Western Victoria Secret model or movie actress, and it would be very successful at getting people curious about the game, even those who don't know the Pikmin characters.

But we'll probably get the stupid "little brother playing Pikmin while his parents watch" thing again.