They really should have done this in all territories from launch day last year.

my mom calls my 3DS a Game Boy =D

DAmn, took them long enough. Forum dwellers been saying this since last november, Nintendo should really hire one of us to do their marketing

saw a zelda ad on german tv yesterday. well, it was only in the backround and when i realized it the ad was already over. maybe that was a part of the new huge advertisement campaign just for germany and not uk.

LOL, my brother calls nintendo DS a GameBoy DS, the same with the 3DS. And he is a gamer, it is just because he thinks it is stupid to GameBoy's successor  do not have GameBoy on its name.

The secret here is brand recognition, nintendo had the chance with the Wii to start one, like Microsoft=>XBOX and SONY=>Playstation, but they took to much time letting the Wii's name getting hurt and the successor's name doesn't being clear like "Super Wii" or "Wii 2". 

“Our monthly tracking shows that Wii remains the No.1 console for brand awareness. This offers us a massive opportunity to convert Wii owners to Wii U."

Don't believe that for a millisecond.

Admitting a problem is the first step to solving it.
And it's about time they did something instead of sitting on their arses and letting Wii U rot.

over here it's the "xbox"...

Might be true. Why would they lie about something like that in an interview where they are admitting to brand issues?

I think the only way to change the perception is rebranding. Wii U name has more inherited problems than prior nintendo hanhelds and consoles, and because on the several important facts:

1) there were gazillion hardware extras fow Wii, starting with the board, Wiimote +, and so on. There is certainly no surprise that the Wii U name causes confusion. Anybody with a half brain would told them that prior to release.
2) the console looks like a mild Wii redesign - combined with 1), the customers have the idea that the only thing new is the controller. Nintendo used almost the same design language with Wii U.
3) nintendo certainly didn't help things by putting only the controller into focus in their advertising

So, I think there are 3 ways to get out of this mess:
1) spend gazillion of dollars for advetising and screaming "THIS IS A NEW CONSOLEEEEEEEE"
2) release absolute must have games, and let it spread by the word of mouth
3) do the first hardware redesign early, make the console look different and rebrand the name slightly (something like Wii U-turn :D :P)

My Idea is to ditch the entry level SKU alltogether and make the deluxe one white. Redesign the console to look different. Add another SKU with integrated HDD. Make it black. Keep the white SKU glossy (for soccer mums and families), and make the black SKU matte.