Actually, that's a great point. I forgot about that. But I still stand by my point. Ninty's advertisement of wiiu is nothing short of embarassing at this point. I keep reading how these Nintendo directs are better than any kind of advertisment and I question whether some people spend a little too much time on forums to realize how the real world works (not referring to anyone here, as I didn't see anyone mentioning that this time) . Yes, of course you're right. Something that costs 0 will be advertised differently than a console and a game or it's a much harder sell. But I see no real effort from Ninty to adverise their products properly so saying for example that "it's not perfect" is an understatement. Some efforts with celebrittes or some big budget ads could help the sales. I'm not gonna claim that I know how much exactly, but I would have liked to have seen some effort. At this point it looks to me as they've given up and the only reason they keep releasing games for wiiu is because they were years in development anyway and to avoid upsetting the fans. It seems like they want to cut their loses and they're going for pure profit without taking the necessary steps to save/help the console. Could be wrong, but that's the way I see it. 

There's a reason superbowl ads are full of celebrities. They help a lot, even when it comes to buying something more expensive than a wiiu + a game. I think there was a time when Call of Duty had a dlc coming out and there was a live action trailer with several celebrities. It gets people talking, so I think they should have tried it. As for link for the example I gave, I'm afraid I don't have one. It's based solely on memory when wii party came out in the UK (was living in Edinburgh then, so I paid closer attention) and there was a vgc member who made a thread about JLS making an ad for the game and some people mentioned that they were big in the UK. I watched the ad and thought it was pretty cool. Then I kept checking the UK sales charts and noticed that the game had quite the presence after the commericial started airing. But, yeah, like you said the fact that wii was popular back then made games released on it a 40 pound purchase instead of  wiiu+game. 

They need to get minor celebrities to really seal the deal with their games

They have been advertising, they've just been doing it a little differently. For example, they have been doing targeted advertisement/promotion with youtubers who have a fairly high female viewership. Smosh did a video with Miyamoto playing Mario Kart which has over 2.2mil views and his channel has over five million subs. I wouldn't be surpised if that was a much better value (value is the operative word here) than paying Liam Neeson for a TV spot.

Additionally, as I stated earlier, Nintendo also had the number one advertisement over holiday 2014 according to an Analytics firm. They also have a number of advertisements (which are fairly typical gameplay+voiceover ads) airing on kids channels like Cartoon Network, where impressionable viewers would be watching. They haven't been advertising as much as I think they should on standard television, but the people who watch standard television are much less likely to be influenced by a console gaming related commercial.

I think Nintendo understands that dropping obscene amounts of money on Super Bowl spots with Liam Neeson just isn't worth it for what would likely be an insignificant increase in sales. I think this attitude shows their focus for the generation on small profits as opposed to market share, which is sort of the only "win" position they have right now, due to their screw ups early gen (early gen Wii U advertisement (and naming) was terrible...3DS was lucky to have dug itself out of that hole).

You know who does most marketing in the U.S. Fast food restaurants but surprisingly local restaurants still stay in business and quite well. I wonder how that is?

Well that's Nintendo for you. They'd be doing better if they marketed more but they aren't marketing probably because they aren't doing well.

Topical:

"Want a first look at our New Nintendo #3DS XL commercials? Tune into @WalkingDead_AMC and @BetterCallSaul tonight!"

http://www.gonintendo.com/s/246837-new-3ds-xl-monster-hunter-4-ultimate-majora-s-mask-3d-commercials-featuring-youtube-personalities

To all the people saying that it's a totally different thing to advertize a $0 game and a regular game and console and thinking they are oh so smart by just stating that - I somehow can't see much of a difference between these ads and what I see aired by MS/Sony. Take a look at this ad (don't know how to embed, sorry).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsgso273EE

What's the difference? They all use celebrities and it works for MS/Sony, it works for mobile games, but somehow when it comes to Nintendo it's suddenly a different cattle of fish and they should be treated and behave in a different way? Somehow the Universe works differently when it comes to Nintendo? Please explain why you think it is so.

I think Nintendo is stuck in a coma, they have no identity whatsoever and have no idea what to do with themselves. The Wii had a clear message, both to casuals and the core gamers. At this point unless you are an active forum user you have no idea what Nintendo is trying to sell and why you should buy it (a sidenote to people eager to jump the gun - I plan to buy both N3DS and Wii U and think they are great products, but the general marketing is just non-existant). They need to get this sorted out and finally send a clear message. Getting celebrities on board wouldn't be a bad idea (in fact they had a Justin Bieber and Mariah Carrey 3DS ad a few years back, why is all that gone? Not that I like them, but it's better than nothing), but only after they finally find out what they actually want to do. At this point they just surrendered, quit the media space and took the low profile way of not spending anything on ads and settling for whatever profits the old faithful Nintendo fans give them. That's why they are only present on Youtube/Twitch - nobody but the old faithful fans cares about that or is exposed to it. Not a good long term strategy as they are losing mindshare and it's a scary perspective for the future. They are almost obliterated in the home console market and should they follow this gen with the Fusion console they could use all the help the handheld popularity could give them. Getting dominated in both markets and losing all mindshare makes it much more difficult for their next product.


And to all people arguing this shouldn't be just mobile vs. Nintendo, but vs. Sony and MS as well - mobile isn't competing with home consoles. It is destroying dedicated handhelds though and MS has never entered this market, while Sony has been eliminated from it this gen and they have already laid down their weapons. N is the last man standing and that's why it's only Nintendo's problem and their fight at this point. Mobile games won't pull people away from playing Halo at home


PS. Do you Americans really find this Upton hot? She's average at best to me. There are tons of hotter girls in every single club I go to. Such a blocky and unattractive figure... My gf has a much better body than she does.

Not in ad creation or style, but in ad efficacy/value...

Daaamn. The Walking Dead is actually the perfect place to advertise MM3D, which is widely known to be the darkest Zelda game (in tone). 

Plus, Youtube personalities. Not Kate Upton, but inexpensive to get on board and people like iJustine are fairly well known.

Scisca said: To all the people saying that it's a totally different thing to advertize a $0 game and a regular game and console and thinking they are oh so smart by just stating that - I somehow can't see much of a difference between these ads and what I see aired by MS/Sony. Take a look at this ad (don't know how to embed, sorry). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsgso273EE What's the difference? They all use celebrities and it works for MS/Sony, it works for mobile games, but somehow when it comes to Nintendo it's suddenly a different cattle of fish and they should be treated and behave in a different way? Somehow the Universe works differently when it comes to Nintendo? Please explain why you think it is so. I think Nintendo is stuck in a coma, they have no identity whatsoever and have no idea what to do with themselves. The Wii had a clear message, both to casuals and the core gamers. At this point unless you are an active forum user you have no idea what Nintendo is trying to sell and why you should buy it (a sidenote to people eager to jump the gun - I plan to buy both N3DS and Wii U and think they are great products, but the general marketing is just non-existant). They need to get this sorted out and finally send a clear message. Getting celebrities on board wouldn't be a bad idea (in fact they had a Justin Bieber and Mariah Carrey 3DS ad a few years back, why is all that gone? Not that I like them, but it's better than nothing), but only after they finally find out what they actually want to do. At this point they just surrendered, quit the media space and took the low profile way of not spending anything on ads and settling for whatever profits the old faithful Nintendo fans give them. That's why they are only present on Youtube/Twitch - nobody but the old faithful fans cares about that or is exposed to it. Not a good long term strategy as they are losing mindshare and it's a scary perspective for the future. They are almost obliterated in the home console market and should they follow this gen with the Fusion console they could use all the help the handheld popularity could give them. Getting dominated in both markets and losing all mindshare makes it much more difficult for their next product. And to all people arguing this shouldn't be just mobile vs. Nintendo, but vs. Sony and MS as well - mobile isn't competing with home consoles. It is destroying dedicated handhelds though and MS has never entered this market, while Sony has been eliminated from it this gen and they have already laid down their weapons. N is the last man standing and that's why it's only Nintendo's problem and their fight at this point. Mobile games won't pull people away from playing Halo at home PS. Do you Americans really find this Upton hot? She's average at best to me. There are tons of hotter girls in every single club I go to. Such a blocky and unattractive figure... My gf has a much better body than she does.

The difference is when and where you advertise it.  Spending 4.5 million on a superbowl add isn't always a wise decision.  With that money, you could place 16 ads in prime time TV shows, which you could select to more carefully cater to your audience.  That's for top shows like the Voice or Big Bang theory.  For major but not the most major shows, you could be looking at 100K, which means 40 ads.  For non-primetime shows, obviously much less.

Now, when you're marketing something like Doritos, beer, life insurance, cell phones, or a F2P game where you have a very broad market, it makes sense to place an ad in the Superbowl.  If you're marketing something that has a more defined niche, you don't.  There is a reason why Microsoft and Sony aren't advertising in the Superbowl either.