Did they? The only ads and commercials I got on internet was from casual Nintendo games 

Granted, I only realized about Wii U existence over 3 years after its launch and my impression is that it was by no means a classic MS/Sony console 

This doesn't match up with reality. Nintendo spotlighted a few key third party titles at launch as they always do (ZombieU) but the vast majority of push throughout its life was on their casual orientated titles. 

Meanwhile the Switch was driven by BOTW and MArio Kart, 2 games it literally inherited from the Wii U. The only thing Switch done software wise was benefit from Wii U ports or games which crossed over developement wise (Splatoon 2, Mario Odyssey). Its all timing & the appeal of the USP, nothing to do with one platform having the blue ocean in mind and the other not.

People are able to look through a mirage built up by advertisement if it is too much off. And the WiiU and it's software was way off from the commercials you cited. The WiiU was not a machine aimed at and accepted by players of non-traditional games. This is very much illustrated by the sales of Just Dance. Through the whole lifetime of the WiiU, the Wii version of Just Dance sold more than the WiiU version (although this still could outsell the Xbox and PS versions).

The Switch on the other hand quickly became the platform Just Dance sold more than the Wii version of the game. This alone tells you a lot how much these systems were accepted by non-traditional gamers.

And this is even more hilarious, as advertisements for the Switch did not focus on these demographics as the ones you showed from WiiU. At this point it should be apparent, that ads are only a very weak way to characterize a platform. Ads may be in line with the way a thing resonates with the customers, but ads can be way off the mark as well.

The way how much Nintendo cared for different groups of gamers is expressed through the controls and the released games. These pretty much said that Nintendo followed a more traditional market with the WiiU.

Fun fact: every single of these ads features a controller, that is from a completely different system. Not only did Nintendo care jack shit about traditional users by not packing the controller into the system, they didn't even care enough to redesign the controller for the new system or rebrand it. You *really* want to tell me Nintendo chased the blue ocean with the WiiU?

You seem, to be right about marketing. As I recall, stated strategy at launch was: third parties first (30+ third party games to 2 Nintendo games); hardcore gamers first, casuals later; this  and no more blue ocean or disruption (in an investor call). This resulted in a pathetic lineup until second Christmas. I personally felt the strategy started to shift around E3 2013(?) when they unveiled Wii Sports Club and fit U.

ultimately this may be a case of marketing trying to polish a turd. The game pad was antithesis to the Wiimotes and there was no Wii Sports-quality idea to sell the game pad.

not surprised. shit my gf wants a switch for animal crossing and she only plays the sims on her laptop

Nintendo Switch only had 2 Nintendo games at launch; BOTW (a Wii U port) and 1, 2 Switch (a paper thin mini-game collection that makes Nintendoland look ambitious). 

Wii U actually had the more casual orientated launch. With 2 titles that on paper have bigger sales potential and target market than any Zelda. The Switch's initial success (beyond being a hybrid) seems directly attached to Nintendo getting their core audience on board right away which is why it reflected in the initial older male skewed demographic. NSMB may have the potential to sell more than a typical zelda (30m+ each on Wii and DS), but its not the reason a Nintendo fan buys a new $299 system. Nintendo's core audience was served first on Switch,  the casuals followed later once the library continued to build and positive word of mouth spread. The most hardcore fans being early adopters is always the case but Wii U not even reaching 15m units sold in 4 years is a reflection of the majority of Nintendo's core audience not even bothering with the system. Point is; I can't see how Wii U was a hardcore orientated system on any level: not software, not marketing and not hardware. In terms of 3rd party, it simply benefitted from more 360/PS3 ports initially because it was slightly more powerful than those 7 year old systems.

Comparably the Switch's great 1st party line up for year 1 is largely a result of being a literal continuation of Wii U development cycle. Nintendo did not have to go through the  usual hurdles of creating new games from scratch, for a specific platform. Everything that had been in development from 2014 was just shifted to Switch (something similar we saw with gamecube to wii transition)

And definitely agree with your last comment, the Wii U had untapped potentially but as a whole it was such a woefully executed and unappealing device.

It would be nice if they showed the data behind whatever questions they were giving.  My first thought was that some of these people were Wii owners.  I also think Switch has some owners who have a PS4 and XB1, but have no plan to get PS5 or Series X.  And of course some Switch owners really never have played a system before or maybe not since the NES.  Without the data we can't really know how many fit into each category.