I agree that they need to increase their advertising budget somewhat. I see their logic of you don't want to overadvertise a game and hit profits like I think Microsoft had to have done with Halo. I think there is a sweet spot yet to be hit somewhere between not advertising nearly enough like N is doing now and going way way over the top like MS did.

Nintendo must love the UK, because there are loads of Wii/DS adverts, most have a male and female version too.

Just my opinion. The only thing is that Nintendo takes a much bigger risk when they put hundreds of millions into advertisement, like Sony and MS, because they only sell one range of products-video games. Microsoft and Sony are much larger companies, and the risk in making huge ad campaigns is far less.

But I do wish they spend more in the range of 150 million. They need to at least try to sell more than the hardware itself.

Word of mouth has been selling the Wii so far. Nintendo is leading the pack, and probably spending the least on advertising. That is a stock holders dream. If Nintendo can continue to move its products without massive advertising campaigns they will continue to do so.

40 mln in half a year!? that's like the advertising budget for a movie.

c'mon ninty, stop being such cheapskates. the only advertisement i've seen on TV is for Brain Age 2. maybe that's why they're moving the marketing division to the Bay Area... some fresh blood that brings in new ideas, or maybe a new culture of growth and reaching out, instead of being conservative and playing it safe. they can afford to take a little risk now, with so much cash now.

a word on culture: i think all but one of ninty marketing executives left because of the relocation. that tells me something about the non-existent ambition of those people. how could it be any more exciting than doing marketing with one of the premier growth companies of the decade? yep, bay area, much more entrepeurial and dynamic, could be just the right place for Nintendo marketing.

Oh I agree that by far they have the best word of mouth advertising currently and that is certainly priceless. I just think a little additional traditional marketing on the games to go with the word of mouth would help simliar to how the Wii had iirc had the largest ad budget Nintendo has ever greenlighted on any of their products in the past. Somewhere around 200 million dollars for just the Wii alone on its launch months. Then you get the normal media + word of mouth going at the same time and then you get sales phenomenon like we're seeing now.

I hope with the change of marketing directors, location and personal, we see a great improvement in NoA marketing. Games like BWII, FE:PoR and even SMG and Metroid are so terrible under marketed it's ridiculous. Especially since a large chuck of the Wii's base aren't following video game news to know what's coming out.

Yeah, it's a shame a lot of their own games so little ad time. Their ads seem so simple and effective enough just showing people having fun playing games that I think they've got an advantage there over the competition. One of my pet peeves this gen and even last was commercials for games showing absolutely no gameplay footage and bunch of CG cut scenes. I bet it sells games, but it still bugs me.

It's disappointing they don't seem to want to push even their big games. Two weeks away and Mario's presence outside of the internet is non-existent. But at the same time, I admire the fact they aren't buying billboards and having their mascots attending million dollar 'game premieres'.