Roundtable #2: Nintendo's Advertising
Its time for GameQUBED’s second roundtable and this one is a good one. Check it out below.
Q: Do you agree with the way Nintendo is marketing and advertising games and hardware? Is it strong enough, serious enough, and is there enough of it on the whole?
Mace: No, I don’t think Nintendo is doing a great job at all. A poor job actually. When TimeSplitters 2 was released its site, commercials, and even box art was filled with the so-so review ratings (ok some were good reviews) and segmented quote from various huge reviewing site/magazine. But when Nintendo themselves hits home with an absolutely near perfect title like Metroid Prime its ecstatic ratings are not shown off at all. Its commercial (which is smartly shown on MTV a lot and not on kiddie stations like the Disney channel) features a horribly plastic looking guy in a Samus costume (which is a little short for Samus) shooting bugs and whatever else. No mention of its 9.7/10 rating from GameSpot, nor mention of its 9.8 rating from IGN or that it is the second highest rated game at gamerankings.com . Nintendo’s commercial leads you to believe its only an average game about some person in a costume shootings bugs. Yes, we all know who Samus is, but think of the million of people in America who don’t, Nintendo needs to put that in their little brain and get this advertising where it should be. I mean come on, even Splinter Cell’s commercial shows a high rating it got…
Travis: I have noticed them trying though. Have you seen the commercial for A Link to the Past, I think it was well done and makes the game look more mature. Way before GC launched the commercials had been done so nicely, remember the Wave Race or Rouge leader commercials? I was impressed. It seems there commercials started off great but then slumped and maybe are starting to slowly get better now.
Tom: I personally think that Nintendo is one of the smartest marketers today in the entertainment industry.
for example; the way Nintendo uses its franchises to propel its games is brilliant. By completely remaking a game, and attaching on of their industry giants to the title (Metroid, Mario, etc) they are able to save a ton in marketing. Older gamers are able to remember those games, and younger gamers are still able to get into them as well, since their will always be a kids market for Nintendo to aim their games at. Even if Nintendo releases a remake, it still sells millions because of the name. Think of all the other companies that have to put big bucks into their characters…I mean, if a million people in America haven’t heard of Metroid, at 20-30 million haven’t heard of “ratchet and clank” or “Toejam and earl.” a game like SSB Melee is a wet dream for Nintendo managers - what better way to showcase all their franchise hits?
On the negative side, Nintendo tends to act a little arrogant when it comes to their marketing…their not trying hard enough to educate the new “mainstream” gamer into their franchises, and just “assume” that people know who Mario is. This could also be the reason for the lack of ratings in their game commercials; what mace mentioned before. Maybe their arrogant attitude has to do with Yamauchi’s attitude during their heyday with the NES (judge not lest ye be judged). This could also be because they are targeting it towards kids, who don’t care for ratings at all as long as its fun.
Speaking of their commercials, I think they are excellent. The Zelda commercial (Four Swords) is good, because it doesn’t offer the footage as much as it intrigues you…the old guy draws resemblance to Gandalf from LOTR as being old and wise, which adds mysticism to the game. The kid adds a sense of adventure to the game, since he is scared and unsure.
And really, as long as you really, really want to play the game ratings don’t matter. I remember when I saw the Mario 64 commercial…I didn’t want to do anything more than play that game, because it intrigued me.
Other game companies should be learning from Nintendo, since Nintendo is basically responsible for inventing the game commercial.
CubeGamer: The commercial for the new GBA Zelda is excellent; I’ve found it very interesting. It does make it seem more mature. I also like the Metroid [Prime] and [Fusion] commercials; they’re very dark and interesting. I’d have to say, the SMS commercial was horrible, it made it seem like a Barney game. It should have been burned. SMA3: SMB: Yoshi Island’s commercials were done, funny, creative, if just a little cutesy. Nintendo needs to put the great review their games have gotten, so people (read: the casual gamer) know it’s that good. Overall, I’m finding more Nintendo commercials, but it’s not enough. MS seems to spend billions on advertising, though. Maybe Nintendo should start spending some of their money.
Mace: Yes, MS spent millions of dollars advertising Halo, and look where it got them. Probably half of all North American Xbox owners have Halo, and, up until a while ago, most Xbox owners would hide behind Halo saying that it is the best title ever, when not many other good games where out there for the ‘Box. Microsoft put Halo everywhere, and that was an extremely smart move.
I mean, if average people would’ve seen an Eternal Darkness poster five times in every major store, the commercial on once every two hours on all stations, and promo deals for the game it would have sold millions in the first month. Which would’ve been well deserved, it is a great game.
Maybe Nintendo does “intrigue” us in there ads, but I am sure most casual people don’t care about being intrigued, they want proof of it being a good (or great) game, and they want to see its name everywhere. If I saw an ad of some game I had never heard of everywhere, I would get interested. You would too, don’t lie. That’s the kind of intriguing (is that a word?) I want to see from Nintendo.
SuperCube (ex-staffer): Nintendo’s been market advertising for a long time now but for some reason I just don’t think that it’s enough. The commercials on the TV are really magnificent and well made, but there just aren’t enough of them. If Nintendo could make many, MANY commercials for their system, they’d get more sales than before because of the advertisements.
The Zelda and Metroid commercials were pretty good but the Super Mario Sunshine commercials were just plain nasty. I hated the fact that Nintendo was going to be made fun of by Xbox fans from around the US because of that commercial. It’s not like Nintendo is in enough p00 as it is right now with this kind of stuff.
My concluding thought is that Nintendo needs to wake up and smell the Gamer’s Coffee. Some of their commercials are just plain “kiddy” and aren’t getting the job done to advertise the chosen product. If Nintendo were to make more commercials with the elements that gamers like today then Nintendo’s sales would go up so high. But with the kind of games that children would want to play, Nintendo will want to make it seem “kiddy” for the age group the game is designed for.
CubeGamer: I agree, if Nintendo would use more of their money they would be #1. They think things just happen. God didn’t make it that way, Nintendo, so get working. The commercials have been good other then the vomit-inducing SMS commercial.
Mace: About that Super Mario Sunshine commercial, why do you think Nintendo decided to put that up on the air? It was completely awful, and I bet many of the smarter marketing directors there probably disagreed with it…who agreed with it then? They must have shown it to Shiggy, and for him to allow that kind of crap to air on North American T.V. is madness…what where they smoking?
Travis: Clean is better then dirty, and dirty’s meaner than clean… That was awful, I have no idea why it was done like that or why they even decided to air it but it was not impressing. I remember one of the funniest Nintendo commercials was that of Paper Mario, which featured a cardboard cut out of Mario and a Peach cutout strapped over this paper shredder, it was funny, appealed to kids and got the message out as to the type of game it is. As well as the original Super Smash Bros. commercial, why cant more of the GameCube commercials be done like this?
Oscar (ex-staffer): The first Mario commercial stuck in your head, did it not? Yes, it most certainly did and that’s the whole point of advertising to make you remember the product (as well as buy it). Nintendo’s commercials as of late are getting better but I can’t see them being Xbox caliber anytime soon unless they get a big hint.
Travis: Yes Nintendo’s Commercial stuck in my head but it also left a bad taste in my mouth. However those Xbox commercials stick in my head and don’t leave that taste in my mouth. That whole “There is no Power Greater than X” is a good marketing idea if you ask me. Nintendo needs to get people to remember the product but actually like what they remember.
Oscar (ex-staffer): Um, okay…anyways…
The Xbox commercials are very good, I agree. They’re catchy and extremely well done. Even the ho-hum Halo ad was pretty good compared to the past Nintendo commercials. Nintendo also needs a better, new age, slogan for their products. Seriously, “Born to Play” isn’t going to cut it in the New Year.
Travis: One of the best slogans I’ve heard were that of N64 and GBC, Get N Or Get Out, and Get Into It. Those were catchy and I always liked hearing them. I like nearly all the N64 commercials and think they were well done but most of the GameCube Commercials lack something that caught TV viewers and made them go out and buy the game.
Mace: Yeah I agree, Nintendo needs a new slogan. Get N or Get Out was the best, but reviving that would not be the best idea, I think. They need a sound or something before the commercials (like with all PlayStation ads) so even if you are far away from the TV and you hear that sound you’d think, “Hey, that’s a GameCube commercial,” and go over and check it out.
Travis: A new slogan is definitely something they need, something to play at the beginning of a commercial and you know it’s a Gamecube commercial so you watch it. If you watch the Xbox commercials the beginning always has a black screen with a green X cracking through and it catches many peoples attention, Nintendo needs something similar.
CubeGamer: A cube forming into the GameCube? I personally cannot think of a slogan as of now, but one of the Xbox’s slogans is- there is no power greater than X. With a deep thundering voice, it’s imposing and catches your attention.
Mace: Yeah, I think the commercials should be more like the Resident Evil commercials. Where a deep voiced announcer explains the game and on the screen it shows cutscenes and real-time play form the game (which can hardly be differed in the RE GCN games) all the while playing some rock music in the background. Then it shows two discs fly into the air and a GCN game box forms around it. Right after that it shows the thing we see nearly every day, the GCN cube forming, but instead of the regular music the rock music playing before is amplified until it finishes.
If all of the commercials were like this, except with the more kiddie game there would be a higher voiced announcer and different music playing, I think it would catch a lot more of our attention. What ideas do any of you have?
CubeGamer: I have to say the RE commercials are excellent. I wonder if Nintendo is listening to us? Nah.
Mace: Yeah, that’d be funny if they were sitting at their computers using this as feedback, but I don’t think Nintendo is LOOKING for feedback, they probably get a lot of it in e/mail.
CubeGamer: One bit of info: Shiggy [Shigeru Miyamoto] looked at all the complaints when people complained about the new Zelda’s look. Hey, you never know, any more comments?
Mace: Yes, but if he would’ve REALLY looked at the complaints after E3 2001 (or was it 02?) he would’ve changed it back to the Spaceworld 2000 look. Let’s hope this “next” Zelda that’s been rumored about is going to look like that, even if this cel-shading does make the game more realistic, deep down we all want that Spaceworld Zelda.
Travis: Let me first say although I would love a Spaceworld 2000 Zelda, I am VERY impressed with the cel-shaded Zelda. The way the cel-shaded game looks when played is incredible and I can’t wait for it, I’m sure all naysayers will change their minds once they play this game. I still would really like a Spaceworld 2000 style Zelda though as I liked the realistic of the N64 ones but I still like the cel-shaded idea. We will need to wait a little longer for Zelda and then we will see.
If you really want to question Nintendo’s marketing, question this. Was it a smart move to release the GameCube in the color purple? The day GC came out I bought black then later sold my black one for a platinum one.
Mace: Its not purple Travis, its Indigo. And I think it was an okay move, I got an Indigo one simply because it was the first one I ever saw (I would trade it for a Platinum GCN any day especially with its broken Memory Card Slot B) and I liked it. Plus, I am sure they manufacture and make many more Jet GCN’s than Indigo. Having more than one color is good, even if you might blow it big time by making to little or too much of one color; it still gives a sense of choice over the other consoles. I’d be more apt to get an Xbox if there was a dark blue one…and I am sure many people have gotten a GCN just because they wanted an Indigo one (since every other console is black).
Travis: You can give purple any name you want to, the truth is the name doesn’t change the way the color looks. Anyways I think the Xbox Black/Green Combo is very good looking and the PS2 Black/Blue Combo is excellent too. You are right though choice is good but why use the purple… indigo one for all of your marketing and posters and everywhere I look. Why not put the black one in the commercials and make that the most seen one, though I have seen the platinum one being the most shown lately.
CubeGamer: The Green/Black combo as well as the Blue/Black is excellent. Purple is kind of kiddish, but Jet rules.
Mace: Its time to finish this up. Readers, stay tuned next month for our third!