Topic: Does The Public Know About Wii U?

I'm not sure, but I've been told it involves little white things and a lot of waggle.

I saw "white things" and "waggle", then looked at your avatar and chuckled

I think once it's out, and the majority of us go out and buy our Wii U's, we show them to our families once again and the fever spreads like it's 2006.

shhhhh its a secret

Bwahaha I wouldn't be surprised.

"A Wii University?"

Just...stop.

Probably not,I should think many people think it's just a redesign.

They just don't advertise we'll, I mean isn't the iPhone 4 S just an iPhone you use to Study?

They don't just not advertise well they haven't really advertised at all. If I was a mainstream consumer then all I'd know about the next six months of gaming is that another Just Dance game is coming out and there are a whole pile of shooters sequels around. I literally saw 3min clips covering E3 from mainstream news programs that didn't mention the Wii U once. So this is the level of information the person on the street is getting. Gamers however know exactly what's going on....

advertising where it counts

I was talking to my mom yesterday about Wii U (trying to show her why I want the system of course), and not surprisingly she thought it was the same as the Wii. I spent at least 10 minutes explaining what the gamepad was all about, since she thought the system was just the pad (as in a handheld, apparently she didn't see the rest of the thing set behind the pad on the boxart we saw in a GameStop). I was expecting this since my mom doesn't know anything about video games, but it shows what the main public thinks about Wii U; as just another Wii or Wii upgrade. Ah well, at least by the end of the conversation she understood the concept, plus getting me one step closer to accomplishing the master Christmas plan.

Yeah, this.

It amazes me that so many gamers continue to think that somehow a long TV advertising campaign is somehow a good idea.

TV advertising is actually the least efficient way to market a product that isn't for mass consumption. There will likely be a brief TV run of ads right before the console releases to try to drum up as much interest as possible, but I'd say Nintendo is doing a fine job marketing the product to the people it actually needs to reach.

Let's just hope Nintendo wasn't sponsoring Alan Jones.

Surprisingly, my parents who never play games know what a Wii u is.. Same with everyone else in my family..

The public knows as much about the Wii U as they knew about the N64... which had a pitifully low amount of recognition for being "The Fun Machine". Before the Wii, the last time a Nintendo home console got a huge amount of public recognition was the NES. The Game Boy was very well known throughout the late 90s and early 00s, and public recognition of Nintendo handhelds has never reached that level again.

Smartphones and tablets are at the top of public recognition right now, so we'll have to wait and see if the Wii U becomes recognized as a result of similarities.

From ~4:15 in the OP... seems that's what's going to happen

The public knows as much about the Wii U as they knew about the N64... which had a pitifully low amount of recognition for being "The Fun Machine". Before the Wii, the last time a Nintendo home console got a huge amount of public recognition was the NES. The Game Boy was very well known throughout the late 90s and early 00s, and public recognition of Nintendo handhelds has never reached that level again.

In recent years Nintendo has clearly been more interested in the name "Nintendo" as the console name in its branding strategies.

It's funny, I'm the one that gets criticised for "hating" Nintendo, and yet I'm the one who is always defending Nintendo's marketing strategy from the "Nintendo fans" who seem to think because Nintendo doesn't bankrupt itself through a months-long advertising campaign for every single one of its products, that Nintendo's marketing is bad.

TV advertising is one piece of the marketing jigsaw puzzle. It's also one of those pieces that is off in the corner somewhere so the overall picture isn't lost if you lose that particular piece.

Nintendo has a great marketing strategy in place. Especially in Japan, which is still Nintendo's most important market.

Agree 1000000000000%

TV advertising is even less effective than what Waltz is implying for something like a new piece of tech especially in the early adopter stage. Which demographic is least likely to spend time watching TV these days? Surely if anyone its all those genY/genX people who are increasingly watching content on the internet rather than on TV. The more tech savy people are the less likely they are to see a TV ad and the more likely they are to grab a new console at launch.

Exception are the TV ads that don't get much airplay but go viral like the Old Spice one or Never Say No to Panda.

Considering that the preorders sold out in four days and that I, myself, missed out on the preorders... I'd have to say yes.

I talked to a couple of Nintendo reps at the EB Expo, and they definitely seem more interested in getting the product out into public hands as much as they can afford the time to before the launch.

I see this as probably the best strategy, in Australia Nintendo like to take the main stage area in a number of shopping complexes and fence it off, then invite people in to play some upcoming games/hardware before release.

A TV advertisement isn't going to get anyone to know what a Wii U is, putting one in someone's hands definitely will.

EDIT: @Skywake: I love Never Say No to Panda!

It's also worth noting that Nintendo's products do not advertise well on TV.

How do you demonstrate how awesome 3D-without-glasses is on a 2D TV? How do you show how cool it is to have two screens working together in 30 seconds of footage and a page (if that) of dialogue?

You can't, is the answer. Nintendo's best TV ads recently have been the celebrity spot ones, but those won't work until AFTER the console has launched and Nintendo can find celebrities who have conceivably played the console long enough to have some experience stories to share.