Is it because Nintendo doesn't want to spend the money on it? Or do they think they just don't need to and the news will spread around fine by itself? I just find it odd since the Wii U obviously wants to be made known at this crucial point in time and most people just see it as a Wii add-on, not a new console.

They should really start advertising more. I havent seen a commercial since around launch and it was terrible. It would not of made me interested in the Wii U if i didnt already want/own one

I believe we've been over this earlier:

There's not much point right now. Once we get out of the drought period and new games release more frequently, they can run the ads for longer without there being nothing to play.

Basically, we just need to wait for some heavy hitters before the advertising really kicks in to gear.

Their advertising is completely focused on the family. They hope critical reception can make the core gamers get this. And get the family gamers with simple, dumbed down 30 second commercials.

You should have worded the title better. Now 5 people are going to say:
"Because it's a lackluster console."
But I don't know if much advertising will help it. It might clear up some confusion, but that's about it.

Because the cool dudes that made these commercials retired.

Nintendo has done little to promote this console yet it's such a great console. It's part of Nintendo tradition to make commercials for their systems, c'mon! How about a throwback of this using New Super Mario Bros. U?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD45kM6BR4I

...or maybe this? (watch below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX4MdXF3OWI

Not really motivating

I assume you mean T.V advertising.

Why do people always assume that the only kind of advertising is TV advertising?

For the (literally) hundredth time that I've said this on this forum: TV advertising is now considered to be one of the least important pillars of marketing. It is literally the last thing you do, once you've spent the majority of your marketing dollars on stuff that actually works.

And that's another thing, why are the commercials (few as they are to begin with) so, well, bland? I mean, sure there should be ones for casual and hardcore crowds, but it seems like they are trying to cater to both in the same slot, with less then satisfactory results. Then again, like @TysonOfTime said, it's a drought at the moment, so there really isn't much to advertize anyway.

This is completely my opinion, but I honestly think it is because of arrogance on Nintendo's part. I think they thought that because the Wii was such a success, they could make a new console, slap the Wii name on it and it would sell like hotcakes. My guess is we will start to see better advertising soon.

Man if you guys knew what Nintendo actually spent on marketing the Wii U I reckon you'd all fall over in shock.

Arrogance is not the reason for lackluster TV advertising. The TV advertising has been lackluster for one really good reason - it's the least important marketing channel open to Nintendo.

I never said TV advertising . Even still, I'm sure you're right about the fact that they have spent a lot of money to advertise the Wii U, but I would say it has been pretty lackluster and ineffective. And I do feel there was some level of arrogance on Nintendo's part in thinking that focusing on a strong marketing campaign isn't all that neccesary because everyone will want a Wii U like they did the original Wii.

Because Wii U was not going to be a huge success no matter how much advertising they do and next year's holiday season (and the entire rest of this year for that matter) is what will really matter.

Practically speaking, it's because it'd be a waste of money and effort to do so now. I mean, not a lot of games are out for the console now, at least not exclusive ones. They're saving their money until some more big name titles are released as to make advertising worth the investment.

Think about it in reverse. If Nintendo didn't spend so heavily in marketing the Wii U the console would have gone from a disaster to a nuclear meltdown.

@Ryno_Choryzo
I thought that video was going to be of the 'Wii would like to play' guys. Haha.

I think anyone who knows anything about anything already knows about Wii U. That's just me though.

I thought it was because they are waiting till the end of march when they have more unque games to advertise to the general public. Not much use showing off a new system and it's unque features when the only games that utilizes it was released during the holiday season.

You'd think that, but only a small percentage of my time is spent around gamers. The people who are not serious gamers still generate confusion if I mention the Wii U. I am then bombarded by questions such as "how is it different than the Wii?" (a difficult question to give a short answer to when these people don't understand gaming generations) or "why is it worth buying if I already have a Wii?" (which I honestly have to tell these people it's not because it really isn't worth it to the Wii Sport crowd at this point, even Nintendo Land isn't worth the price tag to a casual gamer yet). A lot of people are still quite unaware of the Wii U's existence but I don't think that matters at this point because those people don't yet have a reason to be aware of it. They likely won't be interested anyways at least until Nintendo has a big title with casual appeal like Wii Sports (which they might not even achieve this generation). Nintendo Land was a love song to Nintendo fans, not a non-gamer home run.