Topic: How is Nintendo going to get Wii U sales up.

As a big Nintendo fan I want them to succeed, but there is ONE big issue that is preventing the Wii U sell, marketing.
When I watch TV, read GameInfomer magazines or go on my computer, I barley see any ads for Wii U. If Nintendo advertised the living heck out of the Wii U during the week of Black Friday the Wii U would sell, or at least not be in the gutter. Not even Smash saved the Wii U ,which is sad because that is an amazing game, but Nintendo wasn't good enough to advertise the Wii U so Smash technically didn't save the Wii U.
So if Nintendo is going to save the Wii U they need to start advertising. I don't care if they use the same ones as before, just do them.

It's not exactly a new and original idea; everyone knows this. The Wii U branded itself with bad marketing the minute it decided to be called the Wii U. Also, Nintendo seems to think that if they just put their commercials on their YouTube page, it will somehow make its way over to those who weren't interested to begin with. While this is true to some extent, the competition is being much more aggressive, and it's working for them.

But again, it's old news.

Well that's a blunt question. If there were an easy answer, it would have been done already.

I keep seeing people go on about marketing but it's never a more developed thought of how it should marketed, who it's being marketed to, where's it marketed and what is being marketed or if the money for marketing would be cost effective for a niche product.

Momentum of software is pretty much it's last chance. Maybe people didn't bite for MK or Smash or whatever, but by the end of 2016, hopefully the collective library is just too good to ignore for consumers.

I'd say the same thing for Gamecube though. By 2005, the GC library was phenomenal and the price was $99, but people still didn't bite.

Problem with this "marketing" anthem though is that the Wii U isn't a product like the PS4 or the XBO and it doesn't have the same audience and it can't be marketed the same way.

It needs to be marketed to teenage males and adults. It needs to alter the belief that the Wii U (and Nintendo in general) is for children. Advertising during major sporting events, sponsoring/signage at various concerts and events, commercials playing at movie theaters and during popular television programs.

Those are all ways to get the word out about Nintendo and make people realize it's still relevant, but along with that Nintendo would also need to produce more mature titles that would hook players who have left Nintendo for other consoles.

And to answer OP's question....nothing can be done at this point to increase Wii U sales by a large number. It will continue to sell less than it's rivals for the duration of it's existence.

Personally I'm a little miffed that everything has to be marketed to teens to be "relevant". I've regretted damn near every opinion I've ever had as a teenager, so I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that anything teenagers like is actually worthwhile...

The thing is, it's not necessarily a huge problem for Nintendo, from a bussiness perspective. Marketing is very expensive, I wouldn't be surprised if the AAA games on the Xbox and PS have millions of dollars worth of marketing spent on them. Nintendo does less marketing, and that usually generates less sales, but they don't need to sell millions of every game to make a profit. Whilst other AAA games have to do so in order to make a profit.

Once children in the age range of 5-10 start working part time jobs and have disposable incomes, more things might be marketed towards them. Until then, I can only assume that the vast majority of films, games and music (popular media in general) will for some unexplainable reason be aimed at people 14-25 who have money to burn.

I know why they're marketed towards them - they're the most lucrative market. But at the same time, whatever happened to making things for adults? For kids? For broad age ranges so more people can enjoy it? These may be more niche, but they're niches that aren't really being filled. It's stupid how much everyone's glomming onto teenagers just because they want a piece of the pie...eventually they'll crowd themselves out, you know?

Obviously, you don't have any kids and don't know the children marketing. Everybody knows: Parents have a big wallet and are willing to pay for everything what the kids really want.

Apparently kids don't really want the Wii U then

Was I not a kid? I got games (usually only one each) on Christmas, Birthdays, and report card day, and once every other year, I bought one with my own allowance money (I got a dollar twice a month...). I got toys a little more often, but only after a good debate and a lot of fantasizing...I didn't really waste my parent's money until I was a stupid angry teenager who forgot that you can't buy happiness despite writing whole essays on it.

I used to get maybe 2-3 games a year when I was a kid with an NES/Gameboy/SNES. Once I became a teenager, got jobs, and bought my own consoles, I would probably buy at least 5-7 games a year.

Which is more lucrative? Marketing to parents who are more responsible with their money, or to young males who have spare cash and make impulse buys? As someone else above noted, Nintendo is also climbing a hill because they are trying to sell their products using nostalgia to a whole new generation of gamers who grew up playing PS1 or the original Xbox.

Nintendo will always be around because they make some good stuff, but I anticipate their market share will continue to shrink.

Depends on how you look at it, young males who are overly marketed to already in a crowded market place with two major leading competiors or the parent audience who remains untapped.

The solution to Ninty's problem isn't to try and be the Playstation as there already is a Playstation who does it better.

Wii U sales won't see a huge increase IMO, all of the big guns have been played, Zelda is a critical darling but it's not a big hardware mover.......so, yeah, best case scenario, 20 million sold by late 2017, worst cast, Wii U sales start to taper off this year and continue a downward pattern to around 13-15 million lifetime sales.

I do agree thay Nintendo needs to widen it's demographic while continuing to focus on its traditional market.

Zelda is a hardware mover but only in the West, it only ever does okish in Japan but it still remains a key game even just for the amount of coverage it will get from games press even if it will sell less than the likes of Smash and Kart.

On the topic of big guns some of Ninty's biggest selling games are the ones you don't expect such as Wii Sports, Goldeneye, Brain Training (which sold more than Pokemon) etc and these games moved consoles. Imo people credit too much success to Pokemon, Mario & Zelda for Ninty when there are other key titles that grab people's attention in the past which do come out of no where.

Mk8 and SSB4 struggle to move consoles, I can't see Zelda doing much when the franchise is less popular.

I don't think games are the answer, as weird as that is to say.

The only way I think WiiU has a chance to succeed is to to be re-released with a new look and name (even if they guts are the same). I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility - a smaller gamepad, new colours/shape to the console, and a rebranded name or some kind. I'm sure they could pull it off.

For all the effort Nintendo is putting into WiiU software this year, they should do something to instigate hardware sales. Price drops, new colours, strange ad campaigns, something!

Games will make their userbase stronger. More/better games will increase the amount that each Wii U owner purchases. While it may not be effective at growing the install base (this generation has been a weird one) it will make more money for less cost. It is an idea at least