In 2013 Nintendo of America's main Wii U Holiday commercials revolved around 'The Pitch', as kids tried to convince their parents that a Wii U was the way forward for family entertainment. The first 2014 Wii U Holiday commercial in the region also, unsurprisingly, opts for families as its pitch, albeit with a different approach this time around.
The game at the forefront is Mario Kart 8, with a family sitting down for a multiplayer race — we have the goofy playful dad and the slightly disapproving mum roles fulfilled, along with two cute kids that excel at winning races and forcing the dad into increasingly unpleasant dares.
It wouldn't surprise us if, like the 2013 equivalents, there are two or three commercials with this family playing different games. Check it out below and let us know what you think — does this advert hit the mark?
Comments 51
nintendo: teaching kids to abuse there parents!
It's an okay commercial. Much better than the ones from 2013 that made it seem like a little kids toy.
Now make one with adults at the forefront playing Hyrule Warriors or Smash Bros.
Saw this last night on Youtube on Ntinedo's channel. Hated it.
Kid's shaving dad's head? Eating hot peppers? Betting, wagering and all out gung ho competition? Leave that stuff to those other consoles. This was just all around bad. Bad, bad, bad.
Where's amiibo? SSBU? Captain Toad? The Wii U bundle has SM3DW on the cover and the commercial is for 5 month old MK8 game?
What the heck is going on in the Ntinedo marketing dept? Why are they wasting money on this garbage?
OK, maybe if it came out over the summer, but not now. Waste.
I swear Nintendo doesn't know how to do marketing. Smash for WiiU comes out next week and they release a MK8 commercial.
Oh, I think it's fine. "Nintendo doesn't know how to do marketing?" Smash Hype is at a fever pitch. That game doesn't need a TV ad right now. But Kart will sell systems to people who don't know what a Nintendo Direct is.
@rjejr I thought the same thing, I don't mind the content in the commercial but... that bundle at the end is for Wii U, Nintendo Land and SM3DW for $299.99!
I don't think it's that bad of an ad. Nintendo's bread and butter are families, and that is who this ad is trying to reach. It's wise to do an MK8 ad because Smash Bros basically advertises itself right now, and MK8 is old enough that its good to highlight another highly rated family game that some may not be aware is out who are just looking to buy the system now.
The SM3DW bundle would be the only bundle they advertise because the MK8 bundle is exclusive to Wal-Mart and they probably want these ads to be fitting for all retailers.
It's tiring to see the dad role being depicted as the idiot again. This happens all the time in commercials.
A bit meh but I'm sure it will sell about ten new systems to the same people Nintendo's been trying to unsuccessfully peddle the Wii U to for the last almost two years.
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." - Henry Ford
@LittleIrves "That game doesn't need a TV ad right now"
That's fine for hardcore gamers, but the general audience has terrible long term memory. They don't even remember what Smash Bros is.
So yes, of course it does.
Also this commercial's the same casual friendly bulldoggeypoopieoopsiepoodle Nintendo puts out every year. What is going on with their marketing department? Why don't they make a commercial with ADULTS playing Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors and Sm4sh?
At least the Sm4sh U commercial didn't have any kids...
The advert is terrible, imho. Nintendo wants the family market and thinks that's where their demographic is, but I don't think that's necessarily true anymore. They don't seem to understand that it's longer the 1950s here in the States.
I liked the commercial ^^ it was fun with family, because im the only one here who likes it family it seems, everyone seems so repellent against it, seriously people grow up
@Melkac They do make commercials for Bayonetta and Smash. Keep looking at commercials and don't cherry pick the ones you don't like.
Remember back in 2012 when Reggie was talking about the Wii U appealing to the "Hardcore" gamers? Here is some proof that didn't work out so now back to families with idiot dads. (By the way, yes I'm a dad) Where is the Nintendo of my youth?!?!?
Also, this commercial is played on kids networks, so OF COURSE it will cater to kids. You can't ignore the target demographic for each commercial just to make a one-sided incomplete argument
@WaLzgi: I wouldn't know, don't watch kids networks. But thanks for letting us know where you have seen it!
umm, funny commercial, but why you showing off Mario Kart 8 when the bundle your showing has Super Mario 3D World? Shouldn't you have shown off Super Mario 3D World maybe a little? Just a slight nic-picking from me, that's all ^-^
@rjejr: When I first watched the commercial I thought of you and your family except with more Amiibos scattered around the house.
I think the ad is decent. There have been commercials for Smash and Bayo 2 have you been living under a rock. I don't understand why people get so worked up over commercials. It makes sense to target kids for Christmas which is the purpose of this advert and it serves as a good reminder of two of Wii U's best games
Every ad they make has some lame fake family! Every damn time!
@BigH88 Smash is the affordable Ferrari of video games. All who are interested know all about it, the others just see someone owning it and want to take it for a spin. It doesn't need commercials.
Such a terrible ad for the system to lead into the holiday season. It says nothing about the system, nothing about the games, very little game footage, stupidly unfunny jokes, boring atmosphere, no energy whatsoever. Mac and cheese commercials put more thought into what they do than this.
I hate PS4's live action commercials, but they have more energy to them and are far more numerous so they are hard to not notice. XOne has been getting a lot of commercial time with their big games and console price drop.
Leave it to Nintendo to have limited and forgettable commercials. Their marketing has been a huge source of their failings.
Nintendo should make a holiday comercial with Karisa challenging Reggie saying after "E - for everyone": "Wanna settle it in smash?".
Psh you guys got any better ideas? There are far worse commercials than this. 😒
@Ryno - Nobody cuts my hair except me, and I don't eat hot peppers. But most importantly we try to never play vs unless it's for fun. We'll be playing a lot of vs when we get SSBU but my kids will play it even more on the same team fighting CPU characters.
And there might be as many amiibo in my house as in this commercial, the jury is still out. My kids have picked out 22 of the new Skylanders they want to go w/ the 50 we already have. I don't think they'll be interested in amiibo until Nitneod makes an amiibo game, which they will have ready by next Christmas, I don't think they have any choice.
Ok yeah, we're a middle class white family w/ 2 kids. Kind of disturbs me now that you bring it to my attention, maybe I can get a live-in mistress or a pet rhinoceros or something.
What does chilli pepper has to do with Mario Kart... Have I been playing the game wrong?!
I laughed. It's silly. The family is playing together rather than the Dad playing with the door locked so his kids don't see the filth on the screen. The kids are empowered playing a game that Dad still loves. There are even details about the game to remind people who remember Mario Kart how cool it is. It even sneaks in the active screen on the GamePad. The subtext is great and the silliness of Dad making bets and losing is just fun to get your attention.
Really not bad at all.
This is for families to become aware of the Wii U and I so no reason for it to fail at that.
Not only does the mom disapprove of the betting but she is wise enough to hand the dad a glass of milk (milk is about the only liquid that will bind with some of the spicy oils on a tongue and pull them away).
I wouldn't be surprised to see this commercial, in its entirety, featured in one of those Youtube "Top Fails of 2014" compilation videos in the coming months.
Too much salt in this comment section.
@Ichiban
Lame and fake? That could be my family, except I'm smart enough not to bet on winning against my daughter. What's fake about it? That they play together? It happens at my house. Lame because? Just curious.
Every family is going to be different and commercials are going to stress an ideal one hopes to get from a product but I find this far less abrasive than those ads where a mother serves a can of soup and every child gets all happy and excited and loving towards her. All of us hanging out together and playing on the Wii U happens pretty regularly.
@MikeLove Seriously? If anything it's a bit unambitious and forgettable. :/
@rjejr You okay, man? You've been taking the wrecking ball to Nintendo lately. lol. I love Nintendo, too, and I want them to get better at selling this wonderful Wii U machine so I can get more awesome games. So keep at it. Just noticed some extra hot sauce on your comments lately. Hang in there!
It seems that nobody will understand what the aim of Nintendo is: THEY NEED GAMERS FOR THE FUTURE! What are Microsoft and Sony doing? NOTHING!!
I want BigN to do more commercials for Bayonetta or Hyrule warriors, but Nintendo is ALWAYS not thinking only about what is now, no they think about what will or can happen! The others don't care!
I like this one! All your guys shout at Nintendo, but , sorry, it seems you really don't know what a family is! Nintendo shows you: PURE FUN WITH YOUR BELOVED FAMILY PLAYING MK8! Just true...
Hahaha Keep It in the Family, Are you from Alabama, Thomas Whitehead??? lol!
I hate when people say Nintendo's marketing sucks.
This is how I see it: Nintendo branches their advertising in two fashions.
The hardcore market- They team up with IGN and Playboy to advertise Beyoneta 2. They make crazy Nintendo Directs to inform their gaming audience.
And the casual market: The one you can guaranteexs watches television daily, is more vulnerable to commercials and has a family.
I found it odd with them showing Mario Kart and then the Mario 3D world bundle...... we already know people are dumb, what are they going to say when they get that bundle and are like "Where's my Mario Kart?"
lol
@darthllama Agreed. This ad it's just too 'steady'. Where are the thrills and spills that Mario Kart is all about? The ad was about multiplayer but I think most of the footage only had one kart on the screen at a time.
I've got no problem targeting families, and the dare theme is fine in theory, but as you say, where is the energy?
Nice ad. For the folks complaining, imagine they used you to advertise the commercial. They would probably see consoles returned instead.
@Benji4U
You do know that there is a huge portion of the gaming population right now who has never owned a Nintendo home console before, right? Teenagers and young kids make up a huge portion of the Xbox/PS user base at this time, so ya....I think its safe to say both those companies are doing a good job of hooking consumers.
I would love for "NINTENDO" to re-create the old "Who Are You?" commercial from the "GAMECUBE" days.
@Cyberbotv2 lol brilliant and true
Targeting families is a much better idea than people realize. Considering parents purchase games and systems, having something that appeals to both parents and kids makes sense, and a lot of companies try to make their products appeal to certain groups for this reason. But you're all marketing geniuses that Nintendo needs to hire right now, so I'll just stop talking right now.
Hot buttered popcorn that's a deal!
@JarredBuzzo
Nintendo's 'family friendly' marketing campaign they have been running since the Wii U's launch has been fantastic! On pace to be their worst selling home console, total consumer apathy towards their product, being outsold 2-1 by the PS4 that has been available half as long, several major titles (W101, DKC:TF, Bayonetta 2, etc) underperforming sales wise due to non-existent advertising, pushing a 'kiddy' image that makes their console generally undesirable to anyone over the age of 18....Nintendo doesn't need to change a thing! ^_^
Anyone else noticed the WiiU console isnt actually powered on? (red power LED)
@aaronsullivan - Yeah, I noticed that too, not good for me nor Ntinedo. Reggie always did bring out the worst in me. Of course now it's even worse as I can't get MK8 to read mine and my sons save files and I just spent $12 on DLC. First Pikmin 3, then HW, now MK8. I've only had this system about 15 months and I've lost more save data than any other system I've ever owned. Even when the Dreamcast VMU batteries died you still got to keep your save data. I'm about ready to give up and buy a PS4.
Not really digging this one, but whatever.
@MikeLove
Hahaha! Yes, they do: Teenagers. But for sure NO younger kids! And who did bring them to the start? Microsoft?Sony? O_O Come on, please, faith the truth!
And I already admitted, that they need MUCH more for mature games! But don't tell me THIS one isn't made for families! It you don't like it: Ok. But I and my family like it. Target reached!
It's not a bad commercial. Makes sense they are showing SMK bec that appeals to more people than Smash.
@rjejr said: maybe I can get a live-in mistress or a pet rhinoceros or something.
Please be careful and not get the two confused!
I really like this commercial, well done.
This ad did a good job establishing that a wide range of ages enjoy to play the game. It has kids, adults, boys, and girls playing together. Even when the dad lost, it was depicted in a humorous ESPN football commentator kind of way.
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