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[Gahiggidy]

$40 million my ass. I haven't seen a single commercial for the NDS. And that includes watching the usual stomping grounds of videogame advertising... Spike TV... ComdeyCentral... NFL games... Emeril LIVE.

What has happened with all that money? This is a common mystery with Nintendo marketing. They'll enthusiastically announce a large Xmas marketing budget for their new product launches... but then the "ad blitz" never materializes.

$75 Million for GameCube launch...
$140 Million for 2002 Holiday lineup...
$100 Million for 2003 Holiday "Who Are You?" campaign...


My theory? You wanna know my theory? Here's my theory... someone is embezeling Nintendo's U.S. advertising budget. No other way to explain it.

 

[ManaByte]

G4techTV had a 24 hour commercial for it on launch day.

 

[StoOgE]

I think a shitload of Nintendo's money went to getting EA support. I see EA ads all the time that have the gamecube whisper at the end... Nintendo is getting the shaft paying for that stuff.

Ive seen a ton of Gameboy SP ads, those are generally pretty good...

Ive seen a few Metroid Prime ads (including one with RVD during WWE matches, which is absolutely fucking horrible and another featuring some supermodel that is just as bad). There is one that is pretty good that is just game footage, but they almost never show that one.

Ive seen the wild boys DS ad once, but any effect it might have had is lost in the fact that the new Crash Bandicoot game has the wildboys too and I see it ALOT more.

Oh yeah, I also saw that bullshit on launch day on G4 where they had a 'dual screen' presentation that ran DS ads on the bottom screen all day long. That pissed me off more than it made me want to buy one.

 

[Spiritreaver]

Speaking of NDS ads, I keep seeing an ad for Spiderman 2 DS on CN, just about every other commercial break I see on there has it. But as far as system ads go, I've never seen Wild Boys or the new 3 DS ads EXCEPT "Breathe". This was aired during DS Day on G4TechTV and I only saw it aired once throughout a few hours or so of programming. The teaser ads I've seen all over the place though.

 

[shpankey]

why on earth would this upset you?

 

[Gahiggidy]

I see tons of GBA ads. Whoever is booking the GBA ads is an honest person.

 

[Speevy]

I've seen several, and I rarely watch TV.

 

[snaildog]

You wouldn't like New Zealand much, Gahiggiddy. I haven't seen a Nintendo ad since Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The N64 sold well here, but nobody's even really heard of the Gamecube. Xbox ads on the other hand are on all the time, and done very well.

 

[Silkworm]

I've seen several DS ads, referring to the breath, dust, and dinner ones. But I think I mainly saw them while watching G4TechTV. Oh well. I wonder if they'll try any other types of system ads where they might show off more of the physical nature of the system. I guess the best thing for them right now would be to show some of the DS games in their lineup, maybe have some direct feed footage as well as show someone interacting with the touchscreen to show off it's uniqueness. I don't think I've seen any DS game ads yet (not even the Spiderman one). You'd think they might like to show off their Mario DS game. *shrug*

Edit: Oops. I guess I have seen an ad for the Metroid Prime DS game (?), but that's still only a pack in demo at the moment. But I guess that's better than nothing

 

[Tenguman]

why on earth would this upset you?

Good question

Anyway I see the breathe ad as well as the mp2 ad almost all the time on the sci-fi channel.

 

[Gek54]

why on earth would this upset you?

insecurity

 

[fugimax]

I've seen plenty of DS ads..

Mainly on Comedy Central and a few times on TNT

 

[Drinky Crow]

I see DS ads on Comedy Central quite regularly.

 

[Buffy4ever]

I have seen 2 Nintendo DS commercial. One after Saturday Night live and the other when Smallville was on. You see this man looking through this window and it cold outside. And than he write on the window something about Touching. They don't show any games footage. by the way I have seen 1 Metal Gear Solid 3 snake Eater commercial.

 

[Tenguman]

I have yet to see a MGS3 or even Halo 2 commercial, but it prolly cause they all air those on MTV or some crap that kids watch.

 

[Gahiggidy]

I've seen that Halo game's ad about 20 times. The Metal Gear game about 6 times.


I'd be surprised if more tha 10% of the U.S. population is aware of the DS.

 

[Silkworm]

I was pleased to have seen MGS3 commercial quite a few times (also Rumble Roses *meh*). Go Konami advertising! I wish they'd try something a little more interesting with their MGS3 ad campaign, but hey, at least they're getting the message out that the game is available

 

[Gahiggidy]

Are their laws against "unofficial" advertising?

 

[Gek54]

^ Hmm, wonder why they have to blur out alot of the product logos on MTV cribs?

 

[Sho Nuff]

Maybe they will change the campaign to "Where are you?"

 

[Gahiggidy]

01:09 12.04.04 - "Halo 2" Comedy Central.

 

[Amir0x]

I've seen a few DS commercials.

I've seen a lot of DS print ads.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I'm after seeing a few up here in canada. Although I'm seeing a commercial for Donkey Kong Country 2 a lot more. Apparently that game is more important to nintendo.

 

[Gahiggidy]

Probably seen the DKC2 ad about two dozen times. Like I said earlier, the people responsible for booking the GBA ads are honest.

 

[FitzOfRage]

^ Hmm, wonder why they have to blur out alot of the product logos on MTV cribs?

There's no law against it, they blur them out so that advertisers can't bypass MTV and cut deals directly with the celebrity. It's the same reason they blur out logos in videos.

 

[worldrunover]

I saw a DS commercial for the first time today. It was so stupid I can't even remember what it was about, other than the "touching is good" at the end. It was all gen-x and shit.

 

[GDJustin]

Nintendo's 40M is for the entire launch window (IE through the end of the year). Their cinema ads don't begin until Dec., along with some of their other DS shiz. I'm writing a story about N's DS launch for Monday and got some answers from Perrin today.

That being said, 40M is not a huge campaign for a hardware launch...

 

[Particle Physicist]

i see DS ads all the time.

 

[BobbyRobby]

I saw one during Conan tonight, just caught the end of it though.

 

[GDGF]

I see like 5 or 6 NDS advertisements on TV daily. On high profile TV shows even. It's like some people don't watch TV or something

 

[ohamsie]

I have only seen a DS commercial once, it was kind of cool, some guy fogged up a window and wrote words on it and the window above it become fogged up with some more words on it, like an analogy of pictochat. It was pretty neat, and I finally figured out where greengiant's avatar came from.

I see that Donkey Kong Country 2 commerciall ALL THE TIME. And that car racing game where some ricer is talking about how he was racing another car and talking about cat and mouse like a twerp. That one really annoys me.

have also seen the Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls commercial a few times.

 

[AirBrian]

There was a MP2 commercial during Arrested Development.

 

[Kon Tiki]

And that car racing game where some ricer is talking about how he was racing another car and talking about cat and mouse like a twerp. That one really annoys me.

Ah, always effective adverting when you forget the name. It was NFSU2.

 

[Baron Aloha]

I was gonna make this exact same topic a few days ago. I don't really care if they run commercials or not but it really struck me as funny that there haven't been any commercials after hearing Nintendo go on and on about how they were spending more money on advertising than ever before to launch the DS. Then again, I haven't seen a GC commercial since PM2 came out...

Maybe they will change the campaign to "Where are you?"

:lol :lol :lol IAWTP

 

[_Angelus_]

Imagine the tv ads for the PSP launch and afterwards.
I wonder if it'll be anyting close to those U Are Not Red E ads that had in 1995,when Sony was entering the gaming market for the first time.

Well-the hand held market could proove to be the same situation,theyre more than likely going to take their advertising very seriously,considering whats on the line here(the amount of losses they'll be taking per unit sold.) And they have to convince the market that the PSP is worthy of owning when the general public have known noting more than GameBoy for over 15 years.

Because of this I think they'll be blitzing the airwaves with PSP ads pretty much night and day over a consistent basis. They have too much on the line.

 

[Mr Nash]

Maybe Nintendo is spending most of their advertising budget up here in Canada, because I've seen a ton of them. The music in them is pretty darn catchy too.

 

[Willco]

Nintendo is spending their advertising on booze and cocaine, because that explains why they make bat shit crazy decisions like not going third party.

LOL AM I RITE GAHIGGIDY?

 

[Gahiggidy]

I see like 5 or 6 NDS advertisements on TV daily. On high profile TV shows even. It's like some people don't watch TV or something

What channels? What time of day?

 

[Baconäger]

Watch MTV.

I just saw the FF I+II Dawn of Souls ad, and it is fucking awesome.

 

[Gahiggidy]

btw, we saw the MP6 ad and thought it was funny...so we inquired NOA when it might be available online:

Message(#6851-000387-0750\3870750)

Hello Smpaty,

Thanks for writing again! I'm sorry to say that we're not sure if and when the commercials promoting Mario Party 6 will be posted to the website. We appreciate your desire to see these commercials on our website and will forward your request to the appropriate departments for further review.

Sincerely,

Nintendo of America Inc.
Kurt Wagner

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529

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From: smapty@secret.com
Posted At: 14:27:50.000 12/05/2004
Posted To: Nintendo <nintendo@noa.nintendo.com>
Subject: Post that ad!

When are you going to post the TV commercial for Mario Party 6? It was funny! lol

- Smapty

 

[Wario64]

Haha I know your email address. You forgot to edit the link!

 

[explodet]

I want to see the Dawn of Souls commerical!

 

[Wario64]

I want to see the Dawn of Souls commerical!

It's just like any other GBA commercial, shows a guy playing a GBA SP and stuff is going around him, related to Final Fantasy (actually not really, it just shows stuff like a dragon and hit point numbers going around)

 

[Kon Tiki]

It's just like any other GBA commercial, shows a guy playing a GBA SP and stuff is going around him, related to Final Fantasy (actually not really, it just shows stuff like a dragon and hit point numbers going around)

Makes me want to see it even more.

 

[GDGF]

What channels? What time of day?

Mostly MTV, Spike TV, and G4TTV. I'm pretty sure I've seen some on FOX, too.

Most of them seem to come around prime time.

 

[Jr.]

You must not live in a Swing State! :lol

 

[Jr.]

Nintendo is spending their advertising on booze and cocaine, because that explains why they make bat shit crazy decisions like not going third party.

LOL AM I RITE GAHIGGIDY?

No, but U R A JACKA$$

 

[soundwave05]

I dunno, I usually see a DS spot once or twice a day. That "food touch" commercial is playing before just about every friggin' movie too :lol

It's curious though that Nintendo will only show games like Ridge Racer, Madden NFL, and Metroid Prime Hunters in their TV spots, it's like they don't want to show Mario or anything like that because people will then assume that it's a "kiddie" machine.

 

[SantaC]

Nintendo is spending their advertising on booze and cocaine, because that explains why they make bat shit crazy decisions like not going third party.

LOL AM I RITE GAHIGGIDY?

yeah because it's really smart going 3rd party when they are making a nice profit.

 

[GDGF]

I dunno, I usually see a DS spot once or twice a day. That "food touch" commercial is playing before just about every friggin' movie too :lol

It's curious though that Nintendo will only show games like Ridge Racer, Madden NFL, and Metroid Prime Hunters in their TV spots, it's like they don't want to show Mario or anything like that because people will then assume that it's a "kiddie" machine.

The food one is nice and long. Pretty funny, too. My favorite is the one with the guy out in the cold leaving messages to his girl or whatever (in my head, anyway) on the window.

Nintendo has a very nice ad campaign going on.