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[KillGore]

Changing the font and colors of the logo might be a good start. I can't think of any system whose logo branding was composed almost wholly of the exact same logo of its predecessor before 3DS and Wii U. The 'Game Boy' element stuck around, but the new suffixes took up major real estate and the 'footprint' of the logo was changed entirely in transitions.

this this this this this this

Even people who know clearly the difference between the Wii and Wii U would be excited for new names, new logos, new form factors. Funny thing: people like new!

Yup, this too

 

[PokéKong]

It's making me laugh how locked into a US-based mindset this entire thread is in terms of the American style of psychological marketing, conveying things symbolically with colors and style and fonts.

Have any of you seen the UK commercial?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVfIe536J0

Can you imagine seeing such a thing on tv anymore? Where a commercial actually tells you direct information and makes a sales pitch. But nope, that's too associated with low-budget tacky infomercials. Just like a 60fps movie "looks like a soap opera".

 

[Stinkles]

Being astounding doesn't matter. The two are still not the same. I'm not sure why you would argue beyond that.

I didn't know they had changed. +1 anecdote.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Being astounding doesn't matter. The two are still not the same. I'm not sure why you would argue beyond that.

You take umbridge at people saying they look the same though and/or that they difference isn't particularly noticeable. Despite that the difference isn't particularly noticeable for a lot of people because expectations have already been attuned higher.

 

[Bgamer90]

And this common confusion, once they educate these people, is it clear that the confusion itself has caused the lost sale, or the fact that the person has to buy a new system to play new games?

That's the thing. If the person knew that it was a new system from the get-go he/she would know what to expect.

This is especially true if they felt that it would be cheaper due to them thinking it's an add on for an old console instead of a completely new console.

"Confusion" is doing jack. All people need to know is that there are new games out there they want to play, and the ads take care of that, along with blue boxes on store shelves. When you find out you need a new system to play those games, the confusion is gone. Suddenly it's just price and software.

But the confusion can suddenly lead into some consumers being frustrated which can have a negative impact on their original readiness to buy the product itself.

 

[Kai Dracon]

And this common confusion, once they educate these people, is it clear that the confusion itself has caused the lost sale, or the fact that the person has to buy a new system to play new games?

"Confusion" is doing jack. All people need to know is that there are new games out there they want to play, and the ads take care of that, along with blue boxes on store shelves. When you find out you need a new system to play those games, the confusion is gone. Suddenly it's just price and software.

At the end of the day, this is where the buck stops.

We can all play armchair product designer.

When all is said and done, none of it matters. What matters if if Nintendo finds an application that people have to have. People then go find what they have to do in order to get that application.

In a sense it's similar to the "trouble" that people have selling the masses on a non-iPad tablet. Geeks, and sometimes store employees, will go on about about this or that device that's not Apple branded. The casual consumer isn't real clear what the difference is between any of these devices anyway; they're all just touch plate thingies, right?

But in the end they always buy the iPad. Why? "Well, does that tablet have App Store? I see these Apps (tm) and I need App Store. I want App Store." Even if the Apple product is TWICE THE PRICE.

Content and mystique always drives sales in the end, over specifics of how one product stacks up against another. The average person isn't picky about how they have to get the content and will even pay more to not get "brand x" (as they see it).

This affects core gamers too. I've known plenty of people who got Xbox 360s for Call of Duty for one reason: because they know Xbox Live is The Place To Be (tm). That's where you play real man's COD, that's what they need. Even if they have to pay a fee for online multiplayer that they wouldn't have to pay on another console.

Ironcially enough, if we're talking about the mainstream in context of Wii U, then one aspect becomes partially irrelevant: hardware power. It doesn't matter if to the expert enthusiast gamer, Batman on Wii U "looks the same as our 7 year old consoles" and they know how to see frame drops. 3D visuals in games began achieving parity for satisfying the average person several years ago. Everything sort looks photorealistic, especially since major games are wrapped up in production values to sell the experience with nice cut scenes and shit. In a certain perverse sense the average person cares more about the core useful content of what they're after than an enthusiast can appear to - the aficionado will turn his nose up if the wrapping isn't gold-embossed ribbon with a truffle on top, but it makes no difference to Joe Average.

I have no idea if Nintendo is going to the thing they're looking for to leverage the masses, but the "confusion" angle is overblown. Whether or not it's worse than XX comparison console launch won't make a difference in the long run.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Even showing the system alongside the controller, people are likely to think "oh, so the controller goes with my Wii".

It shouldn't have been a small white box.

 

[ffdgh]

Have a boring AD with someone slowly explaining and showing that it's a new console and the screen is not the new console but the controller.

or they could have just called it wii 2 to avoid this.

 

[JordanN]

Game journalists who work in the industry for a living got confused when it was unveiled for fuck's sake. Normal casuals who don't even know about places like Gamefaqs probably couldn't make heads or tails since this Winter was probably the first time they saw it(since Nintendo didn't star that marketing "blitz" till 2-3 weeks before launch). It is not that hard a concept to grasp.

It's not that it's hard to grasp but it's annoying to see the lack of a thought process as to "hey, maybe this thing might be different after all".

I also saw the Wii U when it was first unveiling. During the same unveiling I also saw stuff like the Bird and Zelda demo. Unless the Wii got magic powers overnight, there was nothing on it that could compare.

So it goes from "oh, it's that new gamepad thingy" to "oh, new gamepad thingy with HD graphics".

 

[Durante]

Changing the font and colors of the logo might be a good start. I can't think of any system whose logo branding was composed almost wholly of the exact same logo of its predecessor before 3DS and Wii U. The 'Game Boy' element stuck around, but the new suffixes took up major real estate and the 'footprint' of the logo was changed entirely in transitions.

This is a really good point, and well presented with the picture. I never really noticed before, but you are right that none of the gaming systems released by anyone before 3DS/WiiU shared remotely as much branding with their predecessors.

 

[UncleSporky]

That's the thing. If the person knew that it was a new system from the get-go he/she would know what to expect.

No they wouldn't. They're a foolish consumer, remember? They don't know the first thing to expect from a new console. Why is it called a game console, anyway? Can you play the blue box games on that? That's all the kids told me they wanted.

But the confusion can suddenly lead into some consumers being frustrated which can have a negative impact on their original readiness to buy the product.

Yeah? How many lost sales would you say the confusion has caused? Do you think it's worth focusing a lot of their attention on, as opposed to making more games that kids will point at to their parents?

 

[NickMitch]

This is a really good point, and well presented with the picture. I never really noticed before, but you are right that none of the gaming systems released by anyone before 3DS/WiiU shared remotely as much branding with their predecessors.

Mostly that is because Apple happened....Changing logos and colors is not the way to do it today, maybe Google is breaking that trend a bit though with their candyesque branding of android. All that stuff depends on wether your brand can transcend generations of people. A heritage is not considered a very important thing in electronics, not like clothes or food anyway...

 

[JordanN]

You take umbridge at people saying they look the same though and/or that they difference isn't particularly noticeable. Despite that the difference isn't particularly noticeable for a lot of people because expectations have already been attuned higher.

Then that's their problem and not the Wii U's fault.

 

[VeryGooster]

The funny thing is that tech blogs were left and right arguing about Apple branding the last iPad as "the new iPad" and the possible consumer confusion from not calling it iPad 3. Seems to have worked out for Apple in the end.

Nintendo needs to advertise the Wii U as a system that has something you absolutely need. I guess that's what Nintendo Land is supposed to be.

 

[PaulLFC]

It's not that it's hard to grasp but it's annoying to see the lack of a thought process as to "hey, maybe this thing might be different after all".

I also saw the Wii U when it was first unveiling. During the same unveiling I also saw stuff like the Bird and Zelda demo. Unless the Wii got magic powers overnight, there was nothing on it that could compare.

So it goes from "oh, it's that new gamepad thingy" to "oh, new gamepad thingy with HD graphics".

So you expect everyone to have watched E3, or other videos when it was shown off? The vast majority of the "casual" Wii audience doesn't have a clue what the thing is. Some of them think it's a new controller for the Wii, and who's to blame them? The U barely looks different to the Wii for someone who doesn't spend time on forums and gaming websites, it could well be mistaken for a redesigned Wii, lending even more support to the idea that it's a new controller.

 

[Durante]

Mostly that is because Apple happened....Changing logos and colors is not the way to do it today, maybe Google is breaking that trend a bit though with their candyesque branding of android. All that stuff depends on wether your brand can transcend generations of people. A heritage is not considered a very important thing in electronics, not like clothes or food anyway...

If it is a general trend as you say then it should be interesting to see what Sony and MS do with their next-gen branding.

 

[Juken]

Then that's their problem and not the Wii U's fault.

If it hurts the system I'd say it's Nintendo's problem too.

 

[JordanN]

So you expect everyone to have watched E3, or other videos when it was shown off? The vast majority of the "casual" Wii audience doesn't have a clue what the thing is. Some of them think it's a new controller for the Wii, and who's to blame them? The U barely looks different to the Wii for someone who doesn't spend time on forums and gaming websites, it could well be mistaken for a redesigned Wii, lending even more support to the idea that it's a new controller.

The later section was more directed to the game journalists who got confused.

For casuals, the only thing that could compare is if they either saw a Wii U commercial or played it first hand.

If it hurts the system I'd say it's Nintendo's problem too.

What more do you want them to do? Add ray tracing?

 

[Version 3.0]

Knowing Nintendo, they'd name it the Wii 2, but they'd write it out like this:

Wii ii

 

[Camp Lo]

Should called it 'Nintendo', hipster style.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

A flood of advertisements with "the all new Wii U" should begin to bring the point home. Perhaps get Orlando Jones to deliver that line in the cadence as "Make Seven... Up Yours." And then run that ad into the ground.

To recap:

1) Hire Orlando Jones
2) "The All New... Wii U"
3) ???
4) Profit.

 

[shinra-bansho]

saw a Wii U commercial

Yes, those don't make it look like an add-on at all. Now comes in dubstep.

 

[NickMitch]

If it is a general trend as you say then it should be interesting to see what Sony and MS do with their next-gen branding.

My guess is:
Microsoft: XBOX or even X8OX
Sony: The PlayStation

They don't need to change their appearence very much since the buisness of today is trying to weave itself inte the very fabric of our daily lives. The will focus more on the visual interface and OS than the actual hardware. Nowadays people doesnt seem to interested with racks and displays of their electronic devices.

Sony might even build the next playstation into a TV and sell it as a all in one. A continuation of that playstation Tv thing.... That could be their differentiation. Microsoft will take their smartglass/ windows 8 thing to the next level to compete with Apple, which is neccessary to survive in consumer computers in the next one or two decades....

 

[Bgamer90]

When all is said and done, none of it matters. What matters if if Nintendo finds an application that people have to have. People then go find what they have to do in order to get that application.

But what if they feel that the cost to get that application is less in actual price due to them thinking that it's for their older console? I highly doubt that everyone in that group would want it just as much as they did previously if they suddenly realize that it costs more than they originally intended.

In a sense it's similar to the "trouble" that people have selling the masses on a non-iPad tablet. Geeks, and sometimes store employees, will go on about about this or that device that's not Apple branded. The casual consumer isn't real clear what the difference is between any of these devices anyway; they're all just touch plate thingies, right?

But in the end they always buy the iPad. Why? "Well, does that tablet have App Store? I see these Apps (tm) and I need App Store. I want App Store." Even if the Apple product is TWICE THE PRICE.

And a lot of that has to do with Apple's effective straightforward advertising.

Apple explains new features via real world examples instead of using tech jargon like the competitors.

Ironcially enough, if we're talking about the mainstream in context of Wii U, then one aspect becomes partially irrelevant: hardware power. It doesn't matter if to the expert enthusiast gamer, Batman on Wii U "looks the same as our 7 year old consoles" and they know how to see frame drops. 3D visuals in games began achieving parity for satisfying the average person several years ago. Everything sort looks photorealistic, especially since major games are wrapped up in production values to sell the experience with nice cut scenes and shit. In a certain perverse sense the average person cares more about the core useful content of what they're after than an enthusiast can appear to - the aficionado will turn his nose up if the wrapping isn't gold-embossed ribbon with a truffle on top, but it makes no difference to Joe Average.

Disagree.

It depends on what type of games "Joe Average" is into. They may not see all of the faults that hardcore gamers see but they can definitely tell whether or not a game looks better than what they already have... especially if you are talking about someone who is only into sports and/or shooters, genres in which "realism" is usually the main selling point.

I have no idea if Nintendo is going to the thing they're looking for to leverage the masses, but the "confusion" angle is overblown. Whether or not it's worse than XX comparison console launch won't make a difference in the long run.

Heh, the confusion angle isn't overblown at all. If there's more of it in comparison to another console during it's launch than it can possibly have an impact on the system in the long run.

It can be as simple as, "I don't fully know what this is but I definitely know what this other product is. Therefore, I'm getting the latter."

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

That's what I was thinking too, but the reports are so widespread you almost have to take them seriously at this point.

No, you really don't.

You can't get a Wii U pad separate. Either the consumer pony's up the 350 bucks for one or they don't. The only "confusion" comes from people who don't give a rats ass about the thing anyway.

 

[jts]

Should called it 'Nintendo', hipster style.

Maybe even Nintendo 6. It would be nice.

 

[Karsticles]

A series of commercials for games that say things like "ONLY on the Wii U".

 

[shinra-bansho]

A series of commercials for games that say things like "ONLY on the Wii U".

I'm not sure that statement would be a magic bullet against the add-on perception, in itself, considering for a few years now the phrase:

"Only on Kinect for XBOX 360."

Has been out there.

 

[watershed]

I think the confusion is overstated. There will always be confused moms and dads shopping for their kids and other ill-informed customers. But beyond sporadic anecdotes I haven't seen anything that suggests consumer confusion over the name is hurting Wii U sales.

 

[nickcv]

No, you really don't.

You can't get a Wii U pad separate. Either the consumer pony's up the 350 bucks for one or they don't. The only "confusion" comes from people who don't give a rats ass about the thing anyway.

right now you cannot get a Wii U pad separate, but we already know that later on nintendo is going to sell those, as they are already doing in japan.

what's going to happen then?

Changing the font and colors of the logo might be a good start. I can't think of any system whose logo branding was composed almost wholly of the exact same logo of its predecessor before 3DS and Wii U. The 'Game Boy' element stuck around, but the new suffixes took up major real estate and the 'footprint' of the logo was changed entirely in transitions.

this one wasn't quoted enough times.
i'm really curious to see what MS and Sony are going to do with their next hw design and logo

 

[Halfmunch]

"The New Nintendo" <--- Apple style! and console design would help.



......Wii2~!

 

[EulaCapra]

What should Nintendo do? Lurk GAF that's for sure. Seems like we're amounting pages worth of threads about Nintendo's marketing fumbles.

I for one will forever champion the name "Wii 2U." It's not too late to sneak in that "2" for next year, Nintendo.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

right now you cannot get a Wii U pad separate, but we already know that later on nintendo is going to sell those, as they are already doing in japan.

what's going to happen then?

So we're talking about possible confusion in the future? Or right now?

 

[PaulLFC]

So we're talking about possible confusion in the future? Or right now?

Just because you can't buy one doesn't mean people aren't confused by it. People see it on TV or in a store, think it's a Wii controller. They either ask about it and get corrected, then decide whether to buy one or not - or they don't ask, and go away thinking it's a Wii controller.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Just because you can't buy one doesn't mean people aren't confused by it. People see it on TV or in a store, think it's a Wii controller. They either ask about it and get corrected, then decide whether to buy one or not - or they don't ask, and go away thinking it's a Wii controller.

That doesn't sound like a problem to me.

 

[Davey Cakes]

I like that UK commercial. Really spells it out, but drags on for too long with game after game.

Why does the UK always have better commercials? It happened with Skyward Sword as well. How the hell does it make sense that they get Robin Williams and we don't?

Nintendo can't change the name. They can change the marketing though to be more specific. The US commercials are really bad.

 

[Currygan]

putting the U inside a Wii box and raise the price accordingly

"I want a Wii"

"Well here it is, a WiicoughUcough"

"But why does it cost so much?"

"just BUY IT you berk"

 

[nickcv]

So we're talking about possible confusion in the future? Or right now?

i'm talking about both.
nintendo gotta sort this out before releasing the separate controller, otherwise it's gonna get ugly really fast

 

[Tuck]

Make a commercial that basically spells it out like we were babies.

They basically need to market "This is not Wii, this is Wii U."

 

[MikeE21286]

Discontinue the Wii

 

[DominoKid]

It sounds like an add-on and the graphics are par for the course on the market.

1-2 KO. They ballsed up this launch super hard.

If nothing else they need to step advertising way the fuck up. I've only seen 1 commercial for it and I watch TV all the time. I forgot damn thing was even out until it crossed my mind to see what it looked like last time I went to Best Buy. Didn't even have a demo station set up.

discontinue the wii. change the WiiU name. drop the price. mass advertising blitz. demo stations in stores.
as an uninformed customer their current strategy giving me a reason to want it.

really though they should've never made it.

 

[Version 3.0]

No, you really don't.

You can't get a Wii U pad separate. Either the consumer pony's up the 350 bucks for one or they don't. The only "confusion" comes from people who don't give a rats ass about the thing anyway.

You can't think of a scenario where confusion would prevent a sale? That's not very imaginative. How about a person who might be interested in a new system, but isn't interested in another add-on, after all the ones we've been through already?

Not to mention, making people who "don't give a rats ass" change their mind and want something is virtually the entire purpose of marketing. Marketing to people who already want what you're selling is just picking the lowest fruit on the tree.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Right, a $300 add-on that lets the kids play those blue box games they keep asking for. Let them think that, it works out to the same thing.

And if the kids aren't asking for the games, the problem isn't branding anymore.

You seem to be ignoring the fact that as hot as the Wii was, it's been pretty dormant for the last couple of years. If people think this is an add-on to that system that they used to play Rock Band and Wii Sports on 4 years ago, and is now on the shelf collecting dust and running Netflix, rather than a fresh and brand new experience, it's going to negatively affect perception BIG TIME. Trying to spin as though "So people will think it's a $300 add on, so what they'll still want it!" is inane and the last thing a company in Nintendo position would want.

They tried to leverage the Wii brand, and for that I don't blame them, but I don't know how much they counted on the fact that the Wii is kind of old news in the tech world, and that there is no "Wii Sports" type of application for a tablet controller that will catch fire in the same way as the remotes did in 2006. I think in that respect they went too far. Keeping the Wii name is smart. Keeping the same font, the same logos, the same color schemes, was dumb.

Hell I mentioned in another thread that this holiday Nintendo released a special Wii Skylanders bundle with a aqua blue Wii that almost matches the color of the Wii U boxes.

Talk about adding even more confusion, especially when you consider the fact that most retailers are just dumping all the Wii and Wii U shit in the same general area. It's kind of confusing to tell what's what and especially what's new and different.

 

[Stulaw]

As someone, which everyone seems to have ignored, posted, the advert thing seems to be an American problem. The UK adverts clearly point out that it's a new console literally saying "A new Console, with a new Controller" at the end of each ad. So with the UK, it's more of a means of disinterest I think. That and from what I gather from my friends, disinterest that causes misinformation about the console.

With the 3DS, I think even more confusion came from Game shops literally stocking 3DS games with DS games, honestly that causes a lot of confusion itself since I always see parents in stores asking what's the difference, and some employees thankfully warning them that they're buying the game(s) for that specific console.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

You can't think of a scenario where confusion would prevent a sale? That's not very imaginative. How about a person who might be interested in a new system, but isn't interested in another add-on, after all the ones we've been through already?

Not to mention, making people who "don't give a rats ass" change their mind and want something is virtually the entire purpose of marketing. Marketing to people who already want what you're selling is just picking the lowest fruit on the tree.

That 's just it. You guys are twisting yourselves in knots thinking of scenarios under which a consumer would be confused. Confusion will always be a problem for consumer electronics! As i said before, if the consumer is interested, they'll investigate. If not, they won't. .disinterest is not confusion.

 

[HardRojo]

Let Mario stomp on the Wii and then take a Wii U out of his pocket

This is a great idea, seriously Nintendo work on it already.

 

[nickcv]

As someone, which everyone seems to have ignored, posted, the advert thing seems to be an American problem. The UK adverts clearly point out that it's a new console literally saying "A new Console, with a new Controller" at the end of each ad. So with the UK, it's more of a means of disinterest I think. That and from what I gather from my friends, disinterest that causes misinformation about the console.

With the 3DS, I think even more confusion came from Game shops literally stocking 3DS games with DS games, honestly that causes a lot of confusion itself since I always see parents in stores asking what's the difference, and some employees thankfully warning them that they're buying the game(s) for that specific console.

in italy we usually just get the UK ads but dubbed in italian.
on launch day i had a party with some friends, and one of the girls, who really enjoy games noticed my Wii turned off and asked "so you can use it even without turning on your wii?"

i had to explain her that the wii u was actually a full fledged console and not a controller.

but anyhow you are probably right the problem might be worse in the US, but still there must be a reason because just japan got standalone gamepads on sale

 

[kirby_fox]

The other day I was in Target seeing what kind of games were on sale just to see. Lots of people were in there holiday shopping and I stood in front of the small section of Wii U games asking myself if I really needed to buy a game with a giant backlog with only $10 off.

As I stood there a couple of adults in there mid-30s to 40s came up to me and asked "Which would you like more? That one or that one?" Pointing to ZombiU or Assasin's Creed III. I started going on about how I had heard ZombiU was actually a lot better, and that reviews for AC weren't that great. They explained it was for their 13 year old daughter, who had played the other AC games with friends at their houses and they were trying to choose the ZombiU game or Assasin's Creed for her.

During this discussion I just happened to ask "Oh so you have a Wii U?" somewhat surprised because of how they were talking. "Oh no she just has a regular Wii." "Oh these games are only for the Wii U, you need the new system to play it." "Oh that tablet thing OK. Well we'll just get her the Xbox game then since she has that already."

I realized afterwards they didn't even notice the blue and asked myself if the branding was working or not. I came to the conclusion it is working, but consumers aren't going to run out to buy a new console.

2012 is a completely different world than 2006. You won't see the same success again the Wii had, constant sell out for years. No console will do it again because the market is different.

What should have changed? Television marketing. The Wii was pimped out on The Today Show and every place they could put it. It had Wii Sports as a killer app to demonstrate. We would like to play was perfect advertising as east meets west with new tech.

Now? Go funny and ridiculous, and sell both the Wii and Wii U in the same commercial. Use Mario's mushrooms to grow the Wii into a Wii U console. Have Charles Martinet in it as himself and do something like Old Spice with moving scenes. Sony pretty much did away with Kevin Butler and Nintendo has been pretty good w/ random comedy recently- why not grow it into an ad campaign?

 

[shinra-bansho]

What should have changed? Television marketing. The Wii was pimped out on The Today Show and every place they could put it.

Should have had it as a one of Ellen's 12 Days of Giveaways. Instead there were PSVitas, PS3s with Wonderbooks, XBOX 360s with Kinects on two different days, Kindle Fire HDs and Nexus 10s but not a trace of Nintendo for some reason.

 

[H_Prestige]

Already too late. Should have called it Wii 2, used different logo, and made a different looking console.