gutter_trash
Banned
Beat the stupid out of people with steel pipes.
stupid people who can't market the products correctly you mean?
Beat the stupid out of people with steel pipes.
No?
Just man up and do a "relaunch" under a different name with different marketing. Every other thing stays the same (hardware, pricing) but the name + ads are new.
People who already bought it are not impacted in any way by this move. New buyers will be interested in "Wii 2" and finally, the media, will get it correct this time.
Everyone wins! The only dowside is that rebranding costs money but hey banks, telecoms etc. do it all the time.
Uh, what?
Outside of artstyle they're different.
Edit: Oh you said games. The difference is even bigger.
If you call that difference "small" then there's no hope for the average consumer.If the average consumer can't tell the difference between the Wii and Wii U you honestly think they'll notice the small differences in hair shading and part quality with the Miis?
Overall, the marketing has been terrible. MS is the only good company when it comes to marketing. Sony hardly shows any ads for most of their products. And in terms of Nintendo, they show ads but the ads cause so much possible confusion for general audiences that I honestly wonder how they can think that they're good.
Has that actually worked effectively? I'm sure some people are convinced, but sales aren't exactly skyrocketing outside of Japan for the 3DS.I think some people need to spend a little time in business class if they think they can just change the name.
Nintendo just has to do what they did with the 3DS and drill into people minds it isn't just the Wii but a new system called the Wii U.
Oh and Wii 2 is such a boring name. Can't believe people want that.
Has that actually worked effectively? I'm sure some people are convinced, but sales aren't exactly skyrocketing outside of Japan.
Regarding the 3DS comments: Isn't it technically the third incarnation of the DS family? DS was region-free, DS2 (DSi) was a notable change adding a camera and a region lock, and the DS3 (Or 3DS, if you will) has 3D and a bunch of other features.
Man, it's so confusing that there's a 3 in the name, suggesting that it's better than the DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL...
It's like the number doesn't actually help anything!
(In all seriousness, most customers I run into call it the "DS 3D". Calling it the DS 3 probably wouldn't have fixed the problem of the massive glut of SKU of DS, causing market confusion. It needed some branding that wasn't a DS. If they hadn't done the DS Lite/DSi/DSi XL and the like, they could've gotten away with just using a number. But they didn't. So now it's about demonstrating that it's new, it's different, and it's better.)
As far as the Wii U is concerned, some decent advertising would fix that easily. Net and TV ads showing off the old Wii and then pointing out that this is the new and improved Wii U. (Demonstrating that they are in fact different consoles) Better graphics, a new way to play, and a little thing called Miiverse, which lets you say whatever you want how you want.
There's too much emphasis on the controller and not enough on the fact that this is a distinct product, and this is what we've all been saying and acknowledged for months now. Whoever Nintendo of America has hired for marketing doesn't know a damn thing about the product, and they're not being given anything useful from NoA. This is an easily fixed problem, and it's annoying that NoA can't seem to figure out that it's all in the message.
They don't look the same though (and they were a traditional generational leap in performance).Casuals also call XBOX 360... just XBOX, the PS3 just Playstation, etc.
there have already been several stories about people thinking it's an add-on for the wii, a new portable and even the press seems lost.
they need to clear this up asap, because otherwise once they'll release the standalone gamepad for sale in both US and EU this is gonna get ugly.
so what should nintendo do at this point?
i do not really think that changing the name of the hw is feasible, and that could actually even make it worst.
so what? put a disclaimer on every single console box, game box and at the beginning of every commercial?
edit:
i know most of you guys are going to say "name it Wii2", but honestly hasn't that ship sailed?
rebranding the whole thing would cost a fortune now
Has that actually worked effectively? I'm sure some people are convinced, but sales aren't exactly skyrocketing outside of Japan for the 3DS.
One thing for sure, this commercial is utter trash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3VSM9iQeDA
It really, really makes the Wii U look like a Wii controller to anyone who doesn't do research on the subject.
Nintendo desperately needs clearly laid-out commercials that explicitly say:
Wii U, HD gaming platform, the successor to the Wii, $299 / $349.
I don't get how anyone can ignore the gamepad. The Wii didn't have one so that should be the immediate difference. All the while with the main console being longer too.The most recent iteration of the Wii and the Wii U are quite similar in appearance.
[snip]
They don't look the same though (and they were a traditional generational leap in performance).
The most recent iteration of the Wii and the Wii U are quite similar in appearance.
Has that actually worked effectively? I'm sure some people are convinced, but sales aren't exactly skyrocketing outside of Japan for the 3DS.
I've recently heard moms at Target not go for a 3DS because they "heard the graphics are worse than the DS". It's probably too late for both as far as public perception goes.
I don't get how anyone can ignore the gamepad. The Wii didn't have one so that should be the immediate difference. All the while with the main console being longer too.
The gamepad looks like it is leaning on a Wii. Even though I know the difference, it still looks to me that it's an add-on for the Wii.
How is that a problem? Right now that add-on costs $300 and it lets you play all these blue box games. It doesn't matter if they know it's a console or not.
It's only an issue when pads are sold standalone.
Uh, what?
Outside of artstyle they're different.
Edit: Oh you said games. The difference is even bigger.
That's kind of reaching though. Or fine, say it's an "add-on", it's still something the Wii never had which should spark in your mind it's different.The gamepad looks like it is leaning on a Wii. Even though I know the difference, it still looks to me that it's an add-on for the Wii.
You don't need more than one second to know/see what a shader is...The average person won't be able to tell the difference in a short TV ad. There's not enough time to pick out differences.
Who is going to buy a 300$ add-on for a system that they haven't used since Wii Sports?
You mean the new add-on for the Wii. Because that's what it looks like.I don't get how anyone can ignore the gamepad.
Sounds worse if you ask me because brand confusion is just more of a marketing issue. Those three problems involve either killing the DS, cutting profit margins lower or battling head to head with tablets(which involves cut profit margins on hardware AND software).I don't think that has to do with people not being informed as much as people are either:
1. Buying the DS because they can get it for a cheaper price than the 3DS
2. Not interested
3. Not ready to upgrade yet
Wave Race U with realistic graphics would be absolutely amazing. Too bad it'll probably never happen at this rate. The closest thing we got was Hydro Thunder on XBLA which was fucking awesome.People called this problem a year ago when it debuted and we could see it. I'm done worrying about what nintendo will do about obvious problems because that implies they actually might fix them.
Bring me waverace and zelda till then don't care about WiiU.
HmmmYou really think that's because of brand confusion?
A third/half of the Nintendo portable shelves are full of white boxes instead of black boxes, and they say 3DS on them. Jimmy wants to play that one that he's pointing at. How is brand confusion a lost sale in this case? Mom buys it, he can't play it on his old system, so either he gets a new system or the game is returned and mom learns her lesson and now there is no longer any brand confusion. Maybe he gets one down the line.
If Jimmy doesn't want to play any of those games with the white boxes, then the problem is software, not the brand.
wow lolNo.
Apparently the concept of new products is new to the general public. You'd have thought Apple would have taught them this lesson long ago.
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.That's kind of reaching though. Or fine, say it's an "add-on", it's still something the Wii never had which should spark in your mind it's different.
But man, I've been down this argument so many times it's not worth it to argue semantics.
That's kind of reaching though. Or fine, say it's an "add-on", it's still something the Wii never had which should spark in your mind it's different.
But man, I've been down this argument so many times it's not worth it to argue semantics.
You mean the new add-on for the Wii. Because that's what it looks like.
You mean the new add-on for the Wii. Because that's what it looks like.
Who is going to buy a 300$ add-on for a system that they haven't used since Wii Sports?
You don't need more than one second to know/see what a shader is...
Edit: Who needs time to pick apart noticeable differences? Each time I see a game commercial, I don't need 2 minutes to know it's not NES graphics. It either is or it isn't.
It's highly ironic that the Japanese TV advertisement for WiiU calls it a "very Super Wii."
Go third party. Then consumers will have have no confusion.
"$300 for an add-on? Screw that. I'll get an iPad Mini."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.