Recently, I’ve been doing some advertising consulting work for Samsung here in Seoul. At a meeting the other day, a team manager proudly showed me a catchphrase he’d come up with to appear in US advertisements for a new digital media player. The phrase—‘Play the Music, Play the Picture’—just didn’t quite work, so it’s a good thing he had the modesty to ask my opinion. As a result, we solved the problem in no time.

On the long ride back home, I reflected on the awful US commercial for Nintendogs, and in light of what I’d just been through at Samsung, I couldn’t help but wonder one thing: Whose opinion, if anyone’s, did NOA get before they decided to go with that ridiculous advertisement for what is potentially one of the most important game launches of all time?

The harsh reality is that bad advertising and NOA go together like bread and butter. I vividly remember being shocked by an absolutely terrible commercial for Super Mario 64 at the N64 launch nearly ten years ago. I was only fifteen at the time, and didn’t give a care one way or the other about marketing, but frankly, I felt insulted. Like so many other loyal fans my age, I had waited for years, saved hundreds of dollars from mowing lawns, and collected a massive stack of magazines in anticipation of Mario’s 3D debut, only to be greeted by a commercial with some annoying Screech wannabe jumping around the screen in place of Mario. To make things worse, as soon as I saw that it was a Nintendo 64 commercial, I called my cynical older brother in to check it out and show him why I was so excited. Result: “Dude, you’re so gay, man!” He was one of the many eighteen year olds raised on NES classics that had been increasingly turned off by the company’s image since the 16-bit era. It simply wasn’t ‘cool’ to play Nintendo anymore, something to be blamed largely on advertising.

Fortunately, in the last two years or so, NOA’s advertising has seen a very significant turnaround. The work that’s come from the Leo Burnett relationship has for the most part been stylish, cool, and even funny. Personally, I loved the ‘Who Are You?’ campaign, the commercial for Mario Kart: Double Dash and the early DS Pictochat spots, among others. Still, even though things may have gotten better overall, almost always present is an awkward feeling that something just isn’t coming naturally. By and large, the work is good, but with some subtle tweaking it could be far better.

Remember the Pikmin 2 commercial with the midget Pikmin running around the city? It was fantastic in a wacky sort of way, but for me it fell apart at the end, when the annoying, ‘edgy’ leader (who’s supposed to represent the Nintendo fan) insultingly scolds the creatures. The problem was that the sarcastic, biting attitude NOA was trying to push had nothing to do with the game in any way, and this was not an isolated incident. It’s almost as if they’re afraid of showing the public what their products truly are, instead disguising them in a way some focus group said would be seen as cool. The same goes for the replacement of awesome Japanese box art with dumbed-down rubbish, the most recent victim being Kirby: Canvas Curse. In a mild case, this kind of activity subtly hints at a lack of confidence, but in a severe case like the Nintendogs commercial, it ends up being insulting to fans.

The DS commercials and ads are, for the most part, quite cool. Still, I have to question the effectiveness of the manner in which certain things are being portrayed. What does a sexy/weird (I’m with Matt on this one) woman’s voice have to do with the DS? Is her saying ‘control Kirby with your finger’ going to affect sales positively? Was the pseudo-suggestive theme of the DS teaser spots good in the long run, or did it just disappoint early buyers looking for a more adult experience? As cool as the Wi-fi Connection theater spot is, is anyone who’s not a Nintendo fan going to really be affected by it? I had a fairly positive attitude on most of these issues before the Nintendogs commercial. After seeing it, however, I cannot help but come to the conclusion that there really is something significantly wrong with the mindset of the folks behind all of this.

One could place the blame for the commercial on Leo Burnett, but I don’t. Leo Burnett is nothing but an agency employed by Nintendo to carry out its wishes, and those given the task of developing the advertisements likely aren’t even gamers. Even if the commercial was the agency’s idea, the fault would lie with NOA for approving it. Fortunately, the great buzz that the title is creating looks to be enough to overshadow bad advertising, but without doubt a sizeable crowd has been alienated. Again.

By way of contrast, take a look at Nintendo’s Japanese advertising. It makes no visible attempt to put on airs. It may not be the trendiest thing around, but it’s frank, charming and well representative of the content that’s being pushed. More than anything else, it lets the products speak for themselves.

I like to think of it like this: There are two kids at school, and they’re both obsessed with collecting bugs. One is likable, down to earth, and open about his interest, but the other is afraid of what everyone else will think if they know what he’s really like, so he goes to great lengths to make himself appear a cool, edgy, hip bug dude. He even says ‘Playa’. Which of these two is going to get more respect?

On the bright side, Nintendo’s annual report, which was posted here earlier this week, features fantastic graphic design that really feels like Nintendo (see: Rev page). For someone sick of the image that NOA is constantly pushing on the American public, it’s a breath of fresh air and a ray of hope. Obviously, there are people within the company (assuming that it was done in-house by NOA) who know what they’re doing, and know what direction Nintendo’s public image should go in. It is the opinions of such individuals that should count, but I’d say there’s very little chance that they have any significant say whatsoever.

NOA spent millions on the ‘Who Are You?’ campaign, but to what effect? If the commercial for Nintendogs is any indication, the company still doesn’t know who we are. We are a diverse group of intelligent people who play Nintendo because it gives us more than the competition does. We think Nintendo’s cool for what it is, not what it isn’t. In retrospect, maybe the campaign should have focused inward and been given a name change—‘Who Are We?’

Contributed by: Nicholas Rumas