The latest ads from Nintendo are a perfect example of a bad TV advertisement.
In case you haven’t seen them, they feature pop star women using Nintendo DS with assorted games (Brian Age, Nintendogs, Mario, etc). That’s fine, but the format of the ad is worse than bad… it’s alienating.
Yes, this is pretty much every second of the three ads…
Nintendo clearly is targeting people outside of their core audience; young women who are less than causal gamers. The problem is that the ad is simply filming people playing the game. All the ad winds up being is some annoying soft sounds from the game and a few “oh cool”(s) from the person playing it. It’s stereotypical, and something that has me reaching for the mute button.
This ad would be just as annyoing if male pop starts were playing a game in total silence. One thing I learned long ago; nobody wants to watch you playing a game. Don’t make a TV ad that winds up doing the same.
I was planning on buying a Wii. These ads tell me to wait for a price cut, because I don’t buy things that annoy me into listening. I may not be the target market, but the hallmark of a bad ad is one that winds up leaving a bad aftertaste in those that are the core audience.
Moral of the story: Don’t alienate your core audience with an ad that tries to reach out to new target audiences. It will wind up having your core audience start to be more interested in the competition.