Earlier this week we told you that Nintendo UK’s director of marketing stated that Nintendo’s plans for Splatoon are to pull in the Mario Kart crowd and show them that Nintendo can make a fun shooter in the same way that Mario Kart is a fun racer. To help convey that message, Nintendo is cooking up a marketing campaign that will rival the campaign it initiated for the release of Mario Kart 8 in May of last year. There’s only a week left until release, so Nintendo is going to step it into high gear to make sure even non-gamers are aware of Splatoon.
We have a substantial campaign planned for Splatoon. To give you an idea of the scale, we’re matching Mario Kart 8 – that’s the potential we think Splatoon has. We have the utmost confidence in the potential of Splatoon. It gives retailers a fantastic art style that stands out in-store or on-screen and it also offers various up-sell opportunities with the accompanying Amiibo. It’s a really interesting game for us because it allows us to expand out to a group of people who may never have considered Wii U before.
Obviously since this is a new IP and doesn’t rely on familiar characters, Nintendo is pushing it extra hard to relate the fun factor, rather than nostalgia for characters that parents may be familiar with. We’ve already seen two examples of the commercials that will debut in North America, but the Japanese commercials seem more suited to advertising the strengths of the game than the American ones.
Either way, it’s nice to see Nintendo stepping up their advertising game when part of the reason the Wii U is in the position its in is a marketing failure at launch.
