AfterDawn: News

Nintendo pulls Wii ads to control demand

Nintendo has pulled its holiday advertising in the UK for its popular Wii console in hopes consumer attention will move to the DS and demand will drop somewhat for the Wii.

“We have been running the campaign all year round, but we want to take a responsible stance this Christmas and not fuel demand,” said a Nintendo UK spokesperson.



Nintendo will be using that ad space to promote the DS instead, a console of which it has higher supply of.

The move is contrary to what the North American branch is doing which is putting extra advertisement for the holiday season.

“We're still expecting some shortages in December. But we're not going to be pilling back on our marketing,” explained George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s marketing chief. “So even though we'll be selling everything we can get, we'll continue full-blast with our outreach through PR, and through paid advertising and other things.”

Source:
Dailytech

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Dec 2007 18:59

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• 26 comments

• vinny13

  Only in the UK :P

  11.12.2007 15:52 #1

• IM1

  Damn this Wii is selling like hotcokes!
  I always thought because 360 and PS3 was soo much more powerful that it would blow Wii out of the game but it looks like Wii have slapped them and me in the face. Lol :-)

  11.12.2007 16:32 #2

• 26r0cK

  dont pull out the holiday advertising, nintendo needs to pull out the lil kids XD cuz its mainly the kids that ask for it the most this holiday season.

  11.12.2007 16:35 #3

• 7thsinger

  I too expected the PS3 and 360 to blow the Wii out of the water. I've been very surprised by the numbers it has put up.
  Not impressed enough to buy one yet though. ;p

  11.12.2007 17:14 #4

• chaos_zzz

  Originally posted by IM1: Damn this Wii is selling like hotcokes!
  I always thought because 360 and PS3 was soo much more powerful that it would blow Wii out of the game but it looks like Wii have slapped them and me in the face. Lol :-)
  we have to wait till the next generation to see who wins the race, i think our eyes will demand more trought time and the wii will just not be able to handle it

  11.12.2007 17:16 #5

• BurningAs

  This shouldn't be "Nintendo pulls Wii ads to control demand" It should be "Nitendo replace Wii ads with DS ads to improve Sales."
  
  The shortage is artificial. It they really wanted to keep up with the market demand they can. There is no blu-ray or or something that's making the wii hard to manufacture. They are trying to use the success of the wii to make the DS even more poular.

  11.12.2007 17:38 #6

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by BurningAs: This shouldn't be "Nintendo pulls Wii ads to control demand" It should be "Nitendo replace Wii ads with DS ads to improve Sales."
  
  The shortage is artificial. It they really wanted to keep up with the market demand they can. There is no blu-ray or or something that's making the wii hard to manufacture. They are trying to use the success of the wii to make the DS even more poular.Nintendo is producing about 1.8 million Wii consoles a month. To date I believe the Wii has sold more systems in 1 year than Microsoft did in 2 years with the 360. I believe they are doing pretty well when it comes to making the Wii and they didn't have a huge success with the GC like Sony did with the PS2 and MS did with the XBox so they were hurting for cash. Now that has changed and they used the profits they made and increased capacity earlier this year. So basically they make near 2 million a month and sell them too.
  
  As far as the DS goes I do not think it needs a marketing ploy to make it more popular. It is the most popular hand held system already.

  11.12.2007 17:51 #7

• NexGen76

  Something really smells fishy because they had a year to get demand up & still after a year they haven't thats unheard of.I really think there some truth about them faking demand or something else is going on.Why is it so hard to meet demand when the parts for Wii are available in masses.Microsoft didn't have this issue nor did Sony & PS3 is a New technology.

  11.12.2007 18:17 #8

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by NexGen76: Something really smells fishy because they had a year to get demand up & still after a year they haven't thats unheard of.I really think there some truth about them faking demand or something else is going on.Why is it so hard to meet demand when the parts for Wii are available in masses.Microsoft didn't have this issue nor did Sony & PS3 is a New technology.Maybe you missed the point where Nintendo has sold twice as many Wii's as 360's this year and almost 3 times as many PS3's. I am sure if the PS3 was selling on par with Nintendo we would see more supply issues from them.

  11.12.2007 18:29 #9

• NexGen76

  Quote:Originally posted by NexGen76: Something really smells fishy because they had a year to get demand up & still after a year they haven't thats unheard of.I really think there some truth about them faking demand or something else is going on.Why is it so hard to meet demand when the parts for Wii are available in masses.Microsoft didn't have this issue nor did Sony & PS3 is a New technology.Maybe you missed the point where Nintendo has sold twice as many Wii's as 360's this year and almost 3 times as many PS3's. I am sure if the PS3 was selling on par with Nintendo we would see more supply issues from them.You need to go back & read Burning As & My post because neither of us talked about sells figures.Were saying that it don't make any sense that they can't meet demand 1.8 Wii a month is horrible its should be 5 times that after a year.Read ours post before you try to correct someone.

  11.12.2007 18:51 #10

• bobiroc

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by NexGen76: Something really smells fishy because they had a year to get demand up & still after a year they haven't thats unheard of.I really think there some truth about them faking demand or something else is going on.Why is it so hard to meet demand when the parts for Wii are available in masses.Microsoft didn't have this issue nor did Sony & PS3 is a New technology.Maybe you missed the point where Nintendo has sold twice as many Wii's as 360's this year and almost 3 times as many PS3's. I am sure if the PS3 was selling on par with Nintendo we would see more supply issues from them.You need to go back & read Burning As & My post because neither of us talked about sells figures.Were saying that it don't make any sense that they can't meet demand 1.8 Wii a month is horrible its should be 5 times that after a year.Read ours post before you try to correct someone.So you are saying Nintendo should spend tens of millions of dollars to build a new factory and hire more workers just to lay them off a year or 2 later when sales taper off. I see. Well I am sure Nintendo's Marketing team is a little more wise than you and I sincerely doubt they are holding back production.
  
  Oh and I believe sales figures play a big role in this situation, but Nintendo has to look past today and the high demand holiday season through next year and the year after that. After all don't you want them to use some of those profits to put into their next system R&D?

  11.12.2007 19:04 #11

• BcMester

  I personally don't think that Nintendo is making artificial shortage of the Wii, it's just that it's popular and the demand is immensely high. I live in Ireland and every other person I know wants to get hold of a Wii for the holiday season! Why? Because they heard from friends that it's cool. They're even willing to travel as far as Northern Ireland and the UK to get it! And yes, the Wii commercials disappeared already from tv, DS ads all the way, but I don't think pulling the ads will matter much as the console keeps gaining fame via word-of-mouth.
  Just my 2c about what I see around here.

  11.12.2007 19:51 #12

• bobiroc

  OH if there any US Wii customers out there I am pretty sure that Best Buy and Target are going to advertise the Wii being available this Sunday December 16th 2007.
  
  I got this information from another forum and I have used the information off there in the past to help family and friends get their hands on a Wii (That sounds kind of bad when you say it out loud). A forum poster there seems to be able to get his hands on sale ads before they go public and so far he has been right every time.

  11.12.2007 20:00 #13

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by NexGen76: You need to go back & read Burning As & My post because neither of us talked about sells figures.Were saying that it don't make any sense that they can't meet demand 1.8 Wii a month is horrible its should be 5 times that after a year.Read ours post before you try to correct someone.its selling out in every country in the world not just the uk, you can only make so many machines in a month!
  
  @ IM1
  
  the wii is selling like hot cakes because its refreshing to play fun games on a console at last, because of sony/m$ the fun in gaming has been replaced with the race to have the best graphics, the most polygons, HD capabilities and other useless bullshit gimmicks that takes the focus away from what a console is supposed to be "fun" and the wii has restored ppl's faith.
  
  it you want ultimate realistic graphics with ultra smooth movement purchase a pc the same as, all hardcore gamers, most cheap high-street branded pc's will run games far superior than either of the supposed "next-gen" consoles, gone are the days of needing a workstation to run games at max.
  
  the xbox and ps3 = more of the same we have seen for the last 10+ years.
  

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  12.12.2007 05:49 #14

• Iconaw1

  I agree with that, with Nintendo's GameCube not being able to keep up with the sales of the PS2 and Xbox in previous years they knew that they would have to come out with something different from the competition in order to compete, which they did. The fact that it not a graphics powerhouse is irrelevant if mechanics and the game play are great. In my opinion in Sony's and M$ race to make the best graphic based system, the PS3 and 360 end up pretty much being the same system as far as game play goes, there is nothing new from the last gen systems of there’s other than the graphics. That’s where Nintendo went out on a limb and made a great call on the interaction aspect of the Wii.

  12.12.2007 09:46 #15

• spydah

  I think the demand for the Wii is a tad bit bogus in how they are producing the system. Its like they are purposely holding back the system in various areas to keep the demand numbers higher then normal. Oh course the system would be choice for many people due to the cost of it over Sony & M$ but when they made the system they made sure it was cheap enough to produce in masses because of Nintendo's budget. Also being its the Xmas season all systems sale should rise and before one of yall fanboy's hop on my comment i do have a Wii so im not being bias. I just think their strategy is weak for the holidays. Them having issues with producing the console within the first 6 months of its release date its fine not after a year.

  12.12.2007 10:22 #16

• varikelo

  I think the artificial shortage issue is a joke! i mean... why should I cut or limit production of a hot selling product?? Nintendo simly wasn't prepared for this huge demand of the Wii.
  
  Here in Mexico is somehow easy to get a Wii but they are damn to expensive. If you want one of this babies right here you need to pay for it at least the equivalent to $380 USD :S In fact... Nintendo products have always been expensive here in my country... something that doesn't happens with the Xbox, where prices are closer to the ones in the US.

  12.12.2007 11:59 #17

• jetyi83

  demand is so low people are paying the same price as a ps3.. makes no sense to me.
  
  buy a ps3 instead

  12.12.2007 14:00 #18

• spydah

  Originally posted by jetyi83: demand is so low people are paying the same price as a ps3.. makes no sense to me.
  
  buy a ps3 instead
  I agree if someone is buying one off Ebay or from somebody who knows they can get extra money from this system because of the demand you would be better getting a PS3 if you wanted one all along.

  12.12.2007 15:25 #19

• NexGen76

  Quote:Quote:Quote:Originally posted by NexGen76: Something really smells fishy because they had a year to get demand up & still after a year they haven't thats unheard of.I really think there some truth about them faking demand or something else is going on.Why is it so hard to meet demand when the parts for Wii are available in masses.Microsoft didn't have this issue nor did Sony & PS3 is a New technology.Maybe you missed the point where Nintendo has sold twice as many Wii's as 360's this year and almost 3 times as many PS3's. I am sure if the PS3 was selling on par with Nintendo we would see more supply issues from them.You need to go back & read Burning As & My post because neither of us talked about sells figures.Were saying that it don't make any sense that they can't meet demand 1.8 Wii a month is horrible its should be 5 times that after a year.Read ours post before you try to correct someone.So you are saying Nintendo should spend tens of millions of dollars to build a new factory and hire more workers just to lay them off a year or 2 later when sales taper off. I see. Well I am sure Nintendo's Marketing team is a little more wise than you and I sincerely doubt they are holding back production.
  
  Oh and I believe sales figures play a big role in this situation, but Nintendo has to look past today and the high demand holiday season through next year and the year after that. After all don't you want them to use some of those profits to put into their next system R&D?You clearly don't know anything about supply & demand do you? this should have been on Nintendo decision board when the Wii was in development.So you telling me that a powerfully corp like Nintendo could careless about supply ? your fooling yourself there is more going on behind the seen to the reason why they are putting out 1.8 million consoles worldwide thats piss poor for a corp like Nintendo.

  12.12.2007 16:15 #20

• simpsim1

  I don't think that "Careless" is really the issue... Nintendo have if anything totally underestimated the demand. It would be a hugely expensive gamble for them to deliberately hold back stock, whether to promote an otherwise flagging line, or to suddenly release a lot of product at once and flood the market, as has been suggested elsewhere. There would be far too much for them to lose if demand wasn't as high as they'd imagined and a lot of people got fed up waiting.
  
  Unless a massive quantity of stock suddenly showed up in the shelves next week (and I don't hear any mutterings about that yet), Nintendo will have definately taken a knock from the loss of Xmas sales, as many will have been put off waiting and spent their Xmas allocation of money on other items.
  
  One moan from me is about the shops that are getting Wii. Blockbusters in my town last week announced clearly in their front window display that they had a number of Wii's in stock. Upon enquiry, I was told that I would only be sold one if I purchased FOUR games with it. That's a minimum of £80 extra that I'd have to pay. The problem is, that they're going to get away with it because people are that desperate to get them.

  12.12.2007 16:35 #21

• oofRome

  Originally posted by simpsim1: I don't think that "Careless" is really the issue... Nintendo have if anything totally underestimated the demand. It would be a hugely expensive gamble for them to deliberately hold back stock, whether to promote an otherwise flagging line, or to suddenly release a lot of product at once and flood the market, as has been suggested elsewhere.Agreed. It wouldn't have been sound risk-management if Nintendo planned to manufacture more than 2 million units a month. (Obviously it would've paid off, but everyone is a genius if we know the future)
  
  I wonder if next year Nintendo will manufacture more than 2 million consoles a month. Apparently they order inventory 5 months in advance, and since production has been revamped twice already, they seem due for another increase if they saw fit to do so.

  13.12.2007 14:12 #22

• Paladore

  i tell you though,i like the ps3 and xbox 360 dont get me wrong but the wii is so much damn fun, especially witht he new zapper. yeah the graphics are sub par and cartoony but hell resident evil is unreal playing witht he gun. Its funny they need to lessen the demand for the wii though. For the price everyone should get this system.

  13.12.2007 17:04 #23

• dragnandy

  Originally posted by Paladore: i tell you though,i like the ps3 and xbox 360 dont get me wrong but the wii is so much damn fun, especially witht he new zapper. yeah the graphics are sub par and cartoony but hell resident evil is unreal playing witht he gun. Its funny they need to lessen the demand for the wii though. For the price everyone should get this system.ditto.

  14.12.2007 02:43 #24

• JOHNSTARR

  Well, there might not be a critical shortage with Wii'S if retailers would limit to 1 or 2 per customer. All the ebayer's / resellers wipe out creates especially in my town where I saw a guy purchase 50+ at a Sams Club and for that 249$ systems go for 550$ and beyond.
  
  Either way, the wii requires too much energy for me so I had to sell mine modded with wikey a couple months back :)
  

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  15.12.2007 01:14 #25

• borhan9

  Nice move i thought they were going to loose ground but no the DS comes in and saves the day.

  23.12.2007 19:55 #26