‘85% of UK will see 3DS ads’

Nintendo has a huge mainstream audience in its sights with the 3DS.

It says that 85 per cent of the UK will have seen its TV ads three times in the run up to launch, while almost half a million will have had time to go hands on with the device.

Explained UK marketing director Dawn Paine: The campaign is a celebration of the 3D experience. There are two key elements: experiential and advertising. What will be a departure for us is how we fuse them together, in a way we haven’t done before.

In the campaign we will be showing consumers, real people, getting their first hands-on with 3DS at one of the events. And that in turn drives the people who see the ads to the sampling push. It’s a virtuous circle.

It’s very fresh and different –and very, Nintendo, because its all about genuine reactions, there is nothing fake or over-stated, it’s all real.”

Crucially, the ads don’t even try to show the device’s 3D content in 2D media – something that will ultimately play to Nintendo’s advantage.

Said Paine: There’s always a question about how you execute a 3D product in 2D. That’s where the consumer reactions come into play. It’s not about the intricacies of the technology. The fact you can’t see it on screen will tease and push people to trying it for themselves.”