Nintendo unleashes campaign to lure consumers online

Nintendo has launched a major new advertising campaign designed to encourage UK Wii owners to use the console’s online services.

The eight-week promotion comes under the tagline ‘Get it online’, and shows mainstream gamers how to connect their Wi-Fi-enabled console to the internet.

The promotion has been seen as a challenge to Microsoft’s Xbox Live – the dominant online console service, with over 17 million active users worldwide.

According to New Media Age, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros and Pro Evolution Soccer are among the games highlighted by the Wii campaign as ideal for playing against friends online.

The Get It Online campaign has taken over the main Nintendo website via a leaderboard that encourages visitors to click through to watch a range of 16 videos.

It also directs visitors to the Nintendo site, where they can enter their mobile numbers to receive a link to a mobile site where the videos are hosted. This is being promoted via operator Orange’s mobile portal.

The campaign was designed by digital agency Candyspace Media, and media planning/buying for the Nintendo campaign was by media agency MEC Interaction.