TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
Yeah, that wouldn't be confusing at all.
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Target doesn't know what a Wii U looks like
- Thread starter Wario64
- Start date
Yeah, that wouldn't be confusing at all.
Uno Venova
Banned
That's got to be the most depressing yet hilarious picture I've seen about the Wii U, almost sums everything up.
plutoknight
Member
No, that's a pretty deliberate image. I don't think there is one official image of a Wii U Gamepad on top of a Wii, unless they literally dug into the depths of Wii U on Google Image Search.
This is sad. I think the Wii U needs a huge rebranding/relaunch. The consumer confusion is much worse than with DS/3DS.
...then again...the 3DS had the exact same issue, I think. But I don't see much confusion anymore now. Maybe Nintendo thinks they can overcome it...twice...in a row?
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
It's not a lack of common sense, it's them not wanting to name it something so boring.
Yeah, it backfired but adding a number to something you made and value so much seems so lazy and uninspired.
They might very well have called it that back in the day though when they didn't think "philosophical" about everything.
metalslimer
Member
And common sense if you aren't drastically changing the look of it. Funny how they even said they realized it with the 3DS and then apparently had amnesia for a year
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
In hindsight, everything that went wrong is lack of common sense.
I love the look of the Wii U but I think that is a bigger problem than the name.
I'm glad people are not able to choose product names. Super Wii, seriously. It's worse than Wii U
I've done plenty of publicity of this kind. Sometimes you get lazy and combine shit you have on a folder with a quick Google search image.
If you dont know much about the subject, you may fuck up and make the whole company you work for look like dumbasses in the process. It happens.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
It is.
It's not the 1990s anymore.
The games were great back then(and many still are) but the phrases and adjectives and slogans just don't resonate with today.
I think Nintendo Revolution would be a good name for the actual retail product though.
You didnt know what a Wii or a Wii U looked like?!
Quirkyness
I wonder if someone in the art department was LOL'ing when it went through...?
metalslimer
Member
Yeah, it wouldn't work and it would be just as bad for confusion. Wii 2 was the simplest and most elegant way to do this
ReDelicious
Member
I wouldn't give them that much credit. I guarantee they bought a stock photo and figured "eh, same thing."
DragonSworne
Banned
Not using Wii in the name would be even better.
Opus Angelorum
Member
worked for Super Nintendo Entertainment System (the second best system ever)
successor to the Nintendo Entertainment System
Law Abiding Stranger
Banned
I agree, a simple "2" would've been the best.
Such a mysterious name for a system.
Risk your job to troll a videogame system? I hope not. That is beyond stupid
The point is that the console should look different enough from the Wii to be instantly recognized as a new, different console. If you're saying people should "look it up on Google", then the design has already failed to differentiate it from the Wii.
And I'll also add that the "U" isn't a clear indication either. Remember DS, DS Lite, DSi? Why the hell should uninformed customers realize that the "U" indicates a new console and not just a hardware refresh? The best way would have been to call it "Wii 2". "Oh, it's the sequel!"
EatinOlives
Member
Target designed the next Nintendo console to look almost identical to the one before it, to the point where it becomes a universal recognition problem that even Nintendo has admitted?
Target Designer Guy fucked up, but it's pretty indicative of the image problem the console has, not to mention quite a few people even on a gaming enthusiast board like GAF not immediately recognizing what the problem even was.
The Target ad shown is a full-page display and you're told "find what's wrong here". Your eyes scan for immediate discrepancies in what you believe to be right, and you look at the most obvious things like GamePad, the image inside it, the games advertised, and if the game names matching the games themselves. It's not hard to believe that I accidentally glossed over the details of the console itself, because with a very quick glance they're similar enough in design for your my eyes to register them as "the same". Not to mention the WiiU console is much bigger, so I wasn't expecting the Wii image to have been resized to match that of the WiiU. If I had seen it to scale accurately in comparison with the GamePad above it I would've been able to tell much easier.
The iphone5 is just a taller Iphone4 with a darker rim. If someone advertises a 4 instead of a 5, its their fuck up 100%.
The Wii U's image problem has nothing to do with design. Its a marketing screw-up.
RomanceDawn
Member
Wowzers, how awful. 4 or 5 years from now Nintendo needs to wise up with their design and name for a follow up console.
eddfromtheriver
Banned
I noticed it's not the Wii U after a not so quick round of "find the differences" between them... the "Wii" doesn't have a "U" after it's name... i'm clever like that.
Aaron Strife
Banned
They should have branded the system as something else.
You know, like with the Wii.
It was backwards compatible and functioned with Gamecube controllers, but that didn't mean they called it the GamecUbe or something.
You know, like with the Wii.
It was backwards compatible and functioned with Gamecube controllers, but that didn't mean they called it the GamecUbe or something.
University, but it's unaccredited.
EatinOlives
Member
The trim is actually one of the most striking elements of the iPhone 4 and 5. It would become immediately obvious to a tech enthusiast when an iPhone 4 is marketed as 5 because their brain is trained to see silver trim on an iPhone in association with "4" and black in association with "5".
The design of the WiiU console, on the other hand, has no distinctive features to differentiate it, color or design wise. I had to actually pay attention to the details of the buttons and, most importantly, the name on the console to be able to tell the difference.
This issue could of course be mitigated with decent marketing, but the console on its own is not doing itself any favors.
Oh lol same here...
I was like "I... don't see it"
Had I not seen the picture of the actual wii u I probably wouldnt have noticed
Diablo Rosso
Member
BigTnaples
Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Either did most gamers until they came into this thread.
Wii is square in form and detail design such as buttons etc, Wii U is rounded. If anyone needs to strain to find the differences then I dont know
Stripper13
Member
I'd just like to point out that in the vast majority of cases - catalogue images are provided by the Advertiser themselves, or by a contracted media agency.
No one who creates catalogues will run an image without approval from the Advertiser or media agency. The images are also never created by Target/catalogue.
There are exceptions, but it's highly unlikely that Target had anything to do with making any of the creative decisions behind this image.
No one who creates catalogues will run an image without approval from the Advertiser or media agency. The images are also never created by Target/catalogue.
There are exceptions, but it's highly unlikely that Target had anything to do with making any of the creative decisions behind this image.
well of course' they're not 100% identical, but they're extremely similar, and to the person just having a quick look, or not being familiar with or aware of a new Nintendo system, it's gonna be rather confusing. It personally took me a while too.
Now if you had this on a print ad:
Saying "Brand new Playstation 4. $399.99" I doubt as many people would have trouble spotting the issue.
Seriously. The Wii U wouldn't be as confusing as the Wii HD.