Advertising essay

 a quick look at the content of Nintendo's handheld advertising then and now reveals how the target audience has grown alongside the company's progress: from 90's kids to college age nerds

The topic of my advertising campaign will be Nintendo's newest handheld gaming system the 3DS. This is not because of my attachment to the system itself, but because of my attachment to its predecessors and what they meant to me as a child. My memory of the day I got my Gameboy Color is at the same time very clear, and covered with the yellowish 90's filter of my childhood. I don't remember how old I turned or what kind of party I had, but I do remember the adorable glowing face of Pikachu, my new best friend, staring back at me from his bright green handheld frame. That gameboy followed me everywhere from then on and sheltered me with my own private world to escape into. When advertisements for the Gameboy Advance began to appear I was unsure what to think and I tried to convince myself that  games would keep coming out for my beloved Color. I was wrong of course and I eventually got my own Gameboy Advance, but I refused to get rid of my dear green friend and still carried it everywhere. I never played it and kept it in a bucket with the rest of my old games, but I just couldn't let it go as if doing so would hurt the game's feelings as much as it would hurt mine. However, one day, my brother and I were rough housing and I fell right onto my game, crushing it's screen and rendering it useless. Instead of pitching a fit or crying or any other emotionally triggered outburst, I simply stared at it for a second and decided it was time to move on. I threw it away and grew up a little bit on the inside. That game was more a blankie than any real blankie had ever been to me and every time a new handheld system comes out, I fight a little internal battle and remember what it was like to be a kid and what it was like to grow up. Nintendo's handheld lineup has grown up with my generation and I will do their newest handheld justice in an advertising campaign targeted towards adults and kids. How I will do so is a little trickier than that.

the signature randomness of the most recent Old Spice campaign provides entertainment in advertising

In today's media addicted society, marketing has to stick out. The constant stream of advertisements being pushed on the everyman by television, the radio, and the internet makes such things nuisances that are skipped over or tuned out. It is the advertisements that are disguised as entertainment that are watched and remembered. The best example I can think of is the current Old Spice mascot, Isiah and his impressive stream of single-shot randomness about what your man should be. The Old Spice campaign is one of the best known advertising campaigns in a while and its content has become a phenomenon, with users voluntarily viewing specially made installments of it on YouTube. Because of these commercials and other similar humorous entertainment campaigns, such as Apple's 'Mac vs. PC' commercials, I intend to base my advertising in the humorous, but to maintain simplicity. The humor will therefore need to be entertaining for children but also for their parents and so will need be simple but charming. It is likely that the color scheme will be bright and full of diverse colors.

the simplicity of the environments of Apple's mac vs pc commercials both enhances the focus on the characters and brings to mind the simplicity of the all-white Apple logo