Nintendo concentrates efforts on Brain Training brand

Japanese video games giant Nintendo is rolling out a new campaign for its Brain Training brand that aims to generate a buzz among consumers and offer families a chance to prove their intelligence.

BD-NTWK has created the multiplatform experiential campaign for Nintendo UK, which kicks off later this month and aims to find Britain’s Brainiest Family. The campaign centres around a competition with the prize of university tuition fees for winning contestants.

The initiative is to be promoted via a national television and print campaign, as well as experiential activity, retail point-of-purchase activity and online. Nintendo has also secured brand and media partnerships for the push, with Chrysler providing a Grand Voyager XS and Thomas Cook offering holidays as runners-up prizes in the contest.

The experiential campaign mimics television game show and aims to encourage trial of the Wii game Big Brain Academy in ten shopping centres around the UK. Families will compete against each other on Big Brain Academy for a place in the national final, which will be hosted by GMTV’s Lorraine Kelly, where they will be able to win their child’s university tuition fees – worth £40,000. Filming from the final will be used to create the next Brain Training TV ad.

Media planning for the campaign has been handled by from Mediaedge:cia and above-the-line was created by Karmarama.

Nintendo’s Brain Training Academy brand, which launched last year under the dedicated Touch Generations brand (MW June 1, 2006) has been a huge it with casual and non-gamers. A recent ad campaign for More Brain Training, which kicked off in August, featured Nicole Kidman and is being parodied in an execution on YouTube featuring former snooker champion Steve Davies for World Snooker Championship Season 2007-08 (MW last week).