Nintendo: 85% will have seen 3DS TV ads
At least three times.
Nintendo reckons 85 per cent of the UK will have seen its Nintendo 3DS TV advertisements at least three times in the run up to the handheld's 25th March launch.
It hopes half a million Brits will have gone hands-on with the glasses-free 3D device before release, too.
"The campaign is a celebration of the 3D experience," UK marketing director Dawn Paine told MCV.
"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 it's all about genuine reactions, there is nothing fake or over-stated, it's all real."
Nintendo has freely admitted it faced a challenge getting the 3D visuals message across to consumers.
"The greatest charm of the Nintendo 3DS system, including the 3D images, is very difficult to convey just through the TV or the internet," Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata said last week. "Of course, we have tried very hard to do so, and we did our very best in the demonstrations. But I think it would be most ideal for the people who purchase it to try to tell others what they like about it."
Nintendo's UK TV ads don't show the 3DS' 3D content in 2D - a move it believes will help sell the device.
"There's always a question about how you execute a 3D product in 2D," Paine said. "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."
It appears Nintendo has been successful – the UK should have enough launch stock to go around, but UK shop GAME warned last week if excitement builds then Nintendo 3DS sell-outs are a real possibility.