Nicole Kidman Wants Your Brain...But Not You
In what can only be seen as a stunning rebuke of Scientology and her creepy, bite-sized, brainwashed ex-husband, actress Nicole Kidman will spearhead Nintendo's pan-European campaign for More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? The everlasting icon of loveliness will not only be seen across print and TV ads in Europe promoting the DS game, she'll be seen actively using "the power of mental thinking" (to quote Futurama via Beck, another short fellow rumored to be a Scientologist) to keep her beautiful brain as young and stunning as her body.
The Oscar-winning Kidman will no doubt be casually brushing a strawberry blonde lock from her brow as she tap-tap-taps her way to a younger brain on the DS - although her brain might be fairly young to begin with, as the ginger sex symbol is reputed to be quite quick in the cranium already. In fact, her innate intelligence is one of the reasons Ms. Kidman was chosen.
Her words:
“I love the concept that Nintendo is reaching out to new audiences with their self improvement products like Brain Training. Most importantly, I’ve quickly found that training my brain is a great way to keep my mind feeling young.”
In my slightly-less-than-humble opinion (IMSLTHO), this is a great way for Nintendo to step up with a campaign that will be more than marginally successful at pulling adult women into the gaming world: commercials featuring Nicole Kidman in a home setting, speaking into her DS microphone and enjoying a game that has a real-world benefit more genuine and effective than many medications and herbal supplements. Perhaps we'll see some of the anti-aging revenue that currently flows into the pockets of ginko biloba manufacturers redirected toward Nintendo?
Bravo, Nikki, Bravo. Make the jump for the press release!
NICOLE KIDMAN EXERCISES HER BRAIN WITH MORE BRAIN TRAINING
- Nicole Kidman announced as the brains and beauty of Nintendo's Pan-European campaign for new Nintendo software -
25th June 2007 – Known for her starring roles in films as varied as The Hours and Moulin Rouge, Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman will demonstrate it’s her brain as much as her beauty that matters when she appears in the pan –European campaign for Nintendo’s Brain Training series.
Nicole will be seen across print and television in Europe keeping her brain in shape as part of a 60 day brain exercise programme for More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? which launches across Europe on the Nintendo DS on 29th June. Fans won’t have long to wait long to see her Nintendo debut - the esteemed actress will first be seen tonight on ITV1 at 19.45.
Ms. Kidman comments: “I love the concept that Nintendo is reaching out to new audiences with their self improvement products like Brain Training. Most importantly, I’ve quickly found that training my brain is a great way to keep my mind feeling young.”
Nicole joins over 10 million people who have made Brain Training part of their lives. Ms Kidman was chosen by Nintendo because of her universal appeal to mainstream audiences of all ages and backgrounds, as well as her reputation for being intelligent, entertaining and genuine. Her personality and ability to combine the world of film with a family centric home lifestyle was felt to be a strong fit with the Nintendo DS, which prides itself in creating entertainment and experiences that enrich people’s lives – no matter what their age or previous gaming experience is.
In the adverts, fans will see Nicole as they’ve never seen her before. We see Nicole in a home setting, relaxing and training her brain. She is seen speaking into the Nintendo DS to complete the exercises and memorising numbers.
Nintendo feel that working with the award winning actress as the personality of this campaign reflects a long-term pioneering philosophy from Nintendo. The aim of this philosophy is to broaden the gaming audience with software that isn’t just fun but also enriches your life, whether training your brain or practicing language skills. The software is relevant and accessible for everyone from the age of 9 to 99.
More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? is the latest in a series of titles from Nintendo DS called Touch! Generations. Touch! Generations is a unique range of software designed to be enjoyed by everybody, even if they’ve never played a game before. These titles, like that played by Nicole Kidman, are disrupting the video games world and changing the perceptions of millions worldwide who previously thought gaming was just for 16-24 year old males.
Dawn Paine, Marketing Director of Nintendo UK comments “The Brain Training phenomenon is sweeping the globe, enjoyed by over 10 million people from grandparents to Oscar winning actors. We believe that Nicole Kidman’s leading role in the campaign and the revelation of her DS Brain Age will surprise and excite people all over Europe.”
More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? launches across Europe on 29th June 2007 at the estimated retail price of around £19.99.
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 25 June 2007
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: dr kawashima, ds, how old is your brain?, more brain training, nicole kidman, nintendo
Nice move on Nintendo's part.
I only wish they spend half as much effort in the actual product. The touchscreen software doesn't seem all that good. For instance, when you have to write how many things you see it frequently missreads what I write. 38 instead of 5 is one example.
The concept behind this campaign seems to use common sense in terms of attracting a larger and more diverse demographic to gaming (by and large), doesn't it? You would think that competitors Microsoft and Sony would've nailed this down already, but they still seem to be pandering to hardcore gamers almost exclusively and obsessively. Why not kill several birds with one stone (or in Nintendo's case, avoid being stoned by getting the help of one beautiful, highly intelligent and talented Academy Award winning, beloved bird) and create some games that transcend stereotypical violent shooters and market them to intelligent people while at the same time offering proof that not all games are ones that are banned in several countries because of AO ratings? Excellent work, Nintendo.
I think the handwriting recognition is pretty good for a 66MHz processor. In fact, really really good. Same with the speech recognition, even though I still think it's pretty funny that saying "brew" works better than saying "blue".
The one ad I've seen so far on Youtube seems very much in the vein of the original Utada ads in Japan.... she's only looking at the DS and talking to herself (obviously from a script but meant to appear unscripted) and the announcer comes in at the end to say the name of the game and its release date. Apparently that style worked pretty well in Japan.... we'll see how it plays in the UK, but I can't imagine it'd fly in the US.