The first time I read this, I groaned, recognizing this as instant “Nintendo is for kiddies!” Fodder. Then I thought about it for a while and realized what they’re saying is actually good news:
Asked to identify the three “coolest” brands, 42 percent of respondents 8 to 12 years old chose Nintendo, while 36 percent think Disney is among the coolest.
I thought back to my first experiences with the NES – I was about 11 years old. Nintendo was cool. I was firmly in Nintendo’s camp in the Nintendo vs. Sega battle. The fact that 42% of these kids are associating Nintendo with “cool” means they are growing up with Nintendo! They fact that they recognize Nintendo as a brand is positive. I’ve said before that Nintendo should embrace this reaction and run with it. Kids love Nintendo. Even 21% of the 13-17 year olds cite Nintendo as cool (tied with Sony, the perpetually cool company). Hopefully this will foster interest in the Revolution and a new generation of video-gamers will hold Nintendo in the same regard as those of us who grew up with it.
I noticed that Xbox was missing from these lists. They did ask the kids about “Brands” so that may explain why. Nevertheless, it doesn’t appear that Microsoft is cool with kiddies. Very interesting…