Nintendo’s Wii console is getting a lot of love this summer – and not just from controller-swinging gamers. Its TV commercial, in which two men in a smart car pull up to houses and give families a degree in fun, is the only ad to make the top 10 in both IAG Research’s most-recalled list and its most-liked list for May 28 – June 24.
Nintendo was in good tech company on the lists; Apple’s (AAPL) spot, “there has never been an iPod that could do this,” for the iPhone made the most-liked top-10 list, but not the most-recalled.
IAG compiles its data through surveys, and is well respected within the marketing industry.
The good news for Nintendo comes as its Wii continues to look very strong against the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles from rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE). Both Microsoft and Sony are trying to put a pleasant spin on their console troubles; Sony is cutting the price of its low-end 60-gigabyte PlayStation 3 to $500, saying it’s still early in the console wars, and Microsoft is admitting that unspecified Xbox 360 engineering problems will cost it more than a billion dollars.
But the two seem more conscious than ever that Nintendo is in the catbird seat this time around. Sony’s price cuts still leave its console twice as expensive as Nintendo’s, and Microsoft is trying to make the case that the Xbox 360 is family-friendly. (You know, like the Wii!)