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Nintendo UK has set itself ambitious targets in its bid to rescue the ailing Wii U.

The company admitted to MCV that too many people are unaware that Wii U is a new console, and will embark on a giant campaign to educate parents and kids – particularly Wii owners.

Nintendo has booked in-store space at Tesco, will send a five page leaflet to 300,000 Tesco customers that bought a Wii but have yet to buy another console, and even give away vouchers offering money-off games.

That is on top of TV ads for all its big franchises – including Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda, which will run ‘continuously from half-term to Christmas’. There will also be national press advertorials, major online activity, plus a huge out-of-home promotional tour aimed at reaching 115,500 shoppers.

Nintendo says its combined Wii U and 3DS marketing budget is ‘significantly higher’ than that of last year.

We haven’t had the sales we wanted on Wii U hardware. We haven’t had the software for most of this year. But we have some quite ambitious numbers, particularly with some of our biggest franchises coming,” said UK marketing director Shelly Pearce.

Our monthly tracking shows that Wii remains the No.1 console for brand awareness. This offers us a massive opportunity to convert Wii owners to Wii U.

Interest is starting to grow but we know we have a lot of work to do.”

She added: There was a big misconception at launch about what Wii U is. And one of the big messages is that this is a new console and a new controller. There are many people out there that don’t know what this is.”

Nintendo will be targeting its activity against kids and parents, a very different audience to PS4 and Xbox One. But Pearce added that winning over Nintendo fans will prove crucial.