Promotional Consideration: Reasoning with Rabbids

Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.

We're cheating a little with this week's ad, as the primary focus of the Rayman Raving Rabbids series has been on the Wii. Keep in mind, though, that Ubisoft promises to make RRR 2 for the DS more like its console counterpart, emphasizing multiplayer party games over platforming, so we're not completely gypping you on this one. Hop past the break to continue.


CG bunnies. Around the world. Always screaming.

We have a hard time believing that Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 is an actual game, and not just an excuse for Ubisoft's artists to waste away the summer months by photoshopping LOLRABBITS. Much like with the original game, the French developer has flooded the internet with its bunny media. But instead of telling us about the Rabbids' shortcomings whilst showing off their dance moves, Ubisoft has put out a slew of images parodying everything from popular art pieces to big-ticket movies.

To some, this unorthodox method of advertising has reached the point where the product feels like an afterthought, but Ubisoft isn't trying to sell us just the video game anymore. In a recent interview with Nintendo Power, executive producer Xavier Poix explained, "We're working on building the branding of the Rabbids because we want them to be big in the future, and not necessarily just on the games side." Perhaps the company is setting the stage for Rabbids merchandise or an animated TV series?

The commercials and images hosted on Ubisoft's Rabbids News site make very little sense unless you know the game's single-player story, useful details which are surprisingly absent from the online hub. In an attempt to take over Earth, the buck-toothed bunnies are seeking to integrate themselves into our societies, mimicking our everyday activities, or at least, their limited understanding of our everyday activities. Players must travel "around the world," like the Daft Punk song, to pick out the mischievous agents masquerading as American rodeo riders or bicyclists racing in the Tour De France.

Could the Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 ads be considered effective, reaching its goals to promote both the game and brand? We will have to wait until the its release this November 15th to see just how many people were moved enough by the harebrained humor to pick up the minigame collection. Seeing as that day is still far off in the distance, let us know what you think about these cotton-tailed villains. Hilariously incompetent? Or too obvious and tired?