Japanese publication Nikkei recently ran a poll to find out the most powerful brands in Japan, with some very strange results when it comes to Nintendo.

The poll surveyed over 37,000 Japanese citizens and included 1,000 brand names, with the votes split into categories for all ages and under 20 years of age. In the under 20 poll, the survey found that Youtube was the most popular brand among that age group, followed by the Nintendo Switch in second, and rather confusingly, Nintendo the company in third. Pokemon also appears on this poll in number 7.

One possible explanation for this result is that younger respondents were more familiar with the Nintendo Switch console as opposed to its creator Nintendo. This can be further gleaned from the way that the two brands were written in Japanese, with the Nintendo Switch written in simpler katakana (ニンテンドースイッチ), while Nintendo has its name in Kanji (任天堂).

In the all ages poll, Nintendo’s position drops quite a few places down to number 12, while the Switch drops even further down to 59. This lends a bit of support to the aforementioned theory, as the all ages result implies that adults in general are more familiar with Nintendo as a company while less familiar with the Nintendo Switch as just one part of the overall brand.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.