The new advert definitely seems like a step in the right direction. I hope they have a variation of it showing off the actual games. This is a great advert for showing off the media capabilities, but I still feel that an advert showing the variation of content: Buzz, Killzone 2, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Singstar -- something like that, would be a good complement to this campaign.Sony is to launch an £82m pan-European marketing campaign for the PlayStation 3, firing the first advertising salvo against rivals Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox as consumers start to think about presents for Christmas 2009.
The TV element of the campaign, which has been developed by the TBWA agency, marks a complete departure from Sony's traditional tactic of often esoteric and dark commercials.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, which has committed £6m to marketing in the UK, has not run a major ad campaign for the PS3 since the new games console launched almost two years ago.
The launch of the PS3 was accompanied by a TV ad featuring a range of bizarre Cirque du Soleil-type performers, called "the entertainers", to represent the capabilities of the console.
However, the new set of TV ads, the first of which launch in the UK tonight, focus on the simpler aim of describing the range of services available on the PS3. These include online gaming and Blu-ray movies, downloading TV and film content and being able to watch the BBC iPlayer.
"Two years after launch PlayStation 3 is realising its full potential," said Alan Duncan, UK marketing director. "The console is moving beyond gaming and gaming is moving beyond discs."
SCEE is desperate to win the Christmas sales battles against rivals Nintendo and Microsoft this year. The campaign comes on the heels of a price-cut announcement at the European games trade show Gamescom.
Screen Digest has forecast that Sony will sell 4.3m PS3 consoles across Europe this year and a total of 11.16m across the lifetime of the product to date.
Nintendo's Wii will sell 7.5m consoles in Europe this year, bringing its total sales to date for the region to more than 21m, according to Screen Digest. Microsoft's Xbox 360 will hit just below 3m this year, a total to date of just under 11m across Europe since the console went on sale.
I have no real qualms with the marketing. I think it's exactly what Sony need to do. No nonsense, back to basics, trendy, "this is why you should care" type stuff -- but with only a flitting mention of the games I still feel like they're gearing themselves up to fall into the trap of "Playstation 3 is a media console not a games machine" -- which we know is true... but does the average consumer?
This commercial should be massively successful for 20-30 something males in between football matches and stuff across Europe though.
Nice to see Sony doing something at least though. I can't believe this is the first campaign since the system launched.
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