The PS3 Slim launching at $299 is a huge event in the gaming industry and might just be the biggest thing for Sony Corp this year. Not surprisingly, SCEA is making a big push with a new PS3 campaign this fall/holiday. Yesterday we gave you a taste of that campaign, and today we're taking a closer look. In contrast with previous holiday campaigns, where the PS3 was seemingly portrayed as having mystical powers and morphed its black casing into various images, this time there's a lighter yet direct tone in the messages, something that Peter Dille, SCEA's senior vice president of marketing and PlayStation Network, says is purposeful.
"It's great to hear that clearly coming through," said Dille. "We think [multimedia capabilities] are game changers along with the new price and system design, but we want to make sure we shift how consumers talk about the PS3. The technological superiority is understood, but the high price point was intimidating to some folks. There have been a lot of people that have been waiting for the inevitable price cut, but it's not just hardcore gamers; we want to make sure we're talking to moms, kids people in the market for the Blu-ray player, etc. Positioning the PS3 as a total entertainment center is all wrapped up with the message."
"I think the price is going to force people to give it a second look," Dille added. "I think at $299 it forces some people to take another look. We talk about value a lot, but now you get PSN, Blu-ray, an unrivaled gaming system all at $299. If you have an HDTV, it's a must have. It's still a tough economy and some people will look for the lowest price, but we feel like we still have the best value."
When asked about the reaction he's seen to the news of a price drop and new system, Dille said that, "The price drop was immediate, and the new form factor is shipping this week but the reaction last week was phenomenal. There wasn't a ton of the new inventory, but stores sold out quickly and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the new form factor. We think that there's going to be a fantastic reaction this holiday."
The crux of this new campaign is a character by the name of Kevin Butler, an executive who has a different title in every ad. He first appeared in a spot for MLB '09 The Show. Then the "Director of Game Accuracy," he exchanged quips with cover athlete Dustin Pedroia over the Red Sox MVP's ability to hit the high inside fastball. We asked Eric Hirshberg, president and chief creative officer of Deutsch LA, about what inspired the original MLB '09 The Show ad.
"There's the long standing promise of the series that it's the ultimate baseball simulation game, so we ran with the idea of it being so realistic it pissed off the cover athlete!" said Hirshberg. "We saw that as a way to tweak the whole category, making it ironic that he was mad about the whole central promise of the game. We also thought that taking a new angle with it online; there's six videos about the TV ads, and they come in on both sides about whether Pedroia can hit that pitch. It allows you to vote or forward it to friends. That debate is a case of the 'fire jumping the freeway,' where announcers on MLB TV and ESPN broadcasts start bringing it up in unsolicited ways. We extended the media in two ways, viewing it online and becoming a small part of sports culture. This is the sort of debate we were looking to have for this. Dustin came off as very human, and we think that this is the sort of thing that works well for the greater campaign."
"That MLB ad was the launching pad [for this campaign]," Hirshberg continued. "This is one of those very few times where there's a campaign that incorporates both the software and hardware. The Pedroia spot was a game ad and it filled its purpose, but with PS3, a lot of our job right now is myth-busting. [Sony's] in a fight right now for brand position and people have their reasons for not buying, like it's too expensive. When you look at things like the free online service, built in Wi-Fi and the HDD, it's actually a great value. So we want to make a campaign that diffuses the naysaying, answers the misperceptions. We thought that this silver tongued marketer was a great way to do it, so he's become the spokesman for this. Originally, we imagined the MLB '09 spot different, as you'd think that the PS rep would be more deferent, but in this case, he met it head on, and that's exactly what we wanted for this ad campaign."
These new ads are amusing and evocative of PlayStation ads of old. We have fond memories of a man in a Crash Bandicoot outfit during the '90s and various other silly PlayStation advertisements over the years. The change to a more humorous tone is a conscious one as Sony and Deutsch were hoping to reach out to a wider audience
"We were pleased with the reaction to the MLB campaign, and from the consumer research we did, we knew we needed to make a broader campaign," explained Dille. "These ads have touched on the irreverent PlayStation humor and that is part of the plan. Those older pieces were a little dark, and a little bit intimidating, but humor is something everyone likes. They're very obviously appealing to a lot of consumers."
Along with being cheeky, the ads address very specific PS3 related items, like the ability to play Blu-ray movies, its online capabilities, its ability to bring the family together, and so on. The focus of these ads is to educate the consumer unconsciously and potentially change the conversation for the PS3 in U.S. households.
"There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the PS3: it's expensive, they don't know that there's Blu-ray, they don't know the online functionality is for free," said Hirshberg. "We wanted to make the case for PS3, the drop in price, what you get for the price, Blu-ray gaming, etc. We also wanted [an ad campaign] to work just as well for Blu-ray movies and games. In the brand in recent years, the work has been intimidating and directed at hardcore gaming, and we really want to move it more mainstream, for both gamers and families. We feel the gaming category will change, and it's speaking to the entertainment versatility. 'It only does everything' speaks to this broadly appealing device. One key aspect to Kevin Butler is that his title keeps changing, showing he has the ability to have all the answers. He's also a great metaphor for the PlayStation, which can also do everything."
"Several of these spots, even if they're hardware spots, have software in them too," added Dille. "The desperate dad one, with the uber slip and slide, has Kevin Butler and LittleBigPlanet, but it's the star of the show. We have dedicated spots for Uncharted 2 that are housed under the same campaign."
