One of the funnier ads also hit a little close to home for IndustryGamers; the "rumor monger" ad has an Internet conspiracy theorist trying to confirm the $299 price for the PS3, while Kevin Butler casually issues a "no comment" at the same time that various advertising materials are strewn all about him. It's all in good fun, poking fun at both the steady leak of plausible rumors from SCEA and the ravenous need for gaming information certain Internet users have.
"We're having a little bit of fun with the price cut now that we can finally confirm the $299 price at last," commented Dille. "We're poking fun at the industry and ourselves."
This stung a little. We do so much more than monger rumors!
"We're tweaking the stereotypes on both sides," added Hirshberg. "On one hand, we're playing with our own image of denying. Even when going through this press room of various '$299' materials, Kevin Butler offers a stern denial. We're also having fun with the fact that people in this category follow things with a passion."
Gamers as a whole tend to be counter-cultural and often cynical, so admission that an ad moved them to do anything is unlikely to ever come vocally. Still, we think the ads will make a lot of people chuckle and are a nice alternative to the sometimes morosely serious nature of certain gaming ads; nine have been produced regardless, so you'll see them a lot over the next few months.
"There was a tendency [with gaming] to take itself seriously across all platforms," acknowledged Hirshberg. "So we felt the need to take gamers back to smiling at something. That was part of our challenge - making something with different tonality. If you make isolated ads for your different products you're essentially having to build a series of different elements, but if you sweep them together, they build together and they can have a significant tone, and such is the case with this campaign, I believe. Maybe the nicest part of a marketing campaign is when people are looking forward to the next one, and we hope that's the case here."
"$299 is in the game," continued Hirshberg. "It's in a price that a lot of people can get their head around reflected in the fact that the campaign is becoming more mainstream. It's great as a marketer to not have the product as a problem; we feel like we have the best mousetrap, and all we had to deal with were perception problems."
There'll be more of these ads down the line, including an online component where users will be able to submit questions for Kevin Butler to answer. The campaign will also deal with upcoming software titles, which Dille is quick to remind us are coming at just the right time to give the system a lift.
"We've got the price, the momentum, the campaign and we have a great software campaign," said Dille. "Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is going to be a big, Uncharted looks phenomnal, Eye Pet is unique and will draw in certain consumers... we've also got MAG, Gran Turismo 5 and God of War III, so it's an embarrassment of riches and it allows us to speak to a variety of audiences. Whatever your interest is in, you can find it on PS3."
"From a holiday perspective, we also have the PSP Go launching October 1, so there' a lot of other messaging to do!" he concluded.
