Lately, the console wars haven’t quite been as fiercely competitive as in recent years. Pete from Dragonchasers sort of touches on this by talking about lack of exclusivity, but more than that, it seems the folks with the purse strings over at the three major companies are seeing that price probably talks a bit more than games (though they come in a very close second). But besides that, there’s something to be said about advertising that isn’t more of the same.
So it is that Sony appears to be launching a bit of a tongue-in-cheek, funny ad campaign in an attempt to move consoles. Where before Sony attempted to wow its potential customers with its high tech and hardware powerhousing, these days the features have taken a secondary seat to presenting the PS3 in a funnier light. The image from this entry is of a commercial highlighting the price drop on the PS3, where Sony makes fun of themselves for their constant denial about what everyone knew was an inevitable price change to stay competitive. Another commercial talks about a frustrated girlfriend that consults Sony’s VP of “Enough is Enough” because her man hasn’t hooked up the PS3 to the Internet yet, poking at another weakness that Sony has tried to downplay in the past (i.e. XBox Live being better than the Playstation Network).
I do have to say that going comedic can only really help the PS3. People remember funny, and even cheesy, more than they do serious sales. There’s a time and a place for serious sales, but when you’re trying to sell a product that has seemed a bit too pricey and bulky (two issues Sony has solved with a $299 price point and the new PS3 Slim), you need to make your ads memorable. And creating commercials where you don’t take yourselves seriously translate a little into when people are making buying decisions.
I can tell you this – I remember the two comedy commercials for the PS3 vividly, but ask me about how PS3’s Little Big Planet was marketed and I have no idea what they did. It just goes to show that Sony’s ad direction reflects a new strategy for not just their consoles – but of everything (check this funny Peyton Manning/Justin Timberlake commercial about their other products, for example). I think it’ll eventually pan out – especially in the course of the holidays, where console decisions could be made not just in the store, but on your TV screen. I’m looking forward to more funny PS3 ads.
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“He doesn’t like candles? WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIM!!??”
LOL
Have you seen the Manning/Timberlake ad for the Sony Reader? It features Howard… crud, I forget his last name, but he’s the holder of the world record for speed reading. It’s pretty funny stuff.
I also like the Uncharted 2 commercial where the girlfriend thinks Uncharted 2 is a movie.
Agreed that this is a smart move for them. I think in some way it started with Jack Tretton goofing on himself and Sony at the start of the Sony E3 presser. Since like everything they were going to talk about had been leaked, he made a joke about worrying no one would bother to show up, and another about the ’surprise’ of the PSPGo. I think that sorta resonated with people and I wonder if the ad guys noticed and ran with the ball?
Hahaha! Yeah – I saw that ad too. I’m not a huge Justin Timberlake fan, but I can give props to anyone who knows people think they are pretentious and therefore can make fun of themselves.
Customer: “So I can read thousands of books on this?”
Howard: *pauses* “I just did!”
Justin: “I did too!!!1″ ^_^
*silence*
Justin: “….no I didn’t.” ._.
I lol’d hard. But yeah. Good direction for the ad campaign here.
Now that Blu-Ray has won the new media format war, I’ll definitely be going PS3. I’m a bigger fan of XBox Live than the PS3 network for multiplayer titles, but a built-in Blu-Ray players seals the deal for me. The new PS3 is $299, which is only $50-100 more than a standalone Blu-Ray player, so it just makes sense…
The non-exclusivicity helps too because aside from a few minor titles I don’t really care about on XBox, I can play all the same games on PS3.
I’m hoping to get a PS3 bundled into a home theatre package this Christmas. I want to pair it with a Samsung PN50B650 and a decent sound system. Hopefully, I can score the entire package for under $3,000.
PS3 was the choice I made when I finally broke down and bought a real console (and no, Wii doesn’t count…or so I’ve been told by my peers). The reasons were as follows:
- Lower Up Front Cost: For the 360 I had to buy proprietary HDMI cables, PS3 are generic so I could use the ones I already own (sooo much of a departure from business as usual for Sony – The Kings of Proprietary Hardware and Accessories), had to buy a wifi adapter for 360, PS3’s came built in…
- Blue Ray, Blue Ray, Blue Ray: It’s a huge draw for me…no really, huge.
- PSN is actually starting to get a lot better now, especially with the announcement that they’re going to be offering Netflix
- Additional functionality with my PSP: I didn’t realize how much of a bonus this feature would be until I really looked into it. For a guy like me who spends a decent amount of time at airports and in transit during the summer months, it’s great to have instant access to PSP content, what there is, from the comfort of my own home.
I love the new commercials for the PS3, very funny and well done. I am seriously considering getting rid of my 360 to get a PS3. Both systems get many of the same games, and Sony actually has exclusives that I would want to play. Plus who doesn’t want t Blu-Ray player!
“I’m going to file this under, ‘Not a problem’.”
I too love the commercials, even my wife has been seeing them and finding them funny. I’m pretty sure the only video games she has ever enjoyed falls in three categories. Mario Kart, Mario, and Katamari (that one still blows my mind).