Stairwellblog

Sony’s marketing campaign for the Playstation 3 had more than a few critics when it first started. In 2006 Sony was behind the ball on the interactive controller and was the third of the new generation consoles released. (Behind Nintendo’s WII and Microsoft’s Xbox 360) Add that to a product recall, a steeper than expected price tag, and the fact that they backed Blue-Ray tech before it emerged as the main player (Sure it turned out well, but in 2006 it was a bit of a gamble) and there was talk that Playstation may lose its video game system crown. It wasn’t until last year that Sony found a marketing campaign that really worked. (nice review here) Now it seems Sony is in it to win it with the recent major product unveiling at last month’s Game Developers Conference.

Sony’s major announcement was that they had finally developed an interactive controller, the Playstation Move, but unlike the Wii’s controller this one is made to take advantage of the new 3D TV (Coincidentally made by Sony; You‘ve got to love that synergy) Sony’s announcement comes just a few months from the E3 Expo, a consumer video game convention where most companies traditionally unveil their newest gizmos and gadgets. In a smart marketing move, Sony is getting a jump on the competition by announcing their major developments early instead of trying to push through the competition. They now have a news cycle all to themselves. In every market, but especially markets like the tech sector, if you can take advantage of a slow news cycle you can make a lot of money. That’s not the only place Sony learned from its past mistakes.

Not only have they learned the value of being the first out of the paddock, but they’ve also learned how to play off their niche audience. The advantage of having a core audience of young men is that you have virtually every medium in which to spread your message. (How often is a press conference for a video game broadcast on national television and the internet?) The downside is that that market doesn’t always have the spending money others do. The marketing strategy with the old model, when they come out with a smaller version and lower the price a year after the initial release, didn’t really work like it did in the past. That’s due mostly to a more competitive market. With the announcement that the Playstation Move will cost less than $100, they have shown that they really know the lifestyle of their core audience.

The biggest thing that Sony took away from their previous mistakes is that they learned how to capitalize on their advantages. In the one week that they’ve started to push The Move they have used the internet more than they did the entire campaign for the Playstation 3. They’ve learned that they can’t just let their reputation carry them because they have some very stiff competition now. Most of all they’ve learned that when dealing with the tech sector being last can cost you a lot. Great marketing departments learn from their mistakes so that next time – and the time after that – you don’t need to go into damage control.

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/22063.cfm
http://www.qj.net/qjnet/playstation-3/sony-playstation-3-marketing-campaign-renewed.html
http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/03/10/sony-new-motion-controller-is-on-the-move/

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