Sony Still Selling Multimedia PS3
As Sony Computer Entertainment UK gears up for the holiday season, they've hired Future Plus to publish a high-end brochure for the PlayStation 3. Over 250,000 copies of the brochure are planned to be distributed at various PS3 displays and events to "educate potential buyers about the benefits of the PlayStation 3 console." I sure hope games are one of them.
A lavishly produced 60-page perfect bound, matt laminate brochure, the publication is closer to a premium car brochure than traditional video games marketing materials. The handbook is split into four clearly defined chapters, revealing all about the console’s advanced HD technology, the upcoming games and movies, its powerful online capabilities, with all the facts and figures a prospective new owner could want.
Interesting that the games are only one of the four chapters. I don't really understand why Sony insists on marketing the PS3 as some kind of catch-all home computing device. Average Joe Consumer isn't going to seriously consider what to him would look like a game machine, while diehard gamers just want more awesome games to play. I think Sony would be better off focusing on one aspect of the system (games) and making it a bestseller before branching off to explore its other abilities. But then again, what do I know? I don't run a multi-millon dollar international corporation. I just play games.
Full details of their crazy plan after the jump!
Future Plus teams with Sony for PlayStation 3 brochure
Premium handbook promotes Sony's next-gen console
10/09/07– Sony Computer Entertainment (UK) – SCE(UK) has signed up the UK’s fastest growing customer publishing agency – Future Plus, to produce a high-end brochure for its PlayStation 3® console.
The new brochure is part of a wider promotional campaign, as SCE(UK) gears up for the first Christmas of the PS3 ®, which launched across Europe earlier this year.
The brochure acts as a sales and customer acquisition tool for Sony’s console. Over 250,000 copies of the brochure will be distributed by Sony at specially created PlayStation 3 displays and events held across the UK – at major shopping centres, department stores and transport hubs from early October – as the company educates potential buyers about the benefits of the PlayStation 3 console. Aside from hosting the most advanced video games, the PlayStation 3 is a media hub for the front room, playing Blu-Ray movies and offering internet connectivity, with personal video recorder (PVR) functionality coming early next year.
A lavishly produced 60-page perfect bound, matt laminate brochure, the publication is closer to a premium car brochure than traditional video games marketing materials. The handbook is split into four clearly defined chapters, revealing all about the console’s advanced HD technology, the upcoming games and movies, its powerful online capabilities, with all the facts and figures a prospective new owner could want.
Alan Duncan, UK Marketing Director, SCEE, said:
“Future Plus got the objective of communicating the broad functionality of PlayStation 3 in a digestible form from day one. Their solution meets the objective whilst retaining a sense of attitude and personality which is so important to PlayStation. Deepening consumer's understanding of the PS3 is important for us this Christmas and the brochure will play a key role in achieving this.”
Mike Goldsmith, Editorial Director, Future Plus added:
“We are delighted to be working with SCE (UK) on our first project together. This high-end brochure will be a fantastic marketing tool for the PlayStation 3, designed to encourage, attract and educate potential buyers. There will be fierce competition for console sales this Christmas and the brochure will give many reasons why people should buy a PlayStation 3 over its rivals.”
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 11 September 2007
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: brochure, multimedia, promotion, ps3, sony
Umm, of course they're "selling" the multimedia aspects of PS3. Making the brochure all about games is kind of like making a brochure about a car and not mentioning the extra features: trunk, radio, etc. Sure they aren't really necessary to its main purpose: transporting you from one place to another, but they are there, they work, and they are value-added content.
Can't have the whole thing be about the games. After all, that would imply that they have a gaming library that justifies the expense. And we all know that's not the case. Better to try and make it seem like something more functional that a plug in paper weight.
Can't have the whole thing be about the games. After all, that would imply that they have a gaming library that justifies the expense. And we all know that's not the case. Better to try and make it seem like something more functional that a plug in paper weight.
Because when I'm shopping in a store, I'm going to sit down and read a 60-page booklet.
Honestly, does this company even employ people with brains anymore?
This is an unpopular opinion at the moment but.. maybe Sony is touting the functionality of the PS3 because (wait for it...) it's actually an incredibly functional device. I know people love to pooh-pooh the PS3 because it doesn't have as many games as a console that came out a year ahead of it, but... guess what. A year from now the 2 big consoles will have nearly identical software lineups, except one of them will be a quiet Blu-ray player, web browser, game machine, and media server with an easily expandable hard drive, and the other will still be... a noisy game machine that breaks a lot. As someone who has both a PS3 and a 360 sitting side by side in my living room, it's pretty clear to this observer that the PS3 is a more well-rounded, better-built, and more forward-thinking piece of technology. Moan about the library all you want if it makes you feel better, but the PS3 is really an impressive and versatile machine in my experience, and will be around for a while.
And seriously. Hasn't the "it doesn't have any games" and "it's just a paperweight" refrain gotten a little old yet?
thank you, spaz.
thank you.