Wowzer writes "Sony is up to the same old tricks again. Following in the footsteps of their fake PSP Graffiti campaign, Sony has hired marketing company Zipatoni to set up a YouTube-based viral marketing scheme for the Sony PSP. The company did this by registering the domain alliwantforxmasisapsp. There are no disclaimers to show it isn't 'real', but the website's whois points out it's setup by Zipatoni." From the C&VG article: "The lies don't end there, fake comments have been posted at Kotaku only linking to the Youtube video to increase its pageviews: 'Good call on DJ max. Regarding music: if changes were to be made for westerners, this guy should be considered - LOLZ'"Update: 12/13 02:37 GMT by Z: The Washington Post has an article stating that the FTC will look into situations like this, if they perchance to come up.
... it is not lying... it is, and has been for many years called marketing.
the beer commercial shows you that when you open up one of their beers you get 20 naked women to show up at your party, but the "other" beer brings balding middle aged men.
This is no different from any other commercial on any other form of media.
Hell, Some drug ads never say what they do (so they don't have to give side effects) similar to Sony not saying this is an ad.
If Nintendo or Apple did this, it would be called genius. Instead, it's a total marketing scam because it was done by Sony, who most likely just paid the company to market it and said you guys are the smart ones, you figure out the campaign. This article smacks of teenage journalism, completely down to the Liar, Liar DVD cover. Are these guys just realizing now that marketing companies play dirty to get you to buy their product? Welcome to reality, children.
I'm also a little confused as to how the comment on Kokatu was linked directly to this marketing company. The commenter is mrjohnstamos who has no linking information whatsoever and only one comment. Suspicious, but nowhere near the proof that the evil hand of Sony is behind this.
The problem isn't that Sony paid for cheap-tactics marketing, it's that the attempt is so thinly veiled. Have you even looked at the site yet? It is so obviously created by a marketing firm that is pretending to be an authentic teenager. I don't know about anyone else but if I'm going to have someone lying to my face I'd rather they actually make it believable.
I've always wondered how many of those "fanboys" are 22 year old peons at a marketing firm designed to start "internet hype."
Seriously, for about $50,000 you could pay a small army of net nerds to hype your product for a few weeks and get more exposure to clients than spending that money on a national TV spot. You think marketing companies don't know this? They've been astroturfing internet forums for years, and they've gotten really good at not looking like astroturfing.
There are no such things as astroturfers. Hell, *you* are probably paid by anti-marketing firms to spew nonsense about marketing firms! [Made tounge in cheek!]
I think that when people distrust everyone on the internet as much as they do "people from London on Craigslist" or "Russian girls on Myspace" or "GNAA on Slashdot" or "Brazilians on Orkut", and realize that you can't really trust who edited that Wikipedia article on self STD diagnosis or posted that blog about using 'sudo \rm -Rf/' to fix your Nvidia drivers, then the internet will become a better place. There are going to be people eeking out an existence by modifying the information and posting on message boards to market consumer products and post Amazon referral links. Its a shady business and some people just don't get why.
As soon as we show as much trust to random people on the internet (even our friends on the internet aren't to be trusted!) as we do to people walking down the street in a major metropolitan area, is when we trust them enough.
This story on Slashdot has that strange "lying" spin on it. Everywhere else I read this story, everyone just seems to be laughing hysterically at how pathetic Sony is. Watch the video and you'll understand.
If the point of this campaign was to make it look like the PSP had a big underground following for being cool, it has totally backfired. Who wants to own a PSP now if it means being associated with the character in this video?
No, bullshit. Sorry. This is NOT marketing, and in fact it's borderline deceiveing. I don't give two shits if they call it viral marketing, or astroturfing, or whatever. It is a scam simply because it intends to mislead the consumer by making him beleive that what he's seeing was created by someone who really would like a PSP for Christmas. The fact that this one is so poorly made that it begs to be laughed at is irrelevant. I don't know what saddens me most, the fact that a lot of people just can't grasp the difference or (even worse) that they're so used to this kind of promotion that think it's normal.
By the way, this was created by a PR agency - just click here [zipatoni.com].
But then again, it's Sony we're talking about. It's not like they have a track record [wikipedia.org] in this sort of matters...
The general rule on the internet these days is to assume that any product promotion is actually created by a marketing company. "Fanboys" and the like are more likely just marketroids paid to post good things about PSPs on internet forums.
You are right. Those other people are wrong. What if Sony just made up fake movie reviews, or music reviews. They have actually done this and gotten in big trouble for it. They invented a fictional movie reviewer and plastered fake quotations (ie "The best film I've seen all year!!!") on their movie posters. TOTALLY 100% WRONG. This is no different. The consumer has a right to know what is an ad and what is not.
Why is this so hard to understand? When you see the hot model on TV eating McDonalds (lately it's just been a group of racially diverse trendy-looking idiots smiling while they eat the garbage) you KNOW that it's an ad.
With an astroturfing campaign like this, you don't know whether or not it's a genuine fan site or if it's Sony-sponsored. This site even goes so far as to display an image that says "this is not an ad."
Can you seriously not see the difference? The first ad is clearly a McDonalds ad -- they j
Oh, you mean like the ads I'm seeing on TV saying "Panadol, It's my choice"? Or like so called infomercials out there, which is half an hour of someone raving about how good a certain brand of blender is?
The same Panadol ad with the Panadol logo at the end? Or the shopping channel infomercials that reminds you every 20 minutes that the "show" you're watching is a paid advertisement? Come on, the line might be thin, but it's still there. The fact that advertising nowadays is pretty fucked up doesn't excuse i
If Nintendo or Apple did this, it would be called genius.
Oh hell no. If Nintendo or Apple did this, I would say "Fuck you, Nintendo" or "Fuck you, Apple".
Show me the Nintendo or Apple advertisement that pretends not to be an advertisement, and you have a point. No, "The Wizard" doesn't count. Until then, this is simple: Sony hired someone to astroturf for them, and thus I say "Fuck you, Sony".
Astroturfing is not new, but it's always despicable. Like the phone makers that paid models to hang out in bars flaunting their technology. If Apple paid people to hang out in bars showing off iPods, then they'd be just as bad. So far as I know they don't. Sony is engaging in the same practice, which is to make it appear as though someone likes their product because they truly like it, when in reality they are paid boku bucks to pretend they like it. That's simply rotten.
you just proved that this type of marketing works - here you are talking about their product and speaking on their behalf whether you like it or not. Some people think that there is no such thing as bad marketing and I'm still not sure if I believe it or not.
Yeah, all the coverage on the Sony exploding batteries was a marketing coup for them. And why are convicted sex offenders so upset at having to go door to door to announce their presence -- there's no such thing as bad pr!
If Nintendo or Apple did this, it would be called genius. Instead, it's a total marketing scam because it was done by Sony, who most likely just paid the company to market it and said you guys are the smart ones, you figure out the campaign. This article smacks of teenage journalism, completely down to the Liar, Liar DVD cover. Are these guys just realizing now that marketing companies play dirty to get you to buy their product? Welcome to reality, children.
I would have to disagree with you on this because,
In the same vein, this does appear to be a blog by someone whose friend wants a PSP. But reading just a little into the site shows how lame this site is. It says the same thing constantly: Here's how to bug the people in your family that have money until they buy you a PSP. Nowhere at all does it show the fanboyism that would be necessary to create a site like this.
Add to that the fact that the site is VERY well designed, the graphics are all professional, and there's a really cute chick. Any 1 of those 3 could be chance, but the change that a 13-yo professional-level web and graphic designer ALSO has a cute chick for a friend is absolutely absurd.
The only people going to fall for this are the same 13 year olds that ALREADY want a PSP for xmas. Nobody else will care.
Beer ads are clearly understood to be ads by everyone but small children. The website in question pretends to be something it's not (albeit very ineptly) - you have to look at whois to find out it's an ad. But I agree, it is a form of marketing (better known as astroturfing).
the beer commercial shows you that when you open up one of their beers you get 20 naked women to show up at your party, but the "other" beer brings balding middle aged men.
Honestly, which party would be better for you, the host? Buying a few 24 packs of coors light for you and your sports friends or stocking up on 4/$9 wine coolers for the ladies? Think about it
I think every form of advertising needs to express that it is an ad. There has been much discussion about fake or otherwise paid 'news stories' during normal news broadcasts. This falls within that classification in my opinion. If it purports to be genuinely fan-based and is not, it's a lie -- just as when news media purports to be presenting a product endorsement as a genuine "unbiased news item."
When information is presented, it should be cited when there are profit-based slants involved. I don't want to say there should be a law about it, but in some cases, there are already laws about it. But basically, I believe that if companies have a right to sue and use legal intimidation to slap down critics and even genuine fan-based media, then the public should also have a right to be informed when they are being fed a load of crap generated by marketers and advertisers. I would only consider that to be fair and balanced.
When information is presented, it should be cited when there are profit-based slants involved. I don't want to say there should be a law about it, but in some cases, there are already laws about it. But basically, I believe that if companies have a right to sue and use legal intimidation to slap down critics and even genuine fan-based media, then the public should also have a right to be informed when they are being fed a load of crap generated by marketers and advertisers. I would only consider that to be
I hope you don't smoke at the bar, or sit around people who do smoke. Have you seen what a smoker's lungs look like? I suggest you stop hanging out at bars, stop smoking, and have some Chewlie's gum.
Is it my imagination or is Sony's strategy for their playstation line to attempt to make their product 'cool' rather than to make it a good product for gamers. Over the life of the PSP it has been outsold by both the GBA and Nintendo DS and has failed to make a larger impact largely because it is not a particularly good portable videogame machine. Had Sony put the effort into it the PSP would have a larger library of good games, and in particular a library of unique 'portable gaming' content for the PSP, which would make the system sell far better.
Is it my imagination or is Sony's strategy for their playstation line to attempt to make their product 'cool' rather than to make it a good product for gamers.
You repeat yourself. A 'good product for gamers' is intrinsically 'cool' , is it not? So yes I think they are aiming for that.
Over the life of the PSP it has been outsold by both the GBA and Nintendo DS and has failed to make a larger impact largely because it is not a particularly good portable videogame machine.
The GC was cheaper than the competition and had occasional must-have titles. That's the best part about even Nintendo's biggest failures, they're usually lower priced and have enough good games from first party alone by mid-life to justify the purchase.
Sony isn't exactly a powerhouse developer and their hardware is more expensive. Sony platforms live or die by third party support and for whatever reason, the software sales never came and 3rd party support is drying up. Calling the PSP a dead platform is
Ah, but you forget, it is now "cool" to hate Sony and talk about how much you hate them at every chance you get.
Sadly, you are right. And I did forget. I wonder what the half-life for that phenomenon is. (Probably the length of time between the rootkit and the first breakout hit for the PS3. Or Spiderman 3, whichever comes first.)
Not over 90, sure. But your comparison is one-sided. Here is the data from metacritic:
Actually, if you noticed I was pretty balanced and looked at both game sales and game ratings; the fact is that game reviews are largely subjective and represent how well a game apeals to the core-gamer demographic, game sales represent how a game apeals to to the masses. I also have been trying not to directly compare the PSP to the Nintendo DS, mainly because the Nintendo DS is one of the fastest selling consoles in the
you can always try to use this $249 bill to buy a psp entertainment pack for yourself. don't rlly try to use, though - if you do, you'll be playing it the next 5-10 years in cell block H!
Some poor lawyer had to pretend to be a subliterate 14-year-old while adding a disclaimer to that mess!
I know I'll get tagged flamebait, troll and whatnot, but this is pretty much the way Apple's products are being marketed. The items are made "trendy", they are sold via the way of being "hip" and "cool", and that everyone wants one because they're hip and cool. How many ads do you know that talk about the features and unique things the iPod can do? How many of the accessoires that you can buy for it do really have additional value to it?
Aside from the ITMS, which a good deal of iPod users never touched, what's the advantage over other MP3 players on the market? I mean, technically, not from being "cool".
Now, I hate Sony maybe even MORE than the average/.er, I've had my share of problems and (needless) lawsuits with them. But what they do here is exactly what marketing is about today. Creating a hype. Making the product cool and thus making people want it. Not because it is technically superior or offers more utility than the competition, but simply because "so many say it's cool, so it's gotta be cool".
If you have an iPod, ask yourself why. Because you compared it and you actually found it REALLY superior to the other products in that market sector, or because someone told you it's cool and that you should have it? You needn't answer. Just ask yourself and try to be honest with yourself.
Sure, but IIRC, most companies do their advertising in an open and obvious fashion.
Sony isn't being criticized for trying to make their product hip & cool, but for being sneaky about it.
IMO, there are enough people out there that dislike advertising & marketing, to the point that most corporate sponsored "viral" campaigns will get their covers blown off fairly early.
Some people take satisfaction in unmasking 'dishonest' campaigns, others just don't like being manipulated.
You seem to be missing the point. What's wrong isn't that Sony is trying to be cool. There's nothing wrong with that (even though it seems to have backfired horribly).
The difference is that Apple designates their adverts as such. When you watch/see an Apple ad, it's still clear that this is the company presenting itself to you. Sony wants you to believe it's not them presenting themselves to you but somebody else praising them to high heaven.
A company can go "Hello, we're Apple and we're really hip, just compare this personified PC with this personified mac!" all it wants. But it can't go "We're just a couple of random teenagers with no connection to Sony - but let's all buy PSPs!"
There still is a thin line between marketing and lying. A very thin line, yes, but it's nonetheless there.
I know you said I needn't answer, but I feel that I should nonetheless. The reason I bought an iPod (an iPod nano, actually) is because of the simplicity of managing my music with iTunes. I had owned several Creative (and before that, Rio) players and after the last one broke I started looking more and more at iPods. Both their music management systems are bloated and buggy - say what you will about iTunes's memory footprint, it has never once crashed on me, and with 1GB of RAM the 40-50MB it takes while
This to me just demonstrates the quality of the advertising and marketing industry. They produce this sort of garbage more for their own reputation and portfolio than they do for the good of the client.
They want to demonstrate that they're capable of doing extreme, creative work but the end result is lame and far from being creative. It's like they produce the first crappy idea someone comes up with. And it seems they're obsessed with Adult Swim and Youtube.
I'm curious is Sony openly embraced these campaigns or if they were forced into it by the marketing company. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter. From personal experience, I've found the people at many of these advertising companies to be very arrogant. I also get the distinct impression from their surveys that they seem to have a habit of fabricating market research which somehow always demonstrates that their way of doing things is the most effective.
I realize everyone seems to enjoy bashing Sony and I can't say I disagree with much of what is said. That said, I can't say this is unique to Sony. I'd say most consumer goods companies use this sort of advertising. To single out Sony for this over anyone else is a bit foolish to me. What I do hate is this sort of advertising, to me it's an insult to my intelligence. But then, I hate advertising in general.
In the "blog" Sony paid for (and condoned) is the following:
don't just wear it - pwn it!!1!
<pictures snipped>
step 1: download [alliwantfo...isapsp.com] the iron-on patterns sheet
step 2: print
step 3: cut out pieces you want on your t
step 3: iron on
step 4: wear it like u mean it
No terms. No requirements. No restrictions. No demands. No disclaimers. Anyone who understands "pwn it!!1!" can easily claim that Sony paid a company to expressly promote and authorise the free use of any and all trademarked symbols, none of which display a trademark symbol in the PDFs, for their own purposes regardless of what they might be. That is pwnage.
You don't need to have spent years on the internet to know that when someone makes common mistakes/shortcuts like luv and ur, they don't do it halfway. You'll never see the following sentence on the internet by someone doing it unintentionally.
Hello everyone, I was just thinking that ur all going to luv my latest blog entry.
This sentence of my creation highlights something everyone who's ever used IRC, read Barrens chat, or hacked the e-mail of a 14 year old knows. People who use ur and luv and similar shortcuts and mispellings will not be using proper punctuation, spelling and grammar. It doesn't happen.
Yet, here is what we have from the website. I will be pointlessly dissecting it.
here's the deal::: i (charlie) have a psp. my friend jeremy does not. but he wants one this year for xmas.
People do not use colons on the internet. That key is the jaded and lost son of the realm of QWERTY. People also make assumptions, assumptions such as their identity being well known. They won't be specifying that they are "charlie", you should already know that. If you don't, you're a noob. Jeremy fails to be derided for not having a PSP. Lastly, no one speaking like this would specify "this year", or type "one" out. Number keys are there 4 a reason.
so we started clowning with sum not-so-subtle hints to j's parents that a psp would be teh perfect gift. we created this site to spread the luv to those like j who want a psp!
No one on the internet can spell subtle, let alone know where to use hyphens. A common thing to notice is the use of larger words here were smaller ones would have sufficed. "started" could be "were" or "did". "created" is two syllabels longer than "made". The last sentence would more improperly be "we maed this site 2 giv luv 4 u who want a psp liek j!"
consider us your own personal psp hype machine, here to help you wage a holiday assault on ur parents, girl, granny, boss -- whoever -- so they know what you really want.
Again with the long words. Very few words over 2 syllabels are in the common lexicon on the internet. "consider", "personal", "holiday", "whoever", all unknown to the internet mind. Again with the hyphens as well. There are no "girl"s on the internet, only "gf"s, and when was the last time we saw "granny"? What kid this supposed age would have a "boss"?
we'll let you know how it works for us. pls return the favor.
more to come, c&j.
Anyone who uses ur is not going to type out "you". "you" is four characters too many as it is. Also, the kind of comraderie shown in this last sentiment is completely foreign. This is the internet, not a high tea. There are no favors, there are only noobs and 1337 h4x.
After looking at the site I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Do middle school kids really talk and act like that today or is this just some marketing dweebs wet dream. No other middle school generation could've ever been this dorky as what I saw on Sony's web site.
Well, there's nothing wrong on the surface. It's just that the consumer doesn't 'know' that it's Sony's marketing blitz. Sony is probably doing it out of pure motive of trying to gather interest and make the news (mission accomplished--see article). But there are some people that don't like being lied to regardless of the conditions.
As consumers we feel we have a right to know where our advertisements are coming from. When we don't know who's advertising what, we get annoyed. Some of us even associate it with evil like SPAM marketers.
Essentially what it comes down to is Sony trying to present third party opinions of their products but not only are these opinions biased and untrue--they may be monetarily compensated for saying these things. They essentially lose 'street cred' among gamers. They aren't doing anything illegal, they're just using tricky marketing tactics that make the news. Some people hate it, some people might gobble it right up. Either way, I just spent two minutes talking about it to you.
Why do you think Google bought YouTube anyway? Its a platform for delivering non-traditional advertising.
You might have noticed that almost every IT rag & business magazine has been talking about the tremendous marketing potential of YouTube in the last few months. This isn't an accident -- YouTube was designed to deliver ads in the form of TV show clips and promotional videos like Sony's.
The user-generated content is a sideshow or trojan horse to hide the real content.
Don't get me wrong, I will never by a PSP or another sony product again (the cameras were ok), for the many attrocties they have done on the buying product (and I don't count the price of the PS3 amoung them), but lets stop knocking them for every little thing they do.
What's next? Stop saying that everything Microsoft does is wrong?!?! This is Slashdot, hyperbole rules!
What's 'wrong' is that some Slashdot visitors have uninformed outrage due to the assumption that other companies aren't doing the exact same thing. This sort of thing was even on the national news a few months back - people who got paid to review products and post about it on Forums. But the company behind it was 'reputable' - they wouldn't post fake reviews. On the other hand, if the reviewer didn't like the product - they simply wouldn't post much at all.
It's happening all the time, and all over the plac
That is, of course, ridiculous. If Apple or Nintendo were to do this, you would see plenty of people criticizing them for it, saying it was lame, etc. Seriously, there seems to be this notion that Apple or Nintendo never get criticized here, but that seems pretty far from reality.
The big difference of course though is that Apple and Nintendo currently don't NEED to do this. They didn't need to create fake blogs to get people to talk about current or upcoming products, because there are plenty of real ones that do this for them. Sony of course doesn't always need to do this either........ if you have a successful or in-demand product like the PS3, you don't need to create a website like alliwantforxmasisaps3.com.
Outside of that though, historically speaking, Apple and Nintendo haven't really had to do this, or even when you could say they had to do, it isn't the kind of thing they normally would do. I mean, remember, the Mac has minuscule marketshare, all things being equal. Nintendo's GameCube came in third place. But Apple and Nintendo haven't used that as an excuse to create some goofy fake site to try and add hipness or something to their product lines.
And really, Sony doesn't have to do that either. The other tact to take with the PSP is to keep releasing high quality titles like MGS: Portable Ops, and get REAL buzz going again for the platform from real people.
The "Snakes on a Plane" buzz/meme was started by an actual blog that was making fun of the name. It was unexpected by the producers, who actually wanted to change the name. It was basically Sam Jackson's hilarious remarks and a bunch of actual internet nerds who created the viral campaign - not the company. They did later take advantage of this, but through more traditional means, like Jackson't interview on The Daily Show.
It's called Marketing (Score:2, Insightful)
the beer commercial shows you that when you open up one of their beers you get 20 naked women to show up at your party, but the "other" beer brings balding middle aged men.
This is no different from any other commercial on any other form of media.
Hell, Some drug ads never say what they do (so they don't have to give side effects) similar to Sony not saying this is an ad.
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm also a little confused as to how the comment on Kokatu was linked directly to this marketing company. The commenter is mrjohnstamos who has no linking information whatsoever and only one comment. Suspicious, but nowhere near the proof that the evil hand of Sony is behind this.
Can we get some real news now?
Parent
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, for about $50,000 you could pay a small army of net nerds to hype your product for a few weeks and get more exposure to clients than spending that money on a national TV spot. You think marketing companies don't know this? They've been astroturfing internet forums for years, and they've gotten really good at not looking like astroturfing.
Parent
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
I think that when people distrust everyone on the internet as much as they do "people from London on Craigslist" or "Russian girls on Myspace" or "GNAA on Slashdot" or "Brazilians on Orkut", and realize that you can't really trust who edited that Wikipedia article on self STD diagnosis or posted that blog about using 'sudo \rm -Rf
As soon as we show as much trust to random people on the internet (even our friends on the internet aren't to be trusted!) as we do to people walking down the street in a major metropolitan area, is when we trust them enough.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If the point of this campaign was to make it look like the PSP had a big underground following for being cool, it has totally backfired. Who wants to own a PSP now if it means being associated with the character in this video?
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:4, Insightful)
By the way, this was created by a PR agency - just click here [zipatoni.com].
But then again, it's Sony we're talking about. It's not like they have a track record [wikipedia.org] in this sort of matters...
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
When you see the hot model on TV eating McDonalds (lately it's just been a group of racially diverse trendy-looking idiots smiling while they eat the garbage) you KNOW that it's an ad.
With an astroturfing campaign like this, you don't know whether or not it's a genuine fan site or if it's Sony-sponsored. This site even goes so far as to display an image that says "this is not an ad."
Can you seriously not see the difference? The first ad is clearly a McDonalds ad -- they j
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The same Panadol ad with the Panadol logo at the end? Or the shopping channel infomercials that reminds you every 20 minutes that the "show" you're watching is a paid advertisement? Come on, the line might be thin, but it's still there. The fact that advertising nowadays is pretty fucked up doesn't excuse i
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh hell no. If Nintendo or Apple did this, I would say "Fuck you, Nintendo" or "Fuck you, Apple".
Show me the Nintendo or Apple advertisement that pretends not to be an advertisement, and you have a point. No, "The Wizard" doesn't count. Until then, this is simple: Sony hired someone to astroturf for them, and thus I say "Fuck you, Sony".
Astroturfing is not new, but it's always despicable. Like the phone makers that paid models to hang out in bars flaunting their technology. If Apple paid people to hang out in bars showing off iPods, then they'd be just as bad. So far as I know they don't. Sony is engaging in the same practice, which is to make it appear as though someone likes their product because they truly like it, when in reality they are paid boku bucks to pretend they like it. That's simply rotten.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, all the coverage on the Sony exploding batteries was a marketing coup for them. And why are convicted sex offenders so upset at having to go door to door to announce their presence -- there's no such thing as bad pr!
I'm sure my "Fuck Sony!" comme
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I would have to disagree with you on this because,
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Must read Bill Hicks anti-marketing rant (Score:5, Funny)
http://sennoma.net/main/edits/Hicks.html [sennoma.net]
This is how it starts... "By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself."
It only gets better.
Parent
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Funny)
Add to that the fact that the site is VERY well designed, the graphics are all professional, and there's a really cute chick. Any 1 of those 3 could be chance, but the change that a 13-yo professional-level web and graphic designer ALSO has a cute chick for a friend is absolutely absurd.
The only people going to fall for this are the same 13 year olds that ALREADY want a PSP for xmas. Nobody else will care.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Honestly, which party would be better for you, the host? Buying a few 24 packs of coors light for you and your sports friends or stocking up on 4/$9 wine coolers for the ladies? Think about it
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for making me feel old.
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:5, Interesting)
When information is presented, it should be cited when there are profit-based slants involved. I don't want to say there should be a law about it, but in some cases, there are already laws about it. But basically, I believe that if companies have a right to sue and use legal intimidation to slap down critics and even genuine fan-based media, then the public should also have a right to be informed when they are being fed a load of crap generated by marketers and advertisers. I would only consider that to be fair and balanced.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's called Marketing (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
sony has too much money to deceive you (Score:5, Insightful)
i think you have your terms confused.
when a prominent media figure uses lawyers and journalists to avoid telling the truth, that's called spin .
when a government official enlists the help of others to not tell the truth, that's called a national security .
when a huge multi-national corporation doesn't tell the truth, that's called marketing .
when a regular person, doesn't tell the truth and has no money, politcal affiliation or legal representation that's lying .
lying is bad. spinning, marketing, and national security are what keeps us safe at night.
Parent
Trying to make it 'cool' (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You repeat yourself. A 'good product for gamers' is intrinsically 'cool' , is it not? So yes I think they are aiming for that.
When Nintendo comes in 3rd place (
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sony isn't exactly a powerhouse developer and their hardware is more expensive. Sony platforms live or die by third party support and for whatever reason, the software sales never came and 3rd party support is drying up. Calling the PSP a dead platform is
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It wouldn't be cool to hate them if their products were more worthwhile.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Sadly, you are right. And I did forget. I wonder what the half-life for that phenomenon is. (Probably the length of time between the rootkit and the first breakout hit for the PS3. Or Spiderman 3, whichever comes first.)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, if you noticed I was pretty balanced and looked at both game sales and game ratings; the fact is that game reviews are largely subjective and represent how well a game apeals to the core-gamer demographic, game sales represent how a game apeals to to the masses. I also have been trying not to directly compare the PSP to the Nintendo DS, mainly because the Nintendo DS is one of the fastest selling consoles in the
The best part... (Score:5, Funny)
Some poor lawyer had to pretend to be a subliterate 14-year-old while adding a disclaimer to that mess!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
The Apple way (Score:3, Insightful)
Aside from the ITMS, which a good deal of iPod users never touched, what's the advantage over other MP3 players on the market? I mean, technically, not from being "cool".
Now, I hate Sony maybe even MORE than the average
If you have an iPod, ask yourself why. Because you compared it and you actually found it REALLY superior to the other products in that market sector, or because someone told you it's cool and that you should have it? You needn't answer. Just ask yourself and try to be honest with yourself.
Re:The Apple way (Score:4, Insightful)
Sony isn't being criticized for trying to make their product hip & cool, but for being sneaky about it.
IMO, there are enough people out there that dislike advertising & marketing, to the point that most corporate sponsored "viral" campaigns will get their covers blown off fairly early.
Some people take satisfaction in unmasking 'dishonest' campaigns, others just don't like being manipulated.
Parent
Re:The Apple way (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is that Apple designates their adverts as such. When you watch/see an Apple ad, it's still clear that this is the company presenting itself to you. Sony wants you to believe it's not them presenting themselves to you but somebody else praising them to high heaven.
A company can go "Hello, we're Apple and we're really hip, just compare this personified PC with this personified mac!" all it wants. But it can't go "We're just a couple of random teenagers with no connection to Sony - but let's all buy PSPs!"
There still is a thin line between marketing and lying. A very thin line, yes, but it's nonetheless there.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Blame the advertising company. (Score:3, Insightful)
They want to demonstrate that they're capable of doing extreme, creative work but the end result is lame and far from being creative. It's like they produce the first crappy idea someone comes up with. And it seems they're obsessed with Adult Swim and Youtube.
I'm curious is Sony openly embraced these campaigns or if they were forced into it by the marketing company. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter. From personal experience, I've found the people at many of these advertising companies to be very arrogant. I also get the distinct impression from their surveys that they seem to have a habit of fabricating market research which somehow always demonstrates that their way of doing things is the most effective.
I realize everyone seems to enjoy bashing Sony and I can't say I disagree with much of what is said. That said, I can't say this is unique to Sony. I'd say most consumer goods companies use this sort of advertising. To single out Sony for this over anyone else is a bit foolish to me. What I do hate is this sort of advertising, to me it's an insult to my intelligence. But then, I hate advertising in general.
Did Sony release the symbols to public domain? (Score:5, Interesting)
Critique (Score:5, Insightful)
This sentence of my creation highlights something everyone who's ever used IRC, read Barrens chat, or hacked the e-mail of a 14 year old knows. People who use ur and luv and similar shortcuts and mispellings will not be using proper punctuation, spelling and grammar. It doesn't happen.
Yet, here is what we have from the website. I will be pointlessly dissecting it.
People do not use colons on the internet. That key is the jaded and lost son of the realm of QWERTY. People also make assumptions, assumptions such as their identity being well known. They won't be specifying that they are "charlie", you should already know that. If you don't, you're a noob. Jeremy fails to be derided for not having a PSP. Lastly, no one speaking like this would specify "this year", or type "one" out. Number keys are there 4 a reason.
No one on the internet can spell subtle, let alone know where to use hyphens. A common thing to notice is the use of larger words here were smaller ones would have sufficed. "started" could be "were" or "did". "created" is two syllabels longer than "made". The last sentence would more improperly be "we maed this site 2 giv luv 4 u who want a psp liek j!"
Again with the long words. Very few words over 2 syllabels are in the common lexicon on the internet. "consider", "personal", "holiday", "whoever", all unknown to the internet mind. Again with the hyphens as well. There are no "girl"s on the internet, only "gf"s, and when was the last time we saw "granny"? What kid this supposed age would have a "boss"?
Anyone who uses ur is not going to type out "you". "you" is four characters too many as it is. Also, the kind of comraderie shown in this last sentiment is completely foreign. This is the internet, not a high tea. There are no favors, there are only noobs and 1337 h4x.
if ur goin 2 b 1337 u hav 2 b cool like m3 lol
It's called Pathetic (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What is going on? (Score:5, Insightful)
As consumers we feel we have a right to know where our advertisements are coming from. When we don't know who's advertising what, we get annoyed. Some of us even associate it with evil like SPAM marketers.
Essentially what it comes down to is Sony trying to present third party opinions of their products but not only are these opinions biased and untrue--they may be monetarily compensated for saying these things. They essentially lose 'street cred' among gamers. They aren't doing anything illegal, they're just using tricky marketing tactics that make the news. Some people hate it, some people might gobble it right up. Either way, I just spent two minutes talking about it to you.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
You might have noticed that almost every IT rag & business magazine has been talking about the tremendous marketing potential of YouTube in the last few months. This isn't an accident -- YouTube was designed to deliver ads in the form of TV show clips and promotional videos like Sony's.
The user-generated content is a sideshow or trojan horse to hide the real content.
Re:What is going on? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
What's next? Stop saying that everything Microsoft does is wrong?!?! This is Slashdot, hyperbole rules!
Re: (Score:2)
This sort of thing was even on the national news a few months back - people who got paid to review products and post about it on Forums. But the company behind it was 'reputable' - they wouldn't post fake reviews. On the other hand, if the reviewer didn't like the product - they simply wouldn't post much at all.
It's happening all the time, and all over the plac
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Not to mention you're fucked without the ice beam.
Re:Once again Sony is Satan... (Score:4, Insightful)
The big difference of course though is that Apple and Nintendo currently don't NEED to do this. They didn't need to create fake blogs to get people to talk about current or upcoming products, because there are plenty of real ones that do this for them. Sony of course doesn't always need to do this either........ if you have a successful or in-demand product like the PS3, you don't need to create a website like alliwantforxmasisaps3.com.
Outside of that though, historically speaking, Apple and Nintendo haven't really had to do this, or even when you could say they had to do, it isn't the kind of thing they normally would do. I mean, remember, the Mac has minuscule marketshare, all things being equal. Nintendo's GameCube came in third place. But Apple and Nintendo haven't used that as an excuse to create some goofy fake site to try and add hipness or something to their product lines.
And really, Sony doesn't have to do that either. The other tact to take with the PSP is to keep releasing high quality titles like MGS: Portable Ops, and get REAL buzz going again for the platform from real people.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)