Th3 Play's Th3 Thing

November 13, 2006 | By: David Radd

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You probably either think the title of this article is awfully clever or terribly stupid. But you reacted, thought about the title, and probably clicked on the link. As such, it is like Sony's recent PS3 ad campaign. The ads don't tell you a lot about the system, but they probably get you talking. We chat with SCEA's Peter Dille about PS3's marketing.

This past E3, the L.A. Convention Center was plastered in all sorts of gaming ads. Perhaps the campaign to stick out the most during the mid-May stretch was Sony's "Play Beyond" campaign. Banners, billboards and painted staircases featured regular activities taken to the fantastic extreme.

There were indications at the time that this would be a kick off to a larger global campaign, and time has proven those theories out. Now dubbed "Play B3yond" these TV spots, online banners and print ads are whipping the Sony faithful into a frenzy. Their goal is singular yet immensely complex: help make PlayStation THE name in home console gaming for the third cycle in a row.

We talked with Peter Dille, SCEA's Head of Marketing, about the PlayStation brand's marketing campaign this important holiday season.

By now, millions have already seen the various TV spots for the PS3. They've featured images as dynamic as a freakish goo-goo baby doll, an exploding Rubiks cube and eggs shattering against a wall, which then transform into fully grown ravens. It's all set in a simple white room with the black PS3 working its magic on the items that come close to it.

"It's really about the environment," commented Dille on the ads. "They're being used to symbolize the power of the PS3. Everything is being placed in proximity of the PS3 to bear witness to the power. It's designed to get people to scratch their heads and ask 'What's next?' suggest the 'Play B3yond' campaign and get the 11/17 date out.

Sony's somewhat creepy baby doll crying ad

"From our POV, baby was spawned from our desire to have a brand spot that was provocative and would evoke emotion and imagination. Rubik's was a creative way to get a feature/function benefit across - the Cell Processor is powerful and smart - in a simplistic, clean, metaphorical way," he explained. "There's another spot on the air right now with the SIXAXIS moving around objects around the room, conveying what the controller can do. We had to find a way to do this by metaphors to get people excited."

Looking at the TV spots (and the E3 Play Beyond ad campaign) we noticed a trend of simple yet fun activities taken to the extremes of reality. In particular, with the newer TV ads, we observed a pattern with more old fashioned toys being changed in bizarre ways. This suggesting, this hinting, this teasing is the sort of thing to get a savvy consumer, always surrounded by ads, talking about your campaign long after it was originally viewed. "It's a bit of a Rorschach test to see what people think about it," responded Dille. "People are seeing different things that are significant to them in the ad. They're getting significant acclaim and reactions from consumers, and as a marketing guy, that's the highest praise."

PS3 solves the Rubik's Cube before splattering its colors on the walls

"We're trying to have a conversation with our consumers. We've embedded messages so we can do that," he added cryptically. "There's other stuff going on, and people are going to websites we've set up. We think that [consumers] respond to that. We don't want to lecture them. They don't like to be pandered to."