Sony Playstation's Sydney office has a feeling of New Year's Eve about it today. As the midnight launch of PS4 in New York approaches Playstation is kicking off its first local activity in the run up to the Australian launch.
The ad, which is live on YouTube from today (15 November) will air on TV and cinema later this month with outdoor and print support. It introduces the “This is for the Players” strapline that will be used across the European region, of which Australia and New Zealand are a part. The US region uses the tagline “Greatness awaits.”
Sony senior director of marketing Raoul Bedford says the PS4 is created for gamers, by gamers and the ad sees a montage of in-game scenarios and characters that gamers will recognise and Easter eggs to spot. It's the kind of ad that will be watched and rewatched.
Playstation has also created an interactive version of the ad that lets users click on the Easter eggs when they spot them and see how many they find.
PS4 doesn't launch here until later this month – a week before Microsoft’s Xbox launches. Between now and then, there is also a raft of tactical activity on the cards – none of which Bedford was keen to talk about lest he should give away the plan to the rivals.
Playstation has also introduced 'The Declaration of Play' where gamers can identify what kind of player they are – almost like fitting into a tribe – and create a “global movement. The Declaration campaign connects with Twitter and Facebook and users' photos will be collated into a “monument” that Playstation will reveal before the Australian launch. Bedford says the declaration is the “essence of Playstation”.
Playstation's launch strategy, since the PS4 was announced in February, has been to focus on core gamers. It's diametrically opposite to Microsoft's strategy to play to the masses and position the Xbox as the entertainment hub of the home.
Bedford told AdNews while the launch strategy is about gamers, its marketing strategy is not “limited” to that segment. Playstation will also roll out messaging that talks to the entertainment side of Playstation, film and music, and non-gamers.
He added that Playstation has seen “unprecedented” levels of pre-sales and interest. He wouldn't reveal any numbers but pointed to recent Roy Morgan data on intent to buy, has it at around 600,000 – around double what it counts for Xbox.
PS4, which launches at midnight today in New York, is the biggest launch in seven years. Bedford says it is “dramatically” different to the PS3 and has been built to mirror consumer behaviour and the ubiquity of social platforms like Twitter that didn't even exist back then.
The new interface is “more dynamic and less commercial” than PS3, with recommendations for content, games and films served based on personal usage and behaviours rather than the overt “push messaging” PS3 embraced.
It has also been built to enable and encourage sharing. It automatically records the last 15 minutes of gameplay and an in-built share button means gamers can share moments like goals on Fifa with their networks.
As mobile gaming has grown, Sony has had to integrate mobile devices into its Playstation strategy with apps that connect to the console and mini-games users can play on mobile devices, but Bedford wouldn’t be drawn on whether mobile would take over consoles or whether PS4 and Xbox One could be the last big consoles of their kind.
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