FEATURES: Look, listen, learn: the secret to successful ads for Sony Playstation

<p>Tapping into the lifestyles of consumer is the crux of </p><p>Playstation's advertising and branding tactics in both local and </p><p>overseas markets - and Sony Computer Entertainment is taking on a </p><p>humanised approach in its advertising campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Since the launch of Sony's Playstation in 1995, Hakuhodo Inc executive </p><p>creative director Yoshihiko Kurosu has been responsible for building up </p><p>the Playstation brand from scratch to what is now among the world's </p><p>best-known video game makers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Nearly all of Playstation's advertising campaigns were created by Mr </p><p>Kurosu, and the video game marketer releases about 60 TVCs annually. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>His creative strategy is simple: tie Playstation into the daily lives of </p><p>consumers, rather than focus on the game itself. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It's not just about the game's world, but the feeling and involvement </p><p>of the users playing the games," said Mr Kurosu. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Playstation's game characters were imposed into real life situations as </p><p>a way to underline the fun aspects of the game; as Mr Kurosu said the </p><p>commercials aim to spotlight the enjoyment factor of the games. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For instance, one tactical campaign for a dice computer game featured a </p><p>real office environment in which people imagined tables rolling like </p><p>dice as a way to cheer up the atmosphere. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Listening, observing and absorbing everyday events and interaction </p><p>between people was key to the campaign and to ensure that consumers </p><p>could relate to the ads, which nonetheless adopt a uniform approach in </p><p>terms of logo placement at the start and end of all commercials. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This was designed to raise brand awareness among the audience, who could </p><p>thus immediately associate the commercials with the Playstation </p><p>brand. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In addition to thematic campaigns, tactical spots promote sales and </p><p>public service announcements encourage Playstation users to retain a </p><p>sense of perspective - for example, to not spend all their pocket money </p><p>on Playstation games, and to do their homework first. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Targeting game players of all ages, Playstation's advertising campaigns </p><p>aim to communicate Sony's quality brand value and the games' close ties </p><p>with human life. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The launch of Playstation 2 in March evoked high level of publicity in </p><p>Japan, becoming the talk of the town and pushing sales to all-time </p><p>highs. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This in itself created a challenge for Mr Kurosu: how do you create a </p><p>new campaign for a product which has already generated a huge amount of </p><p>publicity simply by its very existence? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Overwhelming noise levels and public enthusiasm about the new product </p><p>thus required a new advertising concept to break through the publicity </p><p>clutter - so instead of fighting the noise, Mr Kurosu simply went the </p><p>other way and created a low-profile campaign which capitalised on the </p><p>growing anticipation of the launch of Playstation 2. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Twenty TVCs rolled out over an eight-day period, profiling everyone from </p><p>young consumers to shop owners waiting for the release of the game. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The "unplugged" execution had the desired effect - there was no </p><p>background music, no aggressive or excessive editing - and closely </p><p>reflected the mood of the market by featuring conversations which echoed </p><p>real-life situations. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>