Sonys ad's are paying off finally-

US, April 5, 2010 - Speaking at the MI6 marketing conference in San Francisco last week, Peter Dille, SCEA's head of marketing, said the company's 'It Only Does Everything' PlayStation 3 advertisement campaign is working.

The ads, which feature fictional Sony executive Kevin Butler, were intended highlight the PlayStation 3's features to consumers more clearly and inject some humor. Dille said console sales are going up and that consumers are more aware and educated about the PlayStation 3's offerings.

"The campaign is working to drive hardware sales," he said. "PlayStation 3 sales are up 184 percent in the three months following the price drop, and while a lot of that has to do with price itself, we know from research that consumers are more educated as well."

"Purchase intent went from 19 percent prior to the price drop, to 36 percent after this campaign started. And we've also tracked our competitors and they've fallen during the same time."

Dille also said fans can expect to see even more of Kevin Butler in future TV spots.

"You're going to continue to see Kevin Butler highlighting new content that is hitting the platform. That will include PlayStation Move later this year and also 3D," he added.

Reflecting on the company's early PlayStation 3 advertising, Dille candidly explained the abstract messaging, which included a crying baby doll in a white room, wasn't the best move in highlighting the features of the console.

"We get questions about the white room and the baby ad quite a bit. That whole campaign was to get people to say 'What the [...]? I need to understand more about what this is,' " he said. "That whole campaign was really about power and the power the PS3 has. But what we found was that this whole positioning was a bit intimidating to people. Our research also showed that Sony could be perceived as arrogant."
Dille also said the company's initial campaign clearly wasn't working and that the worldwide economic downturn wasn't helping.

"We struggled with our messaging early on to clearly communicate the value proposition of the PlayStation 3," explained Dille. "Now I'd like to think that the best, crispiest messaging in the world really wouldn't have done a whole lot to sell a $600 game machine in a very horrendous economy."

He later explained the company's newest campaign offers a much clearer picture of PlayStation 3's features and puts the company in a much better position with its fans.

"With our campaign now, we kind of knocked off all those obstacles. The arrogance I think has gone away," Dille said. "We kind of gotten back to our mojo with the sense of humor that people came to know and love with early PlayStation advertising. I think it's just a more likable connection to the consumer."