Learning from Sony's viral blog mistake

by Andrew Yoon { Dec 18th 2006 at 7:30PM }

"From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP."

These were the last words of Sony's viral-blog-gone-bad. The site is now suspiciously empty, showing how empty that apology/promise really was. Advertising Age did an interesting write-up on the whole ordeal, making note that the FTC is now taking steps to ensure that companies disclose the true nature of any viral communications they produce. The article has four things to learn from Sony's mistakes, and I found the following to be most important: "The consumer is smarter than you think, alternative marketing tactics must be genuine, authentic and in today's world, transparent." As Penny Arcade smartly noted, "The reality is that no agency can create viral marketing, this is the sole domain of the consumer."

Sony has to stop thinking we're idiots, and start treating us as educated consumers that know what we want. The homebrew community is a testament to that statement. Sony: listen to the gamers, read some PSP Fanboy and Joystiq, and figure out what we want.

[Via AdJab]

Tags: ad, ad age, AdAge, advertising age, AdvertisingAge, blog, ftc, marketing, penny arcade, PennyArcade, sony, viral

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Colin @ Dec 18th 2006 9:40PM

Well if the homebrew community is REALLY a statement of what Sony's consumers want, it's simple:

'Free AAA games that we can get whenever we want and never have to pay for.'

Somehow, I don't think this is a statement that Sony is gonna start listening to...

-Colin

Strike Man @ Dec 18th 2006 9:54PM

I think Colin already put it best.

Yes, there's that small section of the homebrew community that has a genuine interest in making the PSP do all sorts of cool things, but the vast majority of people (kids?) just want to use it to pirate games.

It wouldn't be a bad idea for Sony to listen to some of the creators of homebrew software, but they'd gain nothing by hearing what the kid who screams "zomg torrent plz" has to say.

Killbloggers @ Dec 18th 2006 10:13PM

Sorry Andrew, but this whole story is a proof that people ARE idiots. I was shocked that ANYONE would think that this is a real blog run by some guys at thier free time. I mean look at the freaking URL!

People who "discovered" that this is a viral ad ("duh") and complained about it are stupid. The shocking revelation is that how many people are stupid not that Sony tries to advertize its products in any possible media and format. That what business do.

If Sony really wanted to dupe people with blogging it would create some privately held blog company, called something like Webblogs, Inc., open a blog called say "joypad" and then hired a bunch of kids to write for $5 an hour and a professional editor who would make sure that what they write is generally along the lines what company needs. You know what I mean? And that thing would be cheaper then one Bravia TV commercial.

And talking about ads: nice job trying to plug your companys blogs, why you do not say "read Kotaku and 1up"? Complaining about Sony, huh? Well pspfunboy is OK, but Joystick has became such shit, I stopped reading it compleately. Kotaku is now much better. Highly recommended.

John IV @ Dec 19th 2006 2:42AM

Comment #1 - hammer hits nail on head.

fabiank2 @ Dec 19th 2006 8:16AM

"Well if the homebrew community is REALLY a statement of what Sony's consumers want, it's simple:

'Free AAA games that we can get whenever we want and never have to pay for.'

Somehow, I don't think this is a statement that Sony is gonna start listening to..."

Yeah right, cause everyone who runs homebrews is automatically ripping isos and stuff. Your opinion sucks.

Homebrews and the possibility of it is a customer market, just take xbox, they are now charging 99$ for a XboxIDE and uploading all the games you want to xbox-live. I think I would buy a PSP-IDE and Lib-collection for such a price.

pixelator @ Dec 19th 2006 11:31AM

The homebrew community is not solely about piracy.

Pirated games are a problem on ALL platforms, including the DS and *especially* the GBA. PSP homebrewers have no exclusivity to having some of their ranks downloading ISOs. With Sony continuing to patch the firmware, they're showing the publishers they intend to quell it, and that's all they can do. Unfortunately, honest homebrewers suffer.

Lumping the entire homebrew community in with the hardcore pirates is unfair. There are amateur coders out there producing flash games, emulators, video players and much more who have nothing to do with ISO copying/distribution. How is what they're doing saying 'We want AAA games for free' ..?

But then, you also said PSP Fanboy was ADVOCATING PIRACY by simply posting news of a new firmware emulator, so you're no stranger to the concept.

DiahrreaMan @ Dec 19th 2006 1:05PM

It's true. A friend of mine has a PSP and uses it solely to play homebrew games, like this one where you control a blue square (?) and you have to get all the other blue squares while avoiding the red ones (?), a really addicting and original game. And he played EarthBound as well. (Gotta love Ness)