Sony spends £82 million in new European marketing campaign

by Andrew Yoon { Aug 25th 2009 at 12:30PM }

£82 million. €94 million. $135 million. Any way you put it, that's a large amount of money. The new ad campaign, which focuses on the redesigned, slim PS3 and new PSN services, is the first major campaign from SCEE since the highly criticized "This is Living" campaign from the system's launch over two years ago.

The first of the "Start" series of ads focuses solely on entertainment services offered on PS3, like VidZone and the included Blu-ray player. However, future ads will also talk about the bread and butter of the system: games. But before Sony continues with the campaign, we'd recommend the company fix its Google search recommendation. Right now, the ad ends telling viewers to search "PS3 Start." Unfortunately, this pops up as one of the first results for that search term. Ouch.

Tags: ad, advertising, marketing, scee, start

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Aug 25th 2009 12:43PM

ummm now how about some US ads please?? thanks....I wanna see PS3 ads in my DREAMS!!!

Jake @ Aug 25th 2009 12:44PM

Better! Well done Sony.

Araskaz @ Aug 25th 2009 12:50PM

Silly Joystiq, you are supposed to search for "START PS3", not "PS3 Start", lol.

Mo @ Aug 25th 2009 12:52PM

MUCH better!!!!! now come on SCEA lets do this thing

Angel Mass @ Aug 25th 2009 12:54PM

Well dang, I might just be able to get a PS3 now. FINALLY.

Longhorn Slim @ Aug 25th 2009 12:55PM

here is the ad that focuses on casual gaming
http://www.vgwatchdog.com/?p=47546

Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Aug 25th 2009 12:55PM

Now some for the US?

Jerses @ Aug 25th 2009 2:26PM

US will get it...but what about the 2008 announcement that playstation is coming to latinamerica. There is null ps3 marketing in Mexico.

Bobby @ Aug 25th 2009 1:10PM

its a hella lot better than the old one with the carnival ppl and the one with the crying baby lol but still it lacks what the ps3 should be known for.....ITS GAMES! Show uncharted 2 , show infamous, show all those awesome exclusive games it has!

Jesus (PSN: Luttdawg) @ Aug 25th 2009 9:18PM

Couldn't agree more. The top tier exclusives need to be shown. GT5 and GoW3 also come to mind.

IHateBioshock @ Sep 15th 2009 8:48AM

No... don't show 'infamous' as it looks like shit even on the system, it's aliased ass and general mediocre appearence won't shift PS3s in a glossy advert. The others + GT5, Wipeout HD, Motorstorm PR, LBP (YES even now it looks 'good' on TV), that little monkey eye-cam game etc... all the eye catching stuff..

TinyTim121 @ Aug 25th 2009 1:21PM

I never thought i'd see the day where Sony releases a decent PlayStation commercial :')

jarhead906 @ Aug 25th 2009 2:38PM

Well, I thought the "Ladies and Gentlemen" for the $399.99 price drop was pretty awesome. But that's just me.

Fane @ Aug 25th 2009 6:52PM

Not just you.

matt @ Aug 25th 2009 1:46PM

Sooo much better than the vague, inasane and weird ads. These will work much better.

sony boy @ Aug 25th 2009 1:49PM

lol joystiq and your sick jokes.

punk @ Aug 25th 2009 1:51PM

This vid look similar to one i've seen previously with the playstation 3 having things morph in and out of it. saying that, i do like it.

Start PS3... that certainly wasn't clearly thought of. Either way, it would have been better to have just said www.playstation.com or some new website detailing the new redesigned ps3.

SaMav @ Aug 25th 2009 1:59PM

This is my favorite PS3 ad to date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHZ2xaigwk

Hopefully the new ones for the slim will also show some of the upcoming games.

eNrique @ Aug 25th 2009 2:15PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHv3qBHqpDE

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Joystiq/videos/746/14.875

Those are my favorites, and IMO, I think they are the BESTEST ADS this gen.

Buzzkiller @ Sep 23rd 2009 12:49AM

That would probably be my favorite if I didnt have to hear it every 15 minutes at work.

at about 24 seconds into that video a head comes out of the PS3, it reminded me of the old sega saturn commercials.

Surfaced @ Aug 25th 2009 2:11PM

Whereas that other ad campaign from Japan was ripping off that one artist's work, this one seems to be paying homage to the trainspotting "Choose Life" monologue.

DamonTheMoney @ Aug 25th 2009 2:14PM

This looks like a great ad and a great campaign.

But I doubt any of these can ever live up to one of the best adverts ever created; the original Sony Playstation "Double Life" advert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA
Perfection.

DamonTheMoney @ Aug 25th 2009 2:21PM

This looks like a good ad.

But I doubt any of these can ever live up to one of the best adverts
ever created; the original Sony Playstation "Double Life" advert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA
Never underestimate the power of Playstation. Perfection.

eNrique @ Aug 25th 2009 2:19PM

The game is just a start.

zero2016 @ Aug 25th 2009 2:22PM

it said search start ps3 not search ps3 start might want to fix that.

q3c @ Aug 25th 2009 4:51PM

Hmm, didn't Microsoft use very very similar campaign copy to advertise Windows? Start it up with Rolling Stones, and then all these slogans beginning with "Start"...

ryohazuki @ Aug 26th 2009 8:42PM

great. now when is the US gonna get stuff like VidZone? And what about all the PS1 games that japan gets? Our selection is crap compared to them! Its almost 3 years into the PS3's life and we have what, only 60 PS1 games? Japan has over 400.

I love my PS3, i really do. But when i see other countries get stuff and we dont, i get sad. (PSP had GPS and the camera for how long in other countries?)

BIG-O_83 @ Sep 30th 2009 12:23AM

It was a nice commercial, but I have my PS3 on right now and I can't find any of those updates on my XMB menu. Is that something that only the UK can get or what?