SRN Editorial

New Marketing Strategy For Sony

by Sohrab Osati | Apr 26, 2010 | 73 comments

Starting Monday (today), Sony is going to kick off a new year long ad campaign that includes many of its portfolio stars, starting off with Taylor Swift, showing off the Cyber-shot DSC-TX7. This will be a series of star-studded spots that Sony ( SNE – news – people ) plans to roll out this year, as a part of a $100-million-plus TV, print and digital ad campaign. Each ad will feature a Sony-affiliated celebrity to pitch its electronic products, such as its 3-D television and its e-reader. The idea of this new campaign is that instead of focusing in on the many products that Sony makes, it will aim for a particular market and let them know of the product. For example, in 2008 Sony spent nearly $5 billion on their global ad campaigns that ranged from laptops to DVD players.

First, I have to say that I’m floored by this. I’m wondering if of that $5 billion, $4.9 billion was spent outside of the states. Ask any Playstation owner and they will tell you that Sony has had no air presence whatsoever; Microsoft has dominated the airwaves with its Xbox ads. No matter what show or channel you watch, when they produced a big game (i.e. Halo or Gears of War), they had endless commercials running. Most of all, the sheer number of commercials and TV shows that the 360 is in as product placement is insane. This of course has been something that has hurt the PS3 and the PSP and thus, their software sales. I will give it to Sony though for their efforts with Kevin Butler in the past year. Those ads are fantastic and hilarious. My issue in this case is: where were they the other 3 years? I also mention this because the PlayStation brand is one important aspect of their business but Sony is fighting off too many players in too many markets. In the TV market you see Samsung commercials left and right. Computers and cell phones and it’s either iPhone/Droid or MacBook/HP. And for cameras, Canon and Nikon. Yet, we never see any form of Sony add showing us off their products.

Updated: Sony Ericsson Picks Up MicroSD, Ditches Own Memory Stick Micro

by Sohrab Osati | Jun 2, 2009 | 12 comments

In some of the latest Sony Ericsson models, we have seen the lack of Sonys own Memory Stick Micro, their version or competition to the MicroSD that many cellphones use. This holds true in their upcoming K850 and the newly announced Satio and came to us as odd but we figured, it was due to the development methods and partners with those models. Will today, all that is cleared up as Sony Ericssons Global Marketing Director Fortuné Alexander, stated that the company is “moving in that direction” when asked about dropping the Memory Stick Micro line in favor of the MicroSD.

As a user of Sony products, it’s not fun to see the company give up on their on smaller formats, but from a business practice, I’m beyond glad. A problem Sony is currently having is that they are fighting far too many battles. If there is an electronic device or format, Sony has a version. Many times, (looking at you BetaMax and Mini Disc Players), they were indeed superior but because the company is do divided up, they cannot poor in the real amount of resources needed to fend and advance that product/brand or format. With one less format to worry about, it means that the costs of their devices can potentially come down as the tap into a universal format and in hopes, also make more money, because they can sell a MicroSD to lets say 400 million phones versus a Memory Stick Micro to only 20 million phones (all numbers being made up). Maybe Sony is indeed serious about moving to a more open format.

Update:

So here is an odd twist to the story that makes no sense. It seems that Sony is indeed ditching their M2 for MicroSD and so one would assume that this would be a company wide policy but in fact, during the E3 announcement of the new PSP Go, the unit will be using…you guessed it, Sony’s Memory Stick Micro. Now, I understand that products will be in different development cycles and such but one would assume that ditching M2 would be a company wide policy and that the PSP Go would also adopt MicroSD as they are extremely similar in size.

[Via Engadget]

Sony Working On PSP Music Store? More Like PSN

by Sohrab Osati | May 27, 2009 | 1 comment

Full Concept

A few websites are running with the news that Sony is looking to create a PSP music store. The theory goes that with the eventual death of the UMD drive on the PSP and the potential integration of build in flash drive and added Memory Stick expansion slot, Sony is looking to turn the PSP into an iPod Touch competitor, much like the touch is competing with the PSP/DSi.

Although I dont doubt such intensions, there is one piece of this story that I reject and feel like everybody is missing. Why would Sony just create a PSP music store? Do we forget that the download service was truly born for Sony on the PS3? (we will forget Sony Connect and such). And that at last E3, the movie side of the PSN store was born. So why would Sony suddenly just limit their music to the PSP? I think that the PSP is part of the puzzle, sure but this should be a PSN Music service. We must not forget that and I know im beating a dead horse, but Sony is a music company as well. Plus, Sony makes many devices like their new X1000 Walkman that is designed to head to head with the iPod Touch. So why limit the reach of your audience. It’s not like there is a separate iTunes music store for the iPod Touch vs. other Apple Products. In fact, the potential success of iTunes is the story of, sell music at a loss, but make the hardware like AppleTV, iPod Touch more appealing.

Sony must do the same thing with their PSN store if they are going to survive the next shift in the electronic industry. Just like how the PSN store made its way to the PSP, the Music side must a PSN service that Sony equipment can will tap into. Not a hardware to hardware specific service. Plus, wouldn’t those who use such a service (consumer) but happier knowing such a service will work with 15 of their Sony devices verses 1? And more so, what better way to lure content provider by saying that we have a reach of 80 Million (PSP+PS3, but hopefully, much more Sony devices in the future) then just 50 million (PSP users).

Sony CEO Howard Stringer On Music, Apple

by Sohrab Osati | May 24, 2009 | 12 comments

Recently, Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer sat down with Nikkei Electronics Asia and pledged that Sony would adopt more open standard policy in the future and said,

“If we had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple”

in the music market. Its been noted that Apple is never new to any market, like the iPod or the iPhone but that they evaluate the market and come in with something simple and elegant. Sony was the king of music players with the Walkman which used the open format of Tapes and even with CD Players, Sony would use, a CD and they were still king. But when the MP3 era began, Sony would make its own specific plays with Mini Disc Players and ATRAC format for their players, which was used with Sony’s Connect Player and SonicStage. The reason neither scenario worked for Sony was that although Mini Disc Players were great and to this day, hold their own, it was something that Sony made and nobody else offered and so this left it to Sony to battle every other brand and format. That’s where ATRAC comes in. Higher quality then MP3 yet more compressed but again, Sony kept the format to themselves and everybody began to adopt MP3 while Sony pushed hard for ATRAC. The train was already missed.

Kotaku Paid By Microsoft

by Sohrab Osati | Mar 20, 2009 | 2 comments

A title like that is something that grabs the attention of people and many will assume that it means, Microsoft pays off Kotaku to write pro posts while bashing their competition. Now sure, I can go write a fairly anti Microsoft and Kotaku post and just briefly mention the fact that by paid off, I could simply have meant the fact that Microsoft puts up paid advertisement on Kotaku, but if you run a site that gets thousands and thousands of hits per day, the damage would have been done by the deceitful article headline.

That seems to be the problem with Kotaku. I’m really at the end of the day not sure if its the fact that they are indeed paid by Microsoft, poor journalist, a site thats lacking for more attention or personal biast but I’ll let you be the judge of it. As of today, out of the 10 posts that were mentioned on their websites main page(and I’ve stated this before, I hate to cover gaming content because there are so many websites that do it, but I couldn’t help but write something about this), 4 of these titles read as “Lost & Damned “Outsells Killzone 2”, Gives Us Sales Ballpark”. “So, How Many People Have Used PlayStation Home?”, “Sony Want Profits, Not Market Share” and “Publishers Unhappy With PlayStation Network Bandwidth Fees”. Of course, one would maybe say that its been a bad news day for Sony and all companies have ups and downs but in fact, its been a no news day. Better yet, this is not an anomaly, but how Kotaku tends to write on a daily bases, because after looking at those headlines, if I were Sony, i’d start to question myself too.

But to truly get to the heart of this matter, we need to look deeper into these headlines to see the angle that Kotaku comes from. In the article titled “Lost & Damned “Outsells Killzone 2”, Gives Us Sales Ballpark”, it seems very clear that this is aimed at slandering Sonys big gun for the PS3, Killzone 2. Now 60% of this article is a quote from Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg, stating that that GTA4 expansion is “the most successful game addon content we’ve ever launched” – saying “If that content was sold at retail, it would be one of the best sellers across all platforms. It would have outsold Killzone 2”. So with a read, this leads to the assumption that wow, Microsoft is indeed holding it’s own against the big launch of Sony and that maybe Killzone 2 didn’t deliver what it was intending on doing. Now, Kotaku does atleast come out and point that Lost & Damned came out 2 weeks into February while Killzone 2 only came out the last 2 days of February, but thats conveniently left to the very end of the article. Again, after that headline and 60% of the article, devoted to an exec from Microsoft, damage is done. But, funny how they also forget to mention that Killzone 2 happens to carry a $60 price tag that we all know, but that Lost and Damned is only a $20 title. I wonder if that plays into the equation?

Hit the MagicGate to read the rest of the article.

MagicGate!

PSN Achieves 14 Million Users. A New Game Plan for Sony

by Sohrab Osati | Nov 21, 2008 | 6 comments

On the two year anniversary of the PS3, PlayStation director of hardware marketing John Koller has announced that PSN (PlayStation Network, other wise, known as your friends list and the PlayStation Store) has hit the milestone of 14 million users. What makes this more astonishing is that 4.2 million more users then just one month ago. John Joller went on to say:

PlayStation Network has truly hit its stride with unique downloadable games and a video delivery service featuring movies, TV shows, and original programming that you can watch in HD with your PS3, or bring with you on your PSP. And with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment.

What makes this piece of news even more exciting for PlayStation fans, but more so for Sony should be that this puts them neck in neck with Microsoft’s X-Box Live thats had a year head start on the 360 and user wise, was available during the entire lifespan of the Xbox/PS2 era where Sony offered no such service.

Part of this winning strategy I believe is due to the value of PSN and that value is that its free. Unlike X-Box Live where there is a $60 yearly charge that keeps alot of users offline and away from content that they might wish to pay for, aka profits. We have also seen Sony now offer the PSN store on the PSP systems where with a Wi-Fi connection or through their PC (No Mac support yet, wth Sony), they can download and purchase content. Although currently no buddy list and messengering system is available for the PSP, it is a good start.

I am personally a huge believer in PSN because I see it being part of a further strategy that can really set Sony apart then the X-Box 360 and Wii, but also help Sony catchup to services like X-Box Live and iTunes where Sony’s Connect service failed.

First, I believe that its great that Sony offers the PSN store through the web for the PSP (although in a new update, you can access it from Sony’s PSP Manager program but you have to purchase that). But to really capture the side entertainment functionality of the PSP, Sony needs to offer that program for free. Instead of people download other free programs, create a system and then sell content through it. Like iTunes. The iPod is only as great as its content provider and Apple has done an amazing job with iTunes. Sony needs this. Once there is an official program, it will be much easier for the nearly 40 Million PSP users to get content for. This of course, then ties back into PSN. Sony needs to make PSN its key weapon. Instead of having multiple services that are different for the PSP to the PS3 to the walkman and Bravia, have one source. Now, under a unified flag, you are able to give content to over 100 Million devices out there. This first and foremost creates an echo-system for Sony. Meaning, I can feel confident about purchasing content and knowing that I can take it between my devices and more so, ill feel safe and thus purchase more. Second, it gives Sony a great negotiating chip. Instead of saying we provide content to 14 Million users, when they go to Fox and WB and the music groups and game developers and so forth, they can now state that they command a 100 Million + users base. Then, providers will be put in a situation where they will want to give content to Sony and Sony can not only negotiate better pricing for themselves, but for their users as well that in long term, turns out better for Sony. Plus, we must not forget, Sony is a large Movie Studio and even larger Music Studio with Sony Pictures, Tri-Star, and Sony/BMG. They on their own can start this concept and have companies sign on as they see the potential.

This thought process really came to be when I was logged onto PSN and downloaded some great 1080p free content from some Sony like Sara Bareilles – Between The Lines that was of a concert she had and Incubus “Look Alive”. This then got me to think of the current state of the music industry. First, these concerts looked fantastic and yes they are being offered on Blu-ray but somebody might not go out and purchase a BD disc, just for that artist so why not offer first, a music tab under PSN. I mean hell Sony, your giving your content to iTunes and DRM free on Amazon, so why not your own network. But second, I believe that yes, a lot of people pirate music, so why not capitalize on the industry in other ways. Offer free videos and paid videos of these artists. Behind the scenes content and concert footage. Not only does this help promote your artists but users might be much more open to the idea of downloading a concert for their enjoyment for lets say $10 then to go purchase an entire DVD or Blu-ray. Plus, while their PSP or PS3 is on, they can just scroll to the content and start it up. Again, this is what iTunes was able to achieve, ease of use and I think Sony can offer the same and up them one if they embrace it properly.

The argument of this would be that this could eat away into their Blu-ray sales and I don’t agree with that. For me, downloading a movie is just not an option the picture and sound quality and behind the scenes content and now, more interactive content from Blu-ray Live is only offered to me on Blu-ray. But music and music video content is different and is much more casual. And also, I truly do believe that more of this content needs to be free. Why? Because it creates value where there needs to be real value and thats for the artists. Get people excited for their up coming tours, offer free Themes and Music Videos and free or lower priced concert videos. This will get fans excited and next time there is a tour near by, they will easily cash out that $60+ where the real money is.

Again, once this echo-system is in place, we can also see a much more unified marketing front for Sony or whoever else that wants their content on PSN. For example, why was there no new or exclusive content for Sony own 007: Quantum of Solace film? No front banner, theme, Alicia Keys (Sony Artist) video, behind the scenes video, press releases. Nothing. Again, if you are commanding a 14 Million + and with my vision, 100+ marketing, why would you ignore it?

Once a true structure is set for PSN, Sony has the opportunity to achieve something very unique and yet competitive with the likes of X-Box Live and iTunes and Sony dosen’t even need to look to outside providers to start this off. Sony needs to only look inward to see all the media it holds. The video store is a good start, but there is much work to be done Sony.