I've seen the new ads. Maybe I'm too old or something, but I don't see the appeal. An annoying guy sits next to a guy playing a PSP and bothers the hell out of him. Not fun or sexy at all.
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=16013
Sony's New PSP Campaign - 'Dude, Get Your Own'
Dude, you're getting a Dell! ... or maybe make that a PSP. Sony has unveiled a new marketing campaign for its PSP in the wake of the recent price cut on the portable. Sony hopes it will make the system more appealing to a teenage audience.
In an effort to help boost sales of its PlayStation Portable following the official price drop down to $169, Sony Computer Entertainment America today announced the launch of an all-new national marketing campaign titled "Dude, Get Your Own."
Sony said the ads will use "a humorous style to communicate the PSP's status as a coveted portable entertainment system offering high-quality games on-the-go, as well as multimedia features such as video and music playback." A TV spot will air now through the end of May during shows that typically appeal to the gamer demographic, such as King of the Hill (FOX), South Park (Comedy Central), Adult Swim (Cartoon Network), the NBA Playoffs (TNT), Saturday Night Live (NBC), and WWE Smackdown (CW).
Furthemore, SCEA will introduce six vignettes (online, at retail and through other channels) that build on the TV spot. The vignettes will be at the heart of the online campaign running through July and will be featured mainly on sites that deal with gaming and lifestyle, including IGN.com, GameSpot.com, Maxim.com and ESPN.com. As a complement to this, Sony is also launching an interactive promotional site where the vignettes will be rolled out sequentially and where consumers interested in PSP can find more information. The final component of the campaign will be a simple direct mail piece, to be distributed later this month.
SCEA said that the ads are deliberately designed to focus on the 13 to 17-year-old demographic, which the company describes as "a key target audience for the PSP system this year." Indeed, a number of analysts have already hinted that Sony would attempt to go after the younger audience with the PSP, but they're certainly not going to have an easy time of it with the Nintendo DS dominating the market.
SCEA also noted that since the PSP price was slashed back on April 3, the company has seen PSP hardware and software sales "spark" at retailers, although no hard data was provided. According to NPD results through March, the DS has outsold the PSP in the U.S. 10.4 million units to 7.2 million units.
