Hoo boy.
head to: http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com/
It's supposed to be a fanboy blog all about how his friend wants a PSP, and they're gonna keep it real yo and all "teh" other things kids say without those capital letters these days.
It's just...just so out of touch it's hard to believe it could even be some jackhole's real blog. Because it's not.
The domain is registered to marketing firm Zipatoni. This is such a funny marketing trainwreck I just had to share.
Hoo boy.
Wow...that's pretty pathetic.
This is why citizen journalism will never fly.
Anybody over 35 still sad that they're no longer a core marketing demographic?
Paraphrased from posts elsewhere, regarding nothing but the videos:
It's idiotic. About the only thing that can come from this is word of mouth marketing (as in: "Hey, check out this fucking stupid Sony advert") but as it's an online thing, only people with internet access who're going to find it - and people likely to find it online have almost certainly heard of the PSP, so word of mouth will have very little effect.
Reminds me, somewhat, of the Wii. The name change to Wii had people talking about it a lot, and even my non-gamer friends brought it up with me. By the time the Wii came out, though, no-one cared about the name, but everyone had heard of it (and I'm still not convinced this wasn't the intended effect). The difference here is that this is presumably Christmas marketing, and there's no way the negative stigma will have vanished by then. I can't honestly see anyone buying a PSP on the strength of this, either, but then I'm perhaps not cynical enough of the dregs of humanity yet.
Tim
"All Sony wants for Christmas is a better ad agency" :)
The funny thing is that the marketing company is probably rather happy -- and thus, Sony is probably rather happy -- that people have found the site and have posted links to it (saw this mentioned on a few blogs, too)... so their mission has been accomplished. Whether it sells PSPs isn't the issue -- it's done its little piece to get people to remember that the PSP exists.
I love the reverse-super-irony of the "This is not an ad" ad., on/in an ad. I'm guessing it's based on "This is not a pipe," which makes it even better.
Sony marketing is just horrible. The PSP graffiti comes to mind. And I dunno what the fuck ThreeSpeech is, but it is the shadiest blog in town.
Number one in the hood, g.
hahahaah.a...
"Don't just wear it, pwn it!!111"
Man, at least get the terminology right. Unless you are going to kick the shit out of that shirt, I don't think they wan't you pwning it.
They mean "pwn" as in "consume," "to aquire goods and services."Originally Posted by Charles
I know what they intend to use it as, but it's not the accepted use.
Originally Posted by Charles
- Alan
Right. Which is why it's so funny. No only is it not the intended use, it's like the complete opposite. Why are we fighting if we totally agree?Originally Posted by Charles
FUCK YOU GRANDMA! HANDERSON VALLEY EGGS! YOU'RE GONNA LOVE OUR EGGS!
Thank god you kept it.Originally Posted by Alan Au
Originally Posted by Alan Au
At least it's warm. Sometimes.
Are the videos as awful as I think they probably are? I mean "our boy Cousin Pete 'rapped up these crazy beatz and rhymes & put them under our tree! much luv and thx, pete." I'm pretty certain not even stupid teenie internet hipsters talk like that.
Crap like this makes me physically ill. Someone hurry and invent a device that will allow me to vomit directly on that website.
Exactly what Tom Ohle said - we talk about it now, so they've succeeded already. Doesn't matter how stupid or sad this looks to you all, this will (if for a short while) undoubtedly spark discussions on a lot of forums and stuff. Maybe it wasn't intended to turn out like this, but now they've reached an even bigger audience that includes the more "mature" gaming people. They didn't reach them in a positive way, but you know how that saying goes about PR...
Maybe Sony would get better results if they got people to remember that the PSP exists by, like, getting people to make some decent games for it.Originally Posted by Tom Ohle
That reminds me, I've been meaning to buy a PSP.
Not really.
What? That getting your target audience to mock you and your product is a good thing?Originally Posted by Munin
*hysterical laughter*Originally Posted by Alan Au
I still can't see this ad as a good thing, even in the "people are talking about it" way. As Gary Whitta posted, I can't see anyone thinking this is a good thing. It's just going to get them mocked. This just cannot shift PSPs (again, I display my stunning naivety), which is presumably the aim of any form of marketing.
Tim
Dude, April 2005 called and it wants its snarky cliche back. :)Originally Posted by extarbags
-Tom
Sony could host a website that featured a guy shoving a PS3 up his own ass and and it would spark discussion across the internet. Still not a good ad campaign.
I wouldn't call this sad attempt at destroying my brain good PR or a successful ad campaign. There's a distinction between publicity and marketing. This is certainly publicity, but it's bad marketing and in bad taste in general.
Bill Hicks.
Some of the excellent user comments left on this "blog":
And the "kids" who created this site defend themselves...· "As a gamer who is part of Sony's target audience I'm insulted not just by the integrity of this website, but that this reflects how intelligent Sony's marketing department thinks I am."
· "Second...Sony...PLEASE stop trying to be 'hip'. Please START focusing on product and games and opening a REAL dialogue with your users to make your gaming products better."
· "This fake cool vibe is as pathetic as an old uncle dancing to hip hop at a family wedding."
· "Please, while you're removing this comment and the 200 other negative comments above it (again), have the decency to do one honest thing in your life and inform sony of just how bad they screwed up by ordering this a_d. This is simply so insulting to anyone who truly loves games, the only reaction you will likely get is a decreased willingness to buy anything sony branded."
· "Just checking back again, I note that my post,saying the word advert(i)sing was banned, has been deleted."
· "Thank you for making me feel even better about not buying your products! And by the way, your incredibly horrible attempts at typing in a way you must assume most gamers type is pathetic. Way to go! You just insulted all the people who buy your products! Now back to Mario on my DS. "
· "Let's face it folks, PSPs are utterly worthless unless you hack the thing. Downgrade your firmware to 1.50 and install Devhook 0.5.1 and emulate Firmware 3.02 - swapping between the two rocks. And you have ISO support now."
· "Makes me ashamed of buying a product from such losers. if you guys wanted to sell psp's then why don't you get dame game on it, right now theres no great games on psp just a bunch of shovelware."
· "No one wants a psp, and Sony is going down in flames. I've awaited this day for many, many years now."
· "What The Hell! Not only is this fraud of a joke site a simple paid for advertisement for Sony, but it also is horrendously awful! You spent how much on this absolute tripe? Sony shareholders better wake up and start firing people left and right if they want to retain any value."
· "You want people to love your products and actually produce sites like this? Don't pay someone make a site... Just make a product good enough for people to love. The community and love will follow."
"we be just tryin to represent u guys... regular playas just tryin to get their gaem on, but now u gotta do all be dis then... u guys are noubs, pwnd!!" - 'charlie'
"You all is haters tymes 4. Dis is lee-git. Don't know why youse thinks this is a schill. Are site was registered through an external provider. We don't work for sony. And for all you dissin' my skillz I'm down for a one on one rap off or settling it street stylez if you feel me playa. Teh. I own a Nintendo DS and I love it. I would still like a PSP for shizzle. But the DS is just as solid." - 'cousinpete'
Oh no he didn't."You all is haters tymes 4. Dis is lee-git. Don't know why youse thinks this is a schill. Are site was registered through an external provider. We don't work for sony. And for all you dissin' my skillz I'm down for a one on one rap off or settling it street stylez if you feel me playa. Teh. I own a Nintendo DS and I love it. I would still like a PSP for shizzle. But the DS is just as solid." - 'cousinpete'
That second one can't be for real. He just says "teh" out of nowhere.
Are you fucking kidding, or are those actual quotes?"we be just tryin to represent u guys... regular playas just tryin to get their gaem on, but now u gotta do all be dis then... u guys are noubs, pwnd!!" - 'charlie'
"You all is haters tymes 4. Dis is lee-git. Don't know why youse thinks this is a schill. Are site was registered through an external provider. We don't work for sony. And for all you dissin' my skillz I'm down for a one on one rap off or settling it street stylez if you feel me playa. Teh. I own a Nintendo DS and I love it. I would still like a PSP for shizzle. But the DS is just as solid." - 'cousinpete'