We Know – You Don’t!*

The recent launch of the Sony Playstation 3 has left some disturbing feelings with me. Especially the reports of violence and consumers exposing their health to freezing temperatures for a product that has no games that fully utilize its new engine gaming core. It shouldn’t have happened the way it did.

I’ve been asking colleagues what they think of the situation and the typical response is that –“it was all planned to build demand!” –kind of the typical “corporations rule our life” mentality. Well, in fact, corporations are made up by people not evil overlords, just sometimes insensitive idiots aka morons and nerds, who when they F*up the effect is large.

For some reason Sony had to push the Playstation 3 into our lives right now. Christmas season you say – nah! Europe’s not getting theirs till spring ’07. Think about it for a second. The demand and cult of the gaming world is so huge, dream up any inappropriate date for its launch and it still would have sold like hot cakes. Go ahead; think of THE bad date in America –you know I’m right!

So for all you strategic planners out there, if the launch date couldn’t be changed, and they still knew that only 175,000 units could be shipped for that day, what might have been an appropriate “brand experience” solution to help with this effect? Think preparation for hurricane Katrina.

Sony has enough speed and power to have given away for FREE to all who were waiting in line:

• Extra warm Playstation 3 branded polar fleece blankets.
• Playstation 3 branded knit caps
• Voucher for two free games, due to the fact many of these people in line were losing hours at work earning wages to pay rent for where this Playstation was going to reside.

What this would have done is generate positive PR and news coverage as Sony the “humanitarian provider” for those who are supporting the brand with their lives in the freezing cold amongst roving gangs of thugs waiting to mug, stab, tazer and shoot them. Such an effort may have counterbalanced all the negative experiences and news coverage. Talk about video game art imitating life. Sounds like a new game title: Sony Product Launch –Will you survive!

Question: What level of impact did the stories about violent Playstation 3 launches have on the average non-gamers mind in swaying their Christmas purchasing choice? I think Nintendo Wii may be the default winner coupled with its lower price point and to some extent the same goes for the Xbox 360.

Hmmmmm, let me think now. It’s 2006, right? All of this could have been done online. People physically going to stores hoping for a product that doesn’t exist beyond 150 units per outlet –why couldn’t everyone just pre-order online and get a number? Don’t tell me it was for the excitement and the experience. I personally don’t like getting stabbed. People lining up for stuff is so very last century!

Final note: Sure the craziness of the shortage created news coverage and free publicity. But couldn’t have the topic of the news been positive rather than negative? If Sony had a “first” with a unique product, couldn’t they have created another “first” in how the product was launched and delivered as well as a “first” in customer care?