Sony ‘Make.Believe’

BY

Sony has launched its make.believe campaign in the UK, the company s first-ever branding effort merging its electronics and entertainment products into one message. That message is that Sony can whisk you off into worlds of make-believe in movies, videogames or music, thanks to its broad product line. As pointed out by UK ad site Campaign, there is thought behind the slogan and its structure. The dot between make and believe represents the point at which Sony’s innovation (read: tech products) meets creativity (read: content).

The spot launching the campaign has a timely holiday movie feel to it, supported by the choice of music. The holiday brush continues through the first transition from reality to make-believe, where a young urban hipster finds himself in what could be Sony’s high-tech version of Santa’s workshop. From there, clever use of iconography such as Sony’s trademark PlayStation X-button and Walkman logos take viewers on a journey of popular Sony content.

Campaign reports that the ad will be running in UK cinemas starting this month. Watch it at Campaign.

Stars, Special Effects And Storyline

BY

The film trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has hit the web. The Mike Newell directed movie based on Ubisoft s long-running game franchise is due out in summer 2010. The trailer highlights what so far looks like first-rate special effects with plenty of CG blended into the live action. It also showcases a couple of its live stars, with Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince and Ben Kingsley playing bad guy Nizam.

Visual and star power aside, the marketers behind the film seem to think knowing details of the “Prince of Persia” premise is as important as anything in selling the movie. The long-form trailer focuses heavily on delivering the storyline behind Ubisoft’s IP. It’s a good approach in engaging an audience beyond the gamers, and perhaps differentiating the movie from “Lord of the Rings” and other fantasy fare it’s most certainly channeling. Worth noting is Jake Gyllenhaal’s choice of English accent to play an ancient Persian prince, expanding on the practice of using the British dialect in portraying anything alien to an American audience.

 

Watch it at YouTube.

The Booming Hispanic Market

BY

The US Census 2010 is expected to show a 32 percent spike in the population of Hispanics in the US since 2000, now totaling nearly 50 million people. Adweek looks at the growing influence they have in the marketplace.

Much of the growth comes from second-generation Hispanic Americans. They are also helping bridge the language barrier.  According to research by Nielsen and Synovate, 93 percent of second-generation Hispanic Americans call themselves bilingual or English dominant.  Hispanic youth are also among the country’s most tech savvy consumers. A report by Forrester found that 72 percent of 18-28 year old Hispanics consider technology important to them, compared to 44 percent of non-Hispanics surveyed

Adweek shows how growing numbers lead to growing affluence. Hispanics have the biggest cumulative discretionary annual income of any minority group, with an estimated $863 billion representing nearly 8 percent of total US discretionary income. According to the president of Spanish-language TV Univision, that figure makes Hispanic Americans the fifteenth largest consumer group in the world. While some companies are just recognizing the growing influence and affluence of Hispanics in the US, Adweek looks at tactics used by brands that have been targeting them for some time. Read more at Adweek.

Marketer Prep Guide For Facebook Changes

BY

Writing for Ad Age, David Berkowitz looks at upcoming changes announced for Facebook and what marketers can do to prepare. His action items for marketers addresses known changes coming to the site’s opt-in email, notifications delivery and layout.

Facebook is also planning long-term changes that it hasn’t completely fleshed out. Berkowitz provides access to a Facebook roadmap presentation outlining the vision for some of the planned, if not fully defined, changes. He manages some insight into what s on the horizon, such as the ability for third party sites to feed information streams directly to their Facebook fans and an upgrade to the site’s analytics.

 

Read more at Ad Age.

Nielsen And EEDAR Partner On Game Research

BY

Research firms EEDAR and the Nielsen Company have partnered on providing data for the game industry, reports Gamasutra. EEDAR, which focuses on the game industry, is incorporating Nielsen’s Video Game Tracking data and Monitor-Plus reports into its GamePulse research service. Nielsen’s reports consist of regular surveys of 1,200 people on game product awareness and purchase intent. Users of EEDAR s GamePulse will have access to both Nielsen data sets starting in March 2010. Read more at Gamasutra.

‘Uncharted 2’ Posed Marketing Challenges, Says Naughty Dog

BY

Developer Naughty Dog says Uncharted 2: Among Thieves posed marketing challenges. Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig made the comments about the now well-received PS3 title in an interview with Industry Gamers.

Uncharted 2 has become a big critical success, and with all signs pointing to a commercial bestseller for Sony. Hennig says marketing the title posed issues from the lack of an iconic character and no clear game hook. She describes game protagonist Nathan Drake as someone in jeans and a t-shirt going up against space marines and game icons such as Kratos from God of War. On game messaging, Hennig cites concerns from the first game as feeding the notion that there was no clear hook as to why Uncharted 2 represents a blockbuster caliber game. She credits word-of-mouth as helping propel buzz and elevate the game, calling success based on fan evangelism more rewarding than selling units on a multi-million dollar marketing budget.

Cool Reception For Blizzard Continues In China

BY

A China government agency has taken action to prevent World of Warcrat operator NetEase from running the game in the country, reports Gamesindustry.biz. The country’s General Administration of Press and Publications returned the operator’s application and asked it to stop registering new accounts and processing transactions for Blizzard’s massively popular MMO game. The agency said it had only allowed NetEase to run beta testing and that its commercial expansion in registering new players was illegal. Asian tech industry web site Mobinode suggest that the Chinese government isn’t fully endorsing the agency’s action and has called it inappropriate. GI.biz cites an atmosphere of hostility towards foreign investment in China’s lucrative gaming market.

 

Read more at Gamesindustry.biz.

Mickey’s Revival Is In The Game

BY

Disney is hoping to revive core character traits of its flagship icon in the upcoming game Epic Mickey, reports Variety. While making sure Mickey is ever-present, Disney has relegated the character to more marketing symbol than entertainment IP. Mickey has made the occasional appearance, including a game cameo in the 2002 Square Enix RPG Kingdom Hearts. Yet the studio admits that it s been a while since the character enjoyed lead status in an entertainment product. Disney and Warren Spector are out to change that with Epic Mickey, re-establishing him as the rambunctious hero whose animated adventures helped build the Mouse House.

 

Read more at Variety.

A New Model For Ad Partnership

BY

Toshiba and ESPN have partnered on an ad campaign promoting the electronics makers products as the perfect devices on which to enjoy ESPN content. As reported by Ad Age, the partnership represents a unique approach. It’s not just targeting sports fans, as numerous products have done by weaving their brands into ESPN content. Toshiba’s campaign attempts to engage them by showing how its products enhance the ESPN experience. Toshiba has also taken on ESPN’s trademark humor for the campaign, replacing the more serious technophile tone of previous ads. Read more at Ad Age.

Amazon’s ‘Modern Warfare 2’ Promo

BY

Amazon is promoting Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 with a campaign that tracks pre-release sales of the game across the US to find the city with the most pre-orders. As reported by Kotaku, the online retailer’s Call of Duty-est Town in America promotion is tracking orders placed through its Release-Date Delivery system for US cities with a population of 5,000 people or more. Once the winning city is determined, Amazon will donate a $5,000 gift card to a local charity. The winner will be announced on November 10. Read more at Kotaku.