But it’s CRM strategy was anything but playful and engaging. It was dull. And just a little bit dumb.
Their user engagement was based on scattergun emails, that took no account of user interests and preferences. And players treated as spam.
As a result PlayStation built no relationship with its players. Or any sense of community around its platform.
To make the most of PlayStation’s opportunities. Here’s how we did it:
And broaden the media you use. To include everything.
NEW INSTORE AND IN-PACKAGE CONTENT. Buy a PlayStation and you’re hotwired to a decades-long gaming heritage. Buy Xbox and you’re not.
So, let's remind gamers of Sony's rich gaming heritage with with instore ads, on-package marketing and an oversize timeline poster of Great Moments in Gaming History – for the wall of each gamer’s den.With space for each gamer's own historic triumphs. Let's include one with every PS3 purchase. Along with free coupons for gamer-friendly foods.
NEW ON-CONSOLE CONTENT AND INTERACTIONS
The sizzle needed to start the first second.
So we proposed a new place for spoof pitchman Kevin Butler. He gave the brand an offbeat, compelling voice on television. So why not make that playful voice a key part of the console experience?
Let's have Kevin deliver a storming Welcome video, the very first time the PS3's switched on. Foregrounding the sheer power of the Play experience with PlayStation. Then use Kevin as an on-console avatar and host at key parts of the on-console experience. Taunting, provoking and cheering gamers on.
NEW DIGITAL PRODUCTS:
PS NETWORK MONTHLY APP. Delivers content that feels topical, themed, and fully tailored to user preferences. Better able to highlight the sheer variety of Play PlayStation delivers. Plus current news, cheats, discounts and links to exclusive sneak previews. Making PlayStation a part of more of your day.
BUTLER BOT. Your own Play butler. A Kevin Butler "Bot". Who will keep you entertained, and find you cheats, tips and news. Delivered via text message - all in the voice of Kevin Butler.
REPOSITION PLAYSTATION PLUS.
PlayStation+ is a premium service. But its content isn't explained. So it's often seen as a repository for old games nobody plays anymore.
So we'd create an ecosystem of talk and information around that content to make it feel, current, relevent and contemporary. So every moment of gaming history feels compelling and accessible. So you become a time-travelling “Master of the Gaming Space Time Continuum”. And Plus access feels like an essential deepening of your relationship with "play".
Let's do a "Turner Classic Movies" on classic games, building context, respect and equity with today's generation of gamers. Growing the value of our back catalogue and related services. And with them building the equity of the brand that can gain you access to more of the history of Play.
PlayStation play makes you the uber-gamer. Master of every moment in Play history.If you're gamer enough to step up to the challenge...
Now you can see and feel the scale of the global online PS3 Play community. Interactive and constantly updating–right in the PS3 browser. With the capacity to drill down by nation, game title, or trophies. See which pre-release games are being played - and where. And where to go to play them too.
We build the PlayStation Play communitywith regular pop-up events offering first looks at new products and celebration of Play milestones in local areas. Creating a buzz, community and uniqueness around PS3 Play. Leveraging our mobile app products, Butler Alerts, and Facebook to drive rapid awareness.
We also use YouTube, Facebook and other social channels to keep building awareness and mindshare.
In the games world, your Play has value. The better you get, the more armies you command, loot you accumulate or planets you rule. But then you have to re-enter the real world with a bump. If only all the value you accrued in play, could have value in the real world…
But what if it could? We envisaged Play becoming a currency. Where trophies became spendable through PlayStation as a currency on a range of Sony products. From PlayStation+ subscriptions to new Sony music products, PCs and TVs.
So now your excellence as a player doesn’t just get you respect. It gets you stuff.
We envisaged an online Gamer's Monument for all PlayStation players. Where you can stake your space, display you trophies - and connect with friends, celebrity gamers, and gaming superstars.
Think “Tower of Babel" come "online giant premium condo” Where every PlayStation gamer has a spot. They can display their spoils. And move up the tower to an ever more Premium location and privileges, based on Play Prowess.
Everyone has a right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But what about a right to free pizza and wings for your next gaming marathon. The right to freeways named after Little Big Planet's Avalon Centrifuge? Or the right to monuments to Killzone champions in Central Park?
We envisioned tie ins with partners to give registered PlayStation gamers extra rights. Alongside tactical ads including online mock political petitions and manifestos demanding additional human rights, monuments and facilities for gamers. These would demand your signature as a gamer. And upon digitally signing, it would unlock special deals, freebees and cross-promotions.
Our email and onlline advertising followed the same pattern. Out with the cheesy spam emails. In with bright, new colors and bold messaging that embodied the adrenalin rush of gaming - and the whole PS3 experience.
Our CRM strategy was more multifaceted and dimensional. Moving the customer relationship from "arm's length", to a genuine relationship. Building a community around our gaming platform.
•To keep the player more involved,
•More engaged with the ecosystem around the product.
•More loyal to the platform, more interested in a product more tailored to their interests.
•More able to purchase more products and services in new ways.
•And more loyal to the brand that proves itself more devoted to Play.
How do you help small businesses get more business from Google AdWords?
How do you give a 60’s brand a Millennial identity?
How do you create an attractive new product for the crowded dating app market?
Mike is no less than brilliant. His rare mind is a tremendous asset to crafting profound and actionable strategy. Mike's capacity stems from the breath and quality of knowledge he brings to bear on solving problems. His knowledge runs deep; past the workings of advertising, business and modern culture down to fundamentals of humanity. He routinely connects observations to their origins in philosophy, history and social architecture in a masterful form that liberates creativity and reframes the beliefs of his clients and colleagues. With creativity and new perspectives we progress and working with Mike is a first class ticket to a better future.
"An inspirational creative, a brilliant writer, a strategic bulldog, and that's all before the rest of the agency gets in by 9am. I worked with Mike on some of Visa's most trying business challenges and we came through with flying colors. From building Visa Signature's first strategic platform to developing an award winning travel campaign, Mike's passion for great work was always driving us to be better. I look forward to working with him again soon. And did I mention he has a cool accent?"
SEE MORE