PlayStation debuted their first PlayStation 5 ad, making the scene that the next generation is all about how games “feel”.
That’s been the case since the launch with PS5. This new console will be less about how nice games look – we’ve seen diminishing returns in each department with each passing generation – but rather how they will sound, how it will feel to use the controller, and how fast it all works is is.
You saw that in Sony’s big PS5 unveiling in June, and you can see it in this TV ad, which opens with the line: “Welcome to a world where you can feel more.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6AUuRs1A4
There is one very downside to all of this. No one can feel the PS5 at the moment. Sony cannot take the console and its controller – entitled DualSense – to PAX or Gamescom or EGX. It can not take it on tours in mall or put demo stations in stores.
“It’s a massive challenge on every front,” said Eric Lempel, SVP and head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Not just for the parts of the organization I oversee, but for all the parts of the organization. The nice thing is, we’ll pull it together. We’ll launch this year – that’s going to happen – and from my end we will absolutely make sure that we will bring all the magic and all the excitement of launches we have had in the past.
“We’re still working to do that. It’s more challenging than ever, but our gamers expect a lot from us. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the beginning of a new generation. This spot sets out PlayStation 5 marketing efforts, and “This is just the beginning. So you can see this as the first entry. Hopefully it looks high quality, hopefully it captures the viewer’s imagination, and from here it just gets bigger and better.”
He continues: “If the world were in a normal place, we would be there with demonstrations at various events, with the opportunity for consumers to touch and interact with the product, and really understand where we talked about.The challenge, was early on how do we try to express this with a mockery, and at the same time, how do we make a place with the current constraints presented by the global pandemic? That this was a challenge on all fronts for us.
“We will absolutely make sure we bring all the excitement and magic of launches we’ve had in the past.”
“The genesis of this is that we’re passing on to a new generation, and for our generations it’s business. It’s an opportunity to raise the expectations of players and gamers, and really introduce something new. So for this place in particular we are right us in three distinct areas: the haptic feedback, the custom dynamic triggers, and 3D audio. And we wanted to show what it would be like to be in the middle of it all. “
The ad is certainly unique. It is almost entirely computer generated, with an actor being filmed in her house for a part of it. It was then created by several people from all over the world, with the marketing team in one place, the director in another, and was then worked on by more than 70 artists from a range of different disciplines of visual effects. Anyone who has seen the making of Star Wars spin-off The Mandalorian will have a good idea of how this was made.
“We really had to change the way we do things,” says Lempel. “If we were not in the current situation, we would probably be producing some other kind of spot. This will become the new way of the world for the time to come, and many of us have had to adapt and shift and get innovative. and creative. While it’s not the situation we want in a launch year, we’m pretty happy with how we’re able to turn it around and create something like that. “
The ad itself is designed to appeal to consumers. The crack of the ice, the drawing of the bow, the fire of a rocket; it is all done through careful use of sound and imagination, but it is very effective. And it’s support the promotion of three of PS5’s features – haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and 3D audio – that are central to Sony’s vision for the new console.
“Just look at the product, and talk to developers, and hear from them about what makes PlayStation 5 special. There are a lot of things they are excited about, but these three things are a big step change to where.” t we have been in the past with interactive entertainment, “says Lempel.
“I will add that this is probably the most literal part of the campaign, where we are really consciously talking and trying to convey with feelings different parts of the product. There will be other parts of the campaign that ‘. t will be much broader and generate the excitement of the world of interactive entertainment that PlayStation can bring you in. We felt this was a great way to start specifically talking about PlayStation 5 and whatnot, and these three things are part of the big differences. There are more than this of course. “
The PS5 campaign kicks off this week with a teaser showcasing the console’s new technology
Lempel also has plans to use developers who talk about these features and what they bring to the games: “Talking to the Demon’s Souls team, they found that they could take simple things that were not really exciting moments in. games in the past, and spin gives them a sensory experience by using these features.It’s what they say the features of the past could not do in any way – the feeling of, in their words, being able to open a gate , or hitting metal, like fire crackling in your hand.These are the kinds of things that were kind of secondary in the past, but they were brought to the forefront to immerse the player in the games in a bigger way. “
Aside from the COVID limitations that make this a unique challenge for PlayStation, this is also the first hardware launch under the new enterprise structure. In the past, PlayStation launches in individual areas, with different country teams creating and executing their own ads and slogans. Starting with the Spider-Man launch on PS4 in 2018, Sony is now launching worldwide campaigns that are localized to individual markets. This means that the ads we see here will be replicated all over the world, and the “Play Hat No Limits” tagline will be the brand line everywhere.
“In recent years, we’ve globalized the company in several ways, and one of the things we wanted to do in anticipation of the next generation of consoles going was to create one uniform market line,” says Lempel. “It’s very important, because good rules will stand the test of time, and become a big part of the company’s brand and communications.
“I would say this is the best line-up we’ve ever seen in the history of PlayStation”
“We’ve been working on this for a long time and really thought about what type of line we can use that will resonate worldwide, and of course it will be translated and localized to all the different languages around the world … But what’s the sentiment? that we want to pass on, that really represents the ambition we have as a PlayStation, and really showcase the products we offer? That’s how we came up with Play Has No Limits.
“We feel it’s a bit of a thank you for everything we do as a PlayStation. We’re always pushing the boundaries – that’s one of the basics of our brand – we’re always looking for new and exciting experiences, and this is a line that really shows that we will not stop doing this. “
While deleting and simplifying that marketing message seems to make sense, Sony’s previous approach to marketing has its upsides. It meant that the company could adapt its offering to individual areas in ways that its competitors could not. The challenge for Lempel and his team is to combine the benefits of centralization with the local touch that has served the company so well in the past.
“It’s different. We’ll have a lot of local executions to complement these bigger campaigns and bigger spots. And you’ll see in some of the next parts of the campaign, there’s going to be really big assets that in the past that we probably would have done it, because the activity would be divided between the different parts of the world … We think we’re in a good place, and people will be excited about what they will see. “
Going forward, we can expect the PS5 campaign to move to areas beyond things like 3D audio and adaptive triggers, and to more traditional elements. Namely: the games themselves.
“Once you’ve above all the features of the PlayStation 5, what makes it a real next-generation product, it’s about the content,” Lempel concludes. “The content that will be in the launch pane and beyond is incredibly exciting. I would say this is the best line-up we’ve ever seen in the history of PlayStation, between our groups worldwide Studios and our partners from all different publishers around the world.We have published some of this content, and of course there will be more, but the way the developers can participate in this platform, and create these new experiences with known IP as well as unknown IP , is incredibly exciting. ”
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