Dave Karraker's attempts to restore Sony's PR

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 22nd 2007 at 3:20PM }

GamePro sat down with Sony's head PR guy Dave Karraker to have a general discussion about Sony and the state of their public relations. When Karraker joined Sony last September the company was misstepping with regular amusing consistency -- and the executives didn't help. Since then, Sony still ends up in less than ideal situations on a regular basis, but Karraker has made himself available to answer questions, sometimes with spin, but at least there isn't the Sony wall of dumbfounded silence.

Karraker speaks about adjusting media and public perception of Sony saying, "Access and education are the two things I talk about most over here. We want to be as accessible as possible and provide as much information as we can so media can properly cover our products and give the gamers all the news they want and need. That focus will never change. At launch of PS3 we gave an amazing amount of access to media. Kaz, Jack, and Peter must have done hundreds of interviews. That kind of access hasn't stopped, and in fact, I think it has increased with the amount of contact we have on a daily basis from folks in the blogging community."

The piece covers a wide array of general topics and gives a little bit more insight into Sony's PR, and having any insight into how Sony's PR works is better than none. Of course, the fantastic coincidence here is we contacted Karraker about the interview to see if he wanted to respond or clarify any statements, the message bounces back, "I will be out of the office starting 05/18/2007 and will not return until 05/31/2007. I am currently out of the country on business and vacation ... I will not be checking email on a regular basis." He does leave information for other contacts, but come on, that's so biased of GamePro to unleash this interview when Karraker is on vaca. Bias, BIAS! Media conspiracy against Sony anyone?

Tags: dave karraker, DaveKarraker, playstation, ps3, sony

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

verdigris @ May 22nd 2007 3:29PM

Man. They should just hir Jack to do their PR. He would work wonders!!! Just look at what he's doing for Nintendo today!

Shagittarius @ May 22nd 2007 3:41PM

Heres a hint: deliver on ALL your promises.

REP96st @ May 22nd 2007 3:43PM

Oh yeah.... Gamepro is a wack magazine anyways... Besides, They still make that mag??

jarod @ May 22nd 2007 3:52PM

i want to see one of the suit and ties from sony's games division come out at a conference and say:

"Thats right. We're pompous, arrogant, conceded, have completely lost touch with the target consumer, our public relations are a disaster, our multi-billion dollar investment is circling the drain, and we just dont care. Deal with it."

deaftly @ May 22nd 2007 3:57PM

"The piece covers a wide array of general topics and gives a little bit more insight into Sony's PR, and having any insight into how Sony's PR works is better than none."

LOLOL

Chris @ May 22nd 2007 3:57PM

I've said it before....

GamePro is the G4 of print mag

CJC @ May 22nd 2007 3:57PM

"All right Karraker, here's a shovel! Remember: The idea is to dig back UP, not down. Remember that and you'll do well enough."

Dale @ May 22nd 2007 4:02PM

I wonder if Jack Tretton's still offering that deal on PS3s - I could use some extra cash for one of those Walmart Wii bundles.

tituspullo @ May 22nd 2007 4:04PM

GAMEPRO is trash. right before the PS3 fiasco at E3 06, they were writing "How can MS save the 360!" while trumpeting the PS3! pretty biased rag if you ask me.

bigd7387 @ May 22nd 2007 4:31PM

The best PR for Sony would be make their hardware do what they say it would do. Hell I remember buying the PS2 because it would blow away the Dreamcast. I still have both but atleast the Dreamcast didn't have as many jaggies or Disc-Read-Errors. For a while I thought Disc-Read-Error was a free game Sony included with the system.

Jason @ May 22nd 2007 5:09PM

Blake Snow, who used to blog here and hate on Sony, wrote that article for GamePro... is that where he went? HA!

PS - Suck it Sony

perfectchaos @ May 22nd 2007 5:13PM

was this the same article where he claimed "real" gamers want a ps3?

Spitkicker @ May 22nd 2007 7:06PM

Fucking SONY PR morons. This is precisely the reason you losers don't get my money. Fuck your piece of shit 3 blu beta max player. I just bought my 2nd 360....an elite bitches!(directed at sony and/or the SDF not other posters)
I have been a real gamer since the first Atari came out, I like a company that innovates instead of relying on brand recognition and bulletpoints. No PS3 for me!
Yeah, I want to take Jack Tretton's offer up. There was not an Elite to be found, I searched for 2 hours till I found one of the last 2 at circuit city. Saw an abundance of PS3's EVERYWHERE I went. Nobody was even looking at them, they were too busy playing a Lost Planet Demo and checking out the wii accessories. Sorry, SONY you lose.
PS-fire your PR department.

Luis Cabrera @ Jun 2nd 2007 1:04PM

Why so much hate against Sony!? It look like some people are wishing Sony's failure. It seems that some people would hate to see Sony game system as the number ONE worldwide seller again.

LET'S NOT FORGET WHO WAS THE ONE WHO CHANGED THE WAY PEOPLE PLAY AFTER THE SUPER NINTENDO. HA! bias BIAS!

Tim @ May 23rd 2007 12:13AM

I hate the way Sony has been going with their marketing (not to mention pricing) of the PS3, but I don't wish them gone. I wish they would clean up their act and actually make the PS3 worth buying, because LBP looks like a blast.

I like features, but I'm not going to pay AU$1000 for them. There's a point at which a price for a product overweighs the value, and asking me to hand over a grand (for starters) goes way past that point.