Just a few days after we lavished praise upon a new series of PS3 ads, we see this recently released European PS3 ad, and all of that is wiped from our mind -- as was whatever shreds of sanity we still clung to after the start of the "This is Living" campaign. Seriously, around the 25 second mark we were fairly sure we were locked inside a prison constructed of our own nightmares.
"OK, here is my pitch. We blend Cirque du Soleil with A.I. then we take that concoction and dip it in glitter, using the tears of five-year-old orphans as adhesive. Then, we set the whole thing on fire. That ... is your ad."
*slaps forehead* Seriously? The new US ads are a step in the right direction - they're actually showing footage of the games, something to give people a sense of what the machine is and does. This is horrible.
Whatever you think of the company or its products, Nintendo's recent advertising at least plainly and clearly shows you the product and how you use it.
ok. set aside that this in an ad. do you appreciate what's going on aesthetically? also remembering that this is a brand association ad, don't you appreciate what its achieving in terms of opening up the creative space in the advertising world? [i'm not asking these in some really aggressive way, I'm genuinely interested guys] please let me know what you think!
it would be opening up new possibilities in advertising if it weren't such a shoddy attempt at doing just that. this is child's play, kitschy, the opposite of art. if real creativity replaced the amateurish "we're trying to be artsy" directive of this ad campaign, then yeah, i'd appreciate what it does for advertising. as it is, i appreciate this as much as i do those mass-produced impressionist paintings that you can buy at any target or walmart in america. in other words, it's been done before, and better.
i see these ads as symptomatic of sony's lack of vision and direction in this generation of consoles. there ads are just as mired in confusion as to whether the ps3 is primarily an entertainment hub or a videogame console as their corporate executives have been, and so remain.
It's not smart-art, it's just silly. What is going on? Some weirdo circus people try to tout features of the PS3 which except for the games nobody cares about. Blu-Ray? Fast processor? I wish Sony just took their Blu-Ray and Cell bullshit and shoved them up their ass, it's the 2 main reasons the PS3 is in third place.
I absolutely don't like what's going on aesthetically. There are several reasons:
1: I hate clowns and mimes. They give me nightmares. 2: I can't stand poodles. Changing any other dog into a poodle does not seem like an improvement. 3: I used to work at a dry-cleaner's so that "blu-ray" machine gives me nasty flashbacks.
All right, those are personal preferences. But I still don't like it from a general aesthetic sense. The dark atmosphere, the weird carnival atmosphere, the freakish makeup, the voice-over, with it's creepy "Come into my limo, I have candy" vibe... it's all very unpleasant, almost to the point of being sinister. From the basic standpoint of whether this makes me feel attraction or aversion, I'd go with aversion -- as in, "run away screaming and pray that it doesn't follow me" aversion.
Again another pretentious "this is living" advert from Sony. Made by a another pretentious marketing company in London no doubt. Costing an obscene amount of money for lots of "meetings", producing nothing but an out of touch piece of random crap.
That doesn't make me more interested in a PS3. The US ad where they just show a bunch of game clips makes me more interested in buying a PS3. Are they trying to sell me a product that plays games and movies or enhance my acid trip? That may sound like a joke but it is sort of a serious question.
You know, when watching... I just had this vision of Sony CEOs in Japan pointing at Europe on their world map and laughing histerically. Then again, that has been a re-occouring dream since March.
Sony has a long history of ads that never show the games but only the logo at the end to associate the commercial to the console. They just used to be well done.
Sure they ripped off Platoon with that one but I still love that ad. And while artfully done it still gives a strong game immersion message to the audience, immediately captures your attention and ends on a powerful note. I don't think these PS3 ads even come close.
The real question is did the nonsensical ads sell Playstation 1 and 2 or did they sell on the simple merit of HAVING GOOD GAMES? I vote for the second, stuff like this doesn't do anything but waste good marketing money.
Actually, these weird commercials are the ones you're more likely to remember. Like it's harder to think of a 360 commercial than the baby crying, rubik's cube, etc
sorry, but this is too much, i did not expect this AT ALL. I thought Sony had learnt something, i guess we Europeans are reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaally Sonyland and anything goes with us.
under a rock for years and then wondering why your advertising budget is going down the drain and why both Nintendo and Microsoft are handing your ass to you on 599 U.S. plates!
Apparently Australia is part of Europe now. Seriously, why even bother broadcasting this shit down here? We care about this try-hard artsy shit even less so than the Europeans.
I saw this ad on TV the other day and was extremely unimpressed. It's like they're not even trying to sell the product. I only recognized it as a Sony commercial because of the pompous attitude, and the actual PS3 at the end was there for like 2 seconds.
