CCT+356+-+Online+Ad+Critique

Online Ad Critique =__**MarcusPSP - "Step your game up !"**__=

Promoter : Sony Product : PSP Target audience : Youths, gamers and Phone users. Overall Strategy : Says outright that too much attention is paid to expensive gaming consoles while the portable is being ignored. Thus “Marcus” is hired. He goes on the offensive against phones that have been able to tap into the portable games market. “Step your game up” is the slogan.

Critique - Marcus PSP is Sony’s way of trying to advance the notion that the PSP is the ultimate in portable gaming experiences. Marcus is used by Sony as a fresh face to the campaign, the old guy handles the PS3 while Marcus handles the PSP. They are attempting to put a fresh, young , urban face on the PSP, which gamers worldwide can relate to. I witnessed this campaign as a random Youtube video, which ignited my interest. This was part of their mass online marketing campaign which includes an entire youtube channel dedicated to Marcus videos, blogs ,a Facebook page, Digg.com, and an entire website. Affiliate marketing programs went a long way in generating interest, and informing customers. Banner and Click through ads were also employed at various well known gaming websites like Gamespot.com in order to generate interest within the gaming community.

The overall design of the Ad campaign was well thought out. Tapping into social media outlets like Facebook and Youtube would have greatly enable them to reach a wider audience. Facebook allows them to constantly update its followers with the latest news with regards to the PSP, and allows for users to relate with Marcus’ persona. Youtube serves as a great medium for displaying the Advertisements, spreading the word and expanding the fan base. These tactics would have been responsible for a majority of the user activity being generated on the website and blogs like Digg.com. All these tactics ensure that Sony was able to penetrate the market, build brand recognition and generate interest for the PSP.



Looking at the results from the campaign, it can be deemed a success within the time frame of the Ad. Figures obtained from valuethewebsite.com indicate that online activity was definitely higher than average and rising between March and September. Overall, however, I do not believe the campaign to be as effective. This is mainly due, ironically, to Sony’s massive campaign to market the PS3 and, in doing so, losing out on a very key consumer base.

As a PSP owner myself, I too felt that the PSP was being ignored given all the hype surrounding the PS3. Sony failed to build on the brand awareness provided by the PS3, and in doing so, was unable to build consumer demand for the PSP.This opened the door for the likes of Apple to penetrate, with its wide variety of Iphone games. Childish as they may have seemed at first, it grew to pose a genuine threat to Sony’s revenue stream. This is why Marcus blatantly abuses the gaming capabilities of the Iphone, because its true, the PSP is superior in nearly every way. An entire video segment called “Marcus Don’t Play That” is dedicated to Marcus questioning why people play specific Iphone games. But the Iphone had already beat them to the punch. Apple had established a growing consumer base who were more than satisfied with the Iphones gaming capacity. Iphone Apps cost around 3 dollars while PsP games costs around 20. Such pricing even enabled them to to tap into other markets ignored by Sony, like girls and non-gamers.

Now the MarcusPSP movement has slowed down, and is considerably less vigorous in its marketing campaign. Present day MarcusPSP. Com tells the story. Daily ads revenue: $1 and pageviews per day: 5.Overall, Marcuspsp was a valiant effort on Sony’s part but the interest was more due to novelty’s sake as opposed to any real market penetration.

Bibliography :
 * · Luttrell, Mike. "Sony Explains "Marcus Rivers" Ad Campaign | TG Daily." TG Daily | Technology, Science, Entertainment, and Business News. Sept. 9, 2010. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/51462-sony-explains-marcus-rivers-ad-campaign __>.
 * · Gilbert, Ben. "Have You Met Marcus 'PSP' Rivers?" Joystiq. July 4, 2010. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://www.j ____ oystiq.com/2010/07/04/have-you-met-marcus-psp-rivers/ __>.
 * · Dille, Peter. "Step Your Game Up with PSP and PSPgo – PlayStation Blog." PlayStation Blog : The Official PlayStation Blog for News Updates on PlayStation Network, PlayStation 3, PSP and PSPgo. July 2, 2010. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/07/02/step-up-your-game-with-psp-and-pspgo/ __>.

= = =__**Nike Football Ad - Ronaldinho**__=

Promoter - Nike Product - Nike R10 Football Boots Target audience – Football fans worldwide. Overall Strategy - Penetrate popular video websites like Youtube and Google with a jaw dropping video. Their objective was to portray Nike boots as being the source of Ronaldinho’s unbelievable accuracy. “Featuring world famous soccer star Ronaldinho hitting the crossbar no less than four times, without the ball touching the floor. The creative material is from Framfab, in Denmark. The product on display is the Nike R10 football boot.” ( Times Online, Viral Ad Campaigns )

One sole ad was enough to spark widespread furor among football fans worldwide. I, among others, witnessed this ad online on Youtube in 2007, when I was introduced to it by a friend who challenged me as to whether it was real or not. Nike tactically chose this year as Ronaldinho was quite easily one of the most recognizable faces in world football, in order to capitalize on brand recognition.

That was pretty much all there was to their strategy. Everything revolved around Ronaldinho and the skills he displayed. And that proved enough to spark nearly 50 million views worldwide. Football fans alongside digital experts entered into a massive debate as to the authenticity of the video. Nike remained quiet about the proceedings and let the massive discussions continue. They depended on Word of Mouth in order for it to be spread. This is a perfect example of viral marketing where just one video is enough to cause an impact. It was simple and effective. There was no need to market this in affiliate websites or pay for click through ads. The interest generated was effective enough to spread to a majority of the target audience. Nike was able to stream this ad into various video streaming portals like Youtube and Google. “It created JogaTV, a virtual soccer TV station, where it releases a new video clip every few days and fans can upload their own clips. “ ( Holmes, Nike )

The trick to the campaign lay within its simplicity. The amateur video shooting, along with the seemingly unrehearsed nonchalant demeanor of Ronaldinho added a sense of reality to the Ad. In doing so, Nike effectively attracted attention, conveyed a message, and effectively enticed action from the viewer. Effective to a limit anyway. I believe that Nike could not have possibly predicted the outcry that the Ronaldinho video would have caused. Eventhough they did later admit to faking key aspects of the video, I believe that they blurred the lines of reality as a marketing tactic. This was done in order to highlight the “unreal” capabilities that the football boot musters, which seems acceptable enough. But in doing such a fine job at blurring the lines, the debate that was invoked had less to do with the boot and more to do with Ronaldinho. All eyes were focused on Ronaldinho and as to whether or not he could truly pull off such outrageous skill. I doubt if you asked anyone now, that they would even remember the model number of that Nike boot. I know I don’t. They’re attempt at brand awareness would have succeeded better if the boot was a shiny color that really stood out. Or if a giant mascot in a Nike suit randomly tackles Ronaldinho out of nowhere. People would sit up and relate the ad and Ronaldinho to Nike. But brand awareness was nowhere to be achieved besides the Nike logo at the end of the video. Attention was attracted, a message was conveyed, but the wrong kind of action was enticed.

“One of Nike's top soccer videos, it has been viewed by 7.5 million people, making it one of the most popular clips online, but also the most controversial because it was digitally altered. Nike executives, who won't say whether they did the editing, are clearly amused by the controversy. But the flap could hurt its credibility.” ( Holmes, Nike )

And that is where, I feel, Nike failed in its marketing campaing. It underestimated the impact of their campaign and consequently lost control of where the users interest was headed. The main aim was to build brand awareness, spur action and generate demand and it did all those things with respect to Ronaldinho, rather than the product itself. The campaign generated the necessary buzz, but failed to capitalize. The advertising company, Framfab, did however win two Gold lions in the Cannes Lion Festival for the campaign. ( Times Online, Viral Ad Campaigns )

Bibliography :
 * · Hopkins, Heather. "Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK." Hitwise Intelligence - Analyst Weblogs. Mar. 15, 2006. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-hopkins/2006/03/ronaldinho_and_nike_football_a.html __>.
 * · Holmes, Stanley. "Nike: It's Not A Shoe, It's A Community." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. July 24, 2006. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_30/b3994068.htm __>.
 * · Online, Times. "The Top Ten Viral Ad Campaigns - Times Online." The Sunday Times. July 25, 2007. Web. Feb. 6, 2011. <__ http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2138718.ece __>.