Sony Pleased With Kevin Butler Adverts

Kris Erickson • Apr 6, 2010 • Comments ()

If recent comments by SCEA marketing chief Peter Dille are any indication, we can expect humorous and quirky adverts for the company's video game products to continue in the foreseeable future. Actor Jerry Lambert, whose previous television credits included Everybody Loves Raymond and Malcolm in the Middle, played a fictional character named Kevin Butler in the "It Only Does Everything" campaign for the Playstation 3. These new adverts blended ironic humor with information meant to make the console appealing to broader market segments. Dille thinks that the new approach helped connect customers with the Playstation brand with earlier efforts such as the infamous "Baby in a White Room" adverts.

"That whole campaign was really about power and the power the PS3 has. But what we found was that this whole positioning was a bit intimidating to people. Our research also showed that Sony could be perceived as arrogant. With our campaign now, we kind of knocked off all those obstacles. The arrogance I think has gone away. We kind of gotten back to our mojo with the sense of humor that people came to know and love with early PlayStation advertising. I think it's just a more likable connection to the consumer."

The new campaign wasn't without its missteps. An early ad in the campaign drew criticism for its portrayal of Nigerians as Internet scammers, something that the company apologized for.

Butler won't be out of a job anytime soon. Dille revealed that Sony has some more products coming down the pipeline that they want him to introduce to consumers. "You're going to continue to see Kevin Butler highlighting new content that is hitting the platform. That will include PlayStation Move later this year and also 3D," he said.

[Source: IGN UK]