How SONY killed their brand? A case study
Large corporations need consumers much more than vice versa, but SONY have been making the headlines lately for all the wrong reasons.
The Campfire blog gives these surefire tips on how to kill your very own brand:
1. Treat your customers like criminals and install malicious software on their computers.
2. Create fake blogs that pretend to be consumer generated rather than honestly engaging people. (archive of Sony’s fake blog)
3. Attempt to bully new media outlets because they don’t blindly do your bidding rather than engaging in the conversation. (The comments are especially worth reading)
5. Sit back and watch as consumers define your brand for you based on all of your actions:
Uploaded less than three weeks ago, this video has surpassed the half a million view mark on YouTube with more than 3,000 comments. It seems that the vast majority of gamers out there agree with the PS3 song.
Thanks to Joanha, at ON:DIGITAL+MARKETING, for the topic inspiration.
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24 appreciated comments to “How SONY killed their brand? A case study”
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Stunning piece of work by Sony. They used to have such a solid name, but now they’re just throwing it away.
What are big corporations so scared of these days? They seem terrified that a bad review or post on a blog will destroy them somehow, so they go round gagging & threatening, and that bad news then travels twice as fast across the internet!
Weird. Interesting post David, thanks.
The biggest problem is the decline in quality control. Sony used to make rock-solid equipment and top-of-the-line audio products, but today things have a tendency to fall apart as soon as you take them out of the box (my own experience with two rather costly items).
I go for Denon nowadays. They have that kind of consistent quality I used to get from Sony.
And Sony rootkits, etc.?
Don’t even get me started.
This is intriguing on so many levels:
whoever wrote the song has lyrical skills (decent singing ability) as well as knowledge of both the gaming industry and the importance of user satisfaction in branding. Design and size aren’t enough if you don’t listen and deliver what your market wants.
Great find.
When I was a child I thought that anything SONY was out of this world! I remember getting my first SONY walkman, for cassette tapes. The headphones even had a little slider on the cable to adjust the volume! Wow!
I enjoyed watching the YouTube video. That’s what piqued my interest in this story and then I found the post on Campfire.
Volkher, thanks for your first comment on my blog. No less thanks to Chris and Drew. :)
Interesting post and vid. When the PS3 “borrowed” the motion sensitive controller from Nintendo, and reused the Spider-Man movie font for their system… I knew Sony was onto something or rather NOT. But aside from those things I haven’t been a big fan of Sony for some years now because of the quality of their products like someone else has mentioned as well.
Damn, I’m out of the loop lol. I guess I haven’t really been keeping of with Sony so I haven’t heard any of these stories.
I’d still want to get a PS3, but I’d get a 360 for Halo and a couple other games.
[...] overdrive it needs to, because Sony seems to have been systematically destroying its brand for a good couple of years. It is astonishing to watch such a hugely successful corporation attempt [...]
Sony’s been busily engaging in “anti-engagement marketing,” a new subset of Engagement Marketing where you use Web 2.0 tools to destroy your brand rather than engage with customers around it.
Brilliant… err… strategy. One for the case study books…
[...] Airey’s blog delves in the SONY Playstation 3 mess, and showcases a devastating anti-PS3 YouTube video that’s been viewed better than a [...]
[...] Airey’s design blog delves in the SONY Playstation 3 mess, and showcases a devastating anti-PS3 YouTube video that’s been viewed better than a [...]
Hey great discussion! Thanks for picking up my post and spreading it to your readers, David. Sony’s recent blunders have been simply jaw-dropping in my mind. Having been one of the guys behind The Blair Witch Project, marketers often come to us wanting to do something “stealth” and we always insist on transparency. People enjoy being entertained but they will not stand being lied to and there is a huge difference. Unfortunately, too many marketers haven’t figured that out yet.
[...] week I’ve given more thought to branding than I have in a really long time. David Airey put up a really thoughtful post about how Sony killed their brand – along with a viral video that’s been getting a flood of [...]
Just linked to your post –
I hope people see this as a cautionary glimpse of what can happen
Very powerful video world changing even.
Thanks for putting it up. I heard about it from Paul Greenberg and Chris Carfi and yours was the first thing that came up on Google and Yahoo.
Mei Lin
It’s good to know that my post came first when you searched for it and I’m glad you liked the read.
Great article. I almost forgot about some of these rotton things Sony did.
http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com
What a great video. Amazing in fact. I love that it is not a dig at which ones better of the two consoles.
I had a PS1 and PS2 but opted for a 360 this time purely because I didn’t like the way Sony bragged about PS3 being the best before it was even built.
I really hope the Wii and 360 destroy Sony.
[...] while those who refuse to listen suffer the consequences at the hands of the Consumer DJs (e.g. this video created to comment on Sony’s brand decay that I found on David Airey’s [...]
[...] Here’s a case study of how SONY got it wrong. [...]
Anyone know how to download this video? Where can I find the audio part as mp3? The video itself with audio. I’d love to put this on my iPod as a song.
Sorry, but I can’t be of any help there. Glad you like it though.
Well I found the audio for download and have it on my iPod now but still can’t get the video. Thanks for the help though (in trying to find it).
Absolutely agree with your sentiment here, as companies become larger and larger they tend to be less in touch with their consumers, inevitable it leads them to become more distant with the needs of the consumer. Sony is aiming for a broad market rather than what Nintendo is doing, which is to attract a certain type of consumer. This Nintendo has a more loyal following and listhens to the feedback.
Inevitably I think in future there will be more and more video games providers in the industry, catering for their own niche. Nintendo is focusing on gameplay and attracts audiences who want a simple machine with simple games. PC gamers want a more technical advanced gameplay, but Sony and Xbox are trying to fight it out for domination on a huge broad market.