Download Sony's PlayStation: Analyzing Brand Ads with Archetypes and Hero's Journey and more Study notes History in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Christopher Lo Presti Brand Advertisement Analysis: Sony has been a big player in the world of entertainment with its high-end TV, sound system, and videogame consoles between others. Like many companies, they've had their shares of ups and downs. One of the reasons they have been able to now be in profit after many years in the wrong end of the scale, has been its PlayStation entertainment system. Yet, in this highly competitive market with the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony's PlayStation has been able to captivate the fans and even brought some new ones from the competitor's side as well. Here we will be able to identify how the company's advertisement campaign has assisted them in achieving one of their greatest consoles they have ever released. With 9.52M subscribers on YouTube and 17.7M followers on Twitter, we see the importance of using the right archetype; utilizing the incorrect model could be devastating for the company message. PlayStation's primary archetype is the jester, and it's meant to help people have a good time; typically, a jester is someone who is a fool, trickster, or even a comedian. In the context of PlayStation, they use it to their advantage to gain the attention of all the members in the family as the company is looking to attract different generations, from kids, teenagers, adults, and seniors. This archetype works in their favor since it allows them to be flexible and be in different markets. Also, even though utilizing one archetype is what's best for results with consumers, as it helps provide a more concise message. PlayStation uses a second archetype, the creator. This archetype helps the company to connect with its "hardcore" gamer fan base since it -allows them to utilize the different game worlds that the artist (developers) have created and uses that to their advantage 2 Now that we have established the archetype that Sony decided to use for their PlayStation entertainment system let's take a look at their advertisement campaign for the majority of their recent console; PlayStation 4. When the console first launched, Sony had the upper hand with the message of this new generation in console gaming. Their first slogan "for the players," resonated with the gamers, and it helped the company maintain a single message towards their fans. Going forward, the company changed course, and for their new campaign, they released "Greatness Await." We can see the new slogan in many of the console advertisements that air in TV broadcasts and social media, with new ones still in production. In their first advertisement with the new campaign, named "The Beginning of Greatness," we are immediately greeted with a call to adventure. When depicting this advertisement, having a closer look at its idea and its end goal, we can gather that the thought of the hero's journey was at the core in the planification phase of the advertisement. Just like the hero's journey, "the hero" needs to go through the ordinary world, pass through the special world, and then return. The same intent can be seen in the "Beginning of Greatness" advertisement. The protagonist challenges the viewer (the player) to dare to be great. He challenges the viewer while making references to different videogames stories, like for example God of War when he say's "The imagination of a brilliant child and the powers of an ancient god" or in Final Fantasy when he say's "You, who can rescind life or raise the dead." In addition to the different call to action mentioned in the advertisement, visually, we are shown different characters from different first- party PlayStation games. They appear to represent some of the allies and enemies of the story.
