"I like to play". The case of Sony Playstation by José Martinez

"I like to play", analysis of persuasion through transmediality in advertising campaigns. The case of Sony Playstation.

José Martínez Sáez, Elvira Canós Cerdá, Gemma Sanchis Roca.

Luis Vives, 1; 46115 Alfara del Patriarca, Valencia (Spain) Faculty of Arts and Communication CEU Cardenal Herrera University

pemartinez@uch.ceu.es; + 34 669808858 elcanos@uch.ceu.es; +34 605319395 gemma@uch.ceu.es; +34 647735672 ABSTRACT Background: Advertising messages are currently adapted to the type of media in which they are inserted. Nowadays we are faced with transmedia messages that take advantage of new channels of communication in order to reach the target audience. In addition to traditional advertising formats (TV commercial, printed ads...) we can now use websites, viral videos and adver-gaming, among others ways, for advertising.

When using these multiple possibilities for advertising, persuasive messages may not appear to the target as obvious as before, as they come subtly through play and interactivity.

Object of study: Sony Playstation®, in its transmedia campaign "I Like To Play" masterminded by TBWA Madrid and awarded one ‘Sol de Oro’ (the name of first awards in Iberoamerican Advertising Festival El Sol) in the Digital Category among other awards, has developed a series of pieces that range from conventional TV commercials to interactive pieces on the web and include, as indicated by the agency itself, "the world's first downloadable web." Our analysis has a dual-focus: One, the formal appearance of the created content and the other, how this campaign has reached the target audience along with how they have perceived it.

Methodology: We will develop a content analysis establishing the formal elements that allow us to compare its different parts. We will analyze the campaign as a case of transmediality: its audiovisual content, the website itself and its usability, mobile phone applications and interactivity with the user. In addition, we will create a questionnaire for parents with young children, whether they are regular users of Playstation® or not,

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which will assist in establishing through which communication channel they learned about the campaign (given they have indeed heard of it) as well as how they perceive the brand "Sony Playstation速".

Key words: advertising, creativity, transmedia, internet, digital, interactivity.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Internet has given advertising communication the true opportunity of interactivity and access to target audiences without relying on massive-passive media. Internet advertising is diverse and varied, ranging from invasive pop-ups to the use of social networks personalizing communication. Currently, brands have the opportunity to reach their audience through TV or radio ads and also through websites, viral videos, advergaming, etc. As Antonio Fumero and Genís Roca stated (2007), the 2.0 Web has been able to exploit user interaction on the ‘participative web’ through social networks, blogs, wikis, forums, etc., contributing to brand-user relationships.

Advertising

campaigns

whose

communication

actions

use

offline

channels

(conventional media) as well as online ones (digital media including social networks, etc.) are widely known as 360º actions or integrated campaigns. But the term transmedia is much broader as it implies optimizing the features and functions of each of the channels used and not simplifying the concept, understanding, for example, that you can distribute something created for a billboard on the web.

2. OBJECT OF STUDY AND OBJECTIVES The Sony Playstation® campaign ‘I like to play’ is an integrated campaign, one in which different media and formats have been used to reach the target audience and achieve the goals proposed by the agency and advertiser1. And these are as follow:

- To give a friendly image of children playing with videogames.

- To encourage the use of social games in a family environment.

- To identify the brand with a playful and fun idea of games.

The campaign ‘I like to play’ has developed in both conventional and online media. The campaign was launched by sending out paper airplanes via e-mail for people to print and then play with. Also, in the email people were encouraged to visit the website www.juegacontushijos.com where they could print more games. Using this same idea, they also sent other influencers packs of paper sheets which were blank on one side 1

The campaign’s objectives can be read onhttp://publicidad.elembarazo.net/original-campanaplaystation-para-que-padres-jueguen-con-hijos/ (Access date: 13/0March/2013), you can see them in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0y42OXOEO0) and them were stated in the interview we conducted with the planner in TBWA, Jesús Fuertes.

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and contained drawing and cut-out activities on the other side for children to play with afterwards. The website was created specifically for the campaign.

As part of the campaign, a viral was developed in order to explain the actions carried out in conventional media and also to explain the concept of ‘play with your child’.

‘What children most like is to play with their parents and they want their parents to be a part of their activities.’ In magazines, children could cut out diplomas to give to their parents for having played with them. They could give out a ‘certification of the world’ and/or a ‘mega-ultra diplome’.

During the radio commercial breaks you could hear the following ad: FATHER (with Darth Vader’s voice): ’…97, 98, 99, 100. Ready or not, here I come! I go for Leia, who’s behind the hypertrophic monkey, and I go for Luke, who’s in the glove compartment of the imperial space shuttle, is ‘it’.

SON: ‘You’re a Cheater, not fair, you’re using the strength!’.

The APP ‘Inhibitor PS’ for mobile phones is also explained in the viral and is downloadable from the website. This app allows you to select different messages for your voice mail, twitter, etc. where the parent can inform, when the phone receives a phone call, that they are unavailable because they are playing with their children.

The www.juegacontushijos.com website was launched with a video similar to the TV ad but more focused on the social message of the campaign, whereas in the ad there is a greater presence of the brand. Once the video is over, or if the user chooses to skip the video, you can access the content of the webpage which is, as indicated in the viral, the ‘first completely downloadable website’. The website is divided into folders with games for different age groups. Each folder contains all the necessary instructions for parents to be able to play numerous games with their children, such as Blind Man’s Bluff, Ring around the Rosie, Steal the Fling-Sock, etc. You assemble some dice with which you choose what game to play, then you click on the link ‘download the ad on paper’ in order to download the ad in frames/images and put together a flip book. At the bottom of the home page, you can find the instructions to set up the box of downloadable games as well as the diplomas for parents. Along with them are also ‘checks’ that parents can give children when they behave well and they will later be

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able to use. For example one of these checks is for ‘Two hours of playtime, playing any game you like and whenever you like’.

Campaign structure:

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In this study, we will analyze the content of the Sony Playstation® campaign ‘I like to play’, developed by the TBWA Madrid agency, awarded with one ‘Sol de Oro’ in Digital Category in the advertising festival ‘El Sol’ in 2012. This campaign is considered by the Children’s Communication International Festival ‘El Chupete’ as the campaign that has best known how to harmonize creativity and a responsible message2.

So the objectives of this study are:

1) To analyze the formal aspect of the content created for the campaign.

2) To find out the effect on brand perception in the target audience after the campaign.

3. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Transmedia storytelling is a new approach to storytelling where the message is received by an immersive process through different platforms. Moreover, as Jeff Gomez points out, the receiver can participate in the story and become a co-creator thanks to social media and mobile apps (in Scolari, C. 2013: 42). As Jenkins (2008) states, the audience in the transmedia era moves from the spectator role to the participant role.

Transmedia narrative does not refer to a story adapted to different media, but rather one that is developed through a set of media. This implies that every media and every story makes sense independently, and at the same time they are part of a broader common narrative universe in which user participation is a key element.

Since transmedia storytelling is the development of a story through different media, the more specific and well adapted the communicative action, the better one can make use of the opportunities that media offer. We therefore need to make an explanatory note to differentiate the terms crossmedia and transmedia, as they are very often mistaken and confused. Crossmedia consists in telling one same story through different media without extending the narrative universe, whereas transmedia defines stories with autonomous sense and meaning but that belong to a broader and common narrative universe where user participation is a key element. This complexity may make persuasive messages less obvious than usual.

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http://www.elpublicista.es/frontend/elpublicista/noticia.php?id_noticia=15978 (Access date: 13/March/2013)

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The concept of transmedia is elastic and free-flowing. It is almost ‘liquid’ some would say in honor of Zgyman Bauman (2003), a concept related to the language of the new media, as these (as Manovich points out) follow the principle of variability (Manovich, L., 2006:82). The principle of variability states that digital technology allows productions, with a small added cost, to be adapted to different formats and lengths.

In this context, Sony PlaystationÂŽ launches a transmedia widespread campaign as it is broadcast in at least three platforms (Scolari, C., 2013: 42) and it comprises user participation in a very original way.

4. METHODOLOGY

In order to achieve the goals laid out, our analysis has a dual focus. On the one hand it focuses on the formal aspect of the different pieces created and on the other it focuses on how this campaign reached the target audience and how this audience perceived it.

In order to address the first of the objectives we have applied content analysis establishing the formal elements that allow us to compare the different pieces generated in the campaign by using an analysis chart. To elaborate this chart we have used as a reference the analysis model proposed by Isidro Moreno (2003).

From Moreno we have chosen the items that affect the construction of story and the advertising keys: advertising discourse type, genre, narrative structure, length, image and sound. From them we can see if there are differences in the creative conception and in the length depending on the media used as distribution channel.

Moreno classifies the advertising stories as denotative, connotative or symbolic depending on the relationship between the world represented in the story and the objective properties of the product advertised. Through the genre the receiver gets a faster interpretation of the story thanks to established conventions. So, Moreno differentiates among several advertising genres: musical, informative, humorous, dramatic, science fiction, western, educational, cultural...

The narrative structure is the basis of the story and it is what sustains other kind of structures such as persuasive, informative and dramatic in the case it exists. All the information about the product that you wish to spread rests on the informative structure. It can be transmitted directly or indirectly, denotative or connotatively. The

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persuasive structure refers to the product features and brand but directed towards the seduction of the target. The dramatic structure goes through the differentiated actions between main plots and subplots which convey the story.

To make easier the analysis of the expressive substances and to pay attention in more detail to the image, we have used a descriptive tool inherited from the film analysis.

The most complete is the decoupage which allows to clarify the style and the rhetoric of the commercial films. In our case, it has allowed us to compare the use of the image in the different pieces that make up the campaign.

Frames of TV Commercial

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Frames of Video Case

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The second of the objectives has been addressed interviewing an impartial audience sample group based on an ad hoc questionnaire. Questionnaires are usually in relation to quantitative research design, as they are usually elaborated to contrast points of view rather than to exploit these points of view or evaluate their issues (Rodríguez, Gil and García, 1999). In this case, the questionnaire seeks to survey opinions. We do not cover issues that require serious reflection. The final product when elaborating a questionnaire should be such as a ‘translation’ or summary of the supported ideas, beliefs and/or models used to explain a given reality. In other words, the questions in it should reflect the beliefs in relation to the issue or the outline of the issue that is being researched. The different answers obtained in the questionnaire are also explainable through the outline of the given issue. It is most useful when data is collected surveying a large number of individuals with a minimum investment of time and effort. Questions should always follow a common format.

In our case, we chose to run our survey on the internet as some of the advantages are low cost, no need to have a surveyor in person, it’s easy to manage, participants can be shown just about any type of visual or audio support and data is collected easily and quickly. There are disadvantages too, though, such as no guarantee that the person recruited for taking the survey is indeed the one filling out the questionnaire (Wimmer and Dominick, 2001).

Our way of addressing this issue was to place the survey on a website which targeted the same audience as the campaign, that is, parents interested in playtime with their children and family (www.rodalabola.com).

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Survey Respondent information: -

First and Last name and e-mail:

-

Age:

-

Gender:

-

Number of children:

-

Ages: (several possible answers): from 0 to 3, from 4 to 6, from 7 to 9, from 10 to 12, 13 or more.

Questionnaire: -

With videogames console?: Yes, No

-

If yes, which console?: Nintendo DS, Xbox, Wii, Playstation, Other, Nothing

-

Did you know the Sony Playstation® I like to play campaing?: Yes, No

-

Through which media did you know it?: E-mail, Radio Spot, TV Commercial, Magazine, Youtube Video, Web, Others, Nothing (If you don’t know it, click www.juegacontushijos.com)

-

Which is your evaluation of the campaing?: Very good, Good, So-so, Bad

-

Do you think it generates a positive image of Playstation®?: Yes, No, Indifferent, N/A

-

Are you thinking in interacting with some of the features of the website?: Yes, No, Not sure, Yes, I already did it

-

Would you download the app for mobile phones?: Yes, No, Not sure, Yes, I already did it

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Did the campaing improve your image of Playstation®?: Yes, No, Indifferent, N/A

-

Do you think it generates a positive image of Playstation®?: Yes, No, Indifferent, N/A

Usability After having analyzed different audiovisual pieces of the campaign, we went on to analyze the web www.juegacontushijos.com as it is an important element of the integrated campaign. Therefore, our analytical focus is the study of this web’s usability.

Usability, in relation to the development of websites, allows us to study the way users interact with the web and also lets us see how easy it is to use the site. It’s important to design usable websites, as the easier and more efficient the design and navigation of the site are, the more satisfied the user will be when navigating the website.

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Usability of websites is widely studied by different theorists. Jakob Nielsen is considered one the greatest experts in Usability. For this author, the concept of usability is linked to the easiness with which the user learns to use a product and can memorize its basic operating routines without making mistakes. He establishes five specific qualities to study of usability: easiness to learn, efficiency, memory over time, rate of mistakes and satisfaction. Therefore, according to Nielsen, usability should be rated based on the way the user performs his/hers tasks. In addition to considering time in executing a task successfully, rate of mistakes and degree of satisfaction, other variables should be taken into consideration, such as the number of steps needed to be taken by the user before reaching his/her goal, simplicity of the process, access time delays, etc. because the variables to be considered when rating usability depend on the topic that is being studied. In fact, this author, together with Hoa Loranger, also states that in order to make a proper study of usability you must know how and when to look and document your observations appropriately. (Nielsen and Loranger, 2007:27)

For our present study case, the website developed by TBWA Madrid, as we have already mentioned earlier, has been designed to be ‘completely downloadable’ and there is a viral video which explains the elements found in the site as well as its navigation. This is the site where you will find the printable games for children and the APP for mobile phones. The communication of this campaign in itself suggests parents to spend as little time as possible surfing the net so they can spend it playing with their children. We are going to base the study of this website on what Nielsen defines as ‘Usability Heuristics’ (1995).

1. Visibility of the system’s status: the user must be able to know where the system is and what it is doing.

2. Use the user’s language: clear and simple language with easy to understand terminology.

3. Control and freedom for the user: the user must have the possibility to do and undo.

4. Compliance and consistency of standards: use standards that avoid confusion.

5. Error prevention: In case they are made, establish appropriate error notification messages.

6. Minimize the memorizing load for the user and prioritize recognition: visible options which remain throughout the navigation of the site.

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7. Flexibility and efficiency of its use: easy access instructions for those users with little experience. Abbreviated commands for experts.

8. Good-looking dialogues and minimalistic design: no overloading of the interface with unnecessary elements.

9. Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from error: clear error messages not blaming the user but offering a solution.

10. Help and documentation: navigation should be intuitive, in case help is needed, the user should easily be able to obtain it.

These criteria and the guide published by Joaquín Márquez Correa, Yusef Hassan Montero and Francisco J. Martín Fernández (2003) are the basis for the Usability Heuristics Guide. And the evaluation criteria are: General, Identity and Information, Language and Writing, Marking, Structure and Navigation, Lay-out of the web page, Search, Multimedia Elements, Help, Accessibility, Control and Feedback.

5. RESULTS

a. RESULTS FROM FORMAL ANALYSIS The most relevant results from the formal analysis are shown concisely in the table below:

Video Case

Viral

Tv ad

Web video

Radio spot

4,28”

3,29”

30”

51”

42”

Type of discourse Denotative

Denotative

Connotative

Connotative

Symbolic

Gender

Informational

Informational

Playful-musical Playful-musical Playful

Structure

Informational

Informational

Persuasive

Image

Cinematic- infographic Cinematic- infographic Cinematic

Sound

Voiceover/Music

Length

Voiceover/Music

Persuasive

Narrative

Cinematic

Music/Song

Voice/Music

The different pieces are linked through a child-like melody or song. Another key element is the use of colors from the brand in the typography and in the elements that are part of the audiovisual pieces. The main differences are found in length, which tends to be longer in online pieces than those in conventional media. There are also differences regarding the type of advertising discourse used: informative and explanatory structure in the viral and video case; and persuasive, with no classic narrative, in the conventional ads. The product only appears in the TV ad.

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b. RESULTS USABILITY ANALYSIS When considering the results from the checklist of the web analysis, we can highlight the following ones: -

The URL is www.juegacontushijos.com, therefore it is easy to remember, identify and associate to the objective of the web and the campaign.

-

The Sony Playstation® logo appears as the home page is loading, where the video is found. On the rest of the pages the brand appears briefly through web addresses which are not hyperlinks.

-

Once the site is loaded, the inserted video starts running. You have the option of skipping it and moving on to the rest of the content on the site.

-

Headings are appropriately adapted to the style of the campaign and they are also consistent in every page on the website.

-

The language used in the website should be adapted to its users and it shouldn’t be purely corporative. In this case, the language in the website is intended to be clear and familiar.

-

The website can be easily printed. This is indeed one of its aims. It does not need plug-ins to access content. The sources are clearly written and readable.

-

The general appearance of the website is homogeneous, being the brand’s colors the predominant ones.

-

Visual distribution is not appropriate. It forces you to be continuously “scrolling”.

The idea is for the user to print the file, not to surf or navigate the web.

-

Response time is acceptable. The user can control the actions he/she is carrying out, but the selection possibilities are slim.

-

There aren’t any navigation elements that assist the user in knowing where he/she is at any given moment, although it is true that the page is not long and has few links. Links are not always easy to recognize, in fact some links turn out not to be so.

-

It is not possible to search for information and it contains no elements to help the user.

C. RESULTS SURVEY ANALYSIS

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The sample collected was used as an additional technique in the development of the analysis process, which along with the interview and the analysis content allows us to study the case from an explorative point of view. The relative percentage of answers to specific items is significant, as the online survey offers outstanding data regarding the perception of the campaign. 73% of respondents had not heard about the campaign prior to the survey. Those who were aware of the campaign came mostly through television ads and the website. After the survey, 71% of respondents (including those who learnt about the campaign at the time of the survey) believe that the campaign gives Sony PlaystationÂŽ a positive image.

6. CONCLUSIONS

Self-resignation as a way of formal consistency. ‘I Like To Play’ is based on the principle of formal consistency in its content. Users are presented with a website that sacrifices navigability and other web usability principles to favor communicative consistency.

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In the same discursive logic, commercials lack narrative structure, so that the order of the shots could be altered without changing the message. At the same time the mobile phone app consists in neglecting the real function of the device, in order to be consistent with the logic of the persuasive strategy. The aim of the App is to disengage parents from technologically mediated communications by encouraging them to play with their children in person.

Going from digital participation to analogical participation.

The ‘cut-paste’ actions offered are not those we are familiar with through the digital world, but the ‘cut’ with scissors and ‘paste’ onto paper from the real world. Links to other web sites practically disappear in order to favor parent-child links. The cover pictures for the downloadable videogames present similarities between real videogames and traditional participative games. The colors of the brand logo for the Playstation® console (red, yellow, blue and green) are part of the background of the cut-out activities, bills, diplomas, etc. with which we will play. The website offers us access to social networks with the only purpose of spreading the news, not using or participating in them. It is all about turning OFF the digital participation and ON the analogical one.

Child-like experiences shared by parents and children.

The ubiquitous musical element of the campaign consists in a simple musical structure and lyrics similar to children’s songs which parents and children can share. The website suggests parents to sing along with their kids (‘Twinkle, twinkle’, ‘I spy with my little eye’…) If a parent ever had the feeling of being generationally separated from his children because of modern Playstation® games, this campaign is based on child-like experiences which will bring both generations to a meeting point.

The ad (TV and web), using language as a connotation, shows images of an imaginary child-like moment shared by parents and children, where they are putting together what seems like a collage – artistic expression which triggers school-time memories – pasting together pieces from different origins to conform a new product with its own sense and meaning.

The viral, created using revealing language is simple, resembling the way children converses with their parents. The child speaks naturally the way he/she usually would with his/her parent.

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The radio ad presents Darth Vader – father - playing hide and seek with Leia and Luke – children – (a funny pun ‘I am your father’?). In any case, using the Star Wars saga (which by the way has a Playstation® game), is also a child-like experience that both parents and children can share.

Last but not least, the app for mobile phones that we are suggested to download, sends out the message that parents and children are sharing playtime and should not be interrupted. So the app ironically is built to neglecting the main function of the mobile phone.

The results from the survey have confirmed that parents consider the campaign gives Playstation® a good image.

Irony as a persuasive key "I Like To Play" is set up as an ironic persuasive communication. As González Requena says: "There is no difference between truth and joke or irony (...): all seductive scenes necessarily use a certain degree of irony, a certain degree detachment in their seductive ways." Furthermore, the website is not a true Web application, the mobile app is made to help people disconnect and disengage and social media links do not help to socialize... All of which can be defined as greatly ironic.

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JENKINS, H.: Convergence Culture: La cultura de la convergencia de los medios de comunicación. Paidós Ibérica. Madrid, 2008.

MANOVICH, L.: El lenguaje de los nuevos medios de comunicación. La imagen en la era digital. Paidós. Barcelona. 2006.

MORENO, I.: Narrativa audiovisual publicitaria. Paidós Ibérica. Barcelona, 2003.

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NIELSEN, J: 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design Available in http://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/ (Acces Date: 20/04/13), 1995.

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