PS4 Promotional Strategy Planning

Sony’s two primary objectives are to convince existing PS3 owners to purchase the PS4 and to gain the majority of the market share in Brazil and the United Kingdom. We have set a few communication objectives in order to achieve these goals. Our first communication objective is to educate 60% of the target market in the next 6 months about the new attributes that the PS4 will offer. It is important to educate the target market about the PS4’s new features because we are hoping that this will encourage PS3 owners to switch to the PS4.The only way to accomplish this is by emphasizing that the PS4 has enough new attributes to justify purchasing the new console. Consumers’ needs and wants are always changing.

“In the video game industry, consumers want newer graphics, newer controllers, and newer features” (Smith, 2012). Educating consumers about the PS4’s new attributes informs these consumers that this console can satisfy these needs. Another communication objective is to persuade 40% of video game consumers to purchase the PS4 instead of the Xbox One, PlayStation’s largest competitor, over the next 12 months.This will allow us to become a market share leader in Brazil and the United Kingdom. We choose to incorporate product differentiation as a communication objective for two reasons.

First, we can show consumers that we have an added value that is not offered by our competitor, in this case the Xbox One. Secondly, product differentiation can help PlayStation gain a competitive advantage in the market (Kelchner, 2013). Lastly, we want to remind 100% of our current consumers why they love Sony and the PlayStation over the next 12 months.The reason why we decided to use this communication objective is to increase brand loyalty where consumers will continue purchasing products from PlayStation.

PlayStation have been innovating their products from the very beginning. We want to remind consumers that PlayStation have been at the forefront of adding new features to their console and will continue to do so with the PS4. Promotional Mix We will use advertising, public relations and interactive/internet marketing to address our communication objectives.Our efforts will be divided on each of these promotional elements: 50% for advertising, 30% on public relations, and 20% for interactive/internet.

Our justifications for spending so much on advertising is that we feel it is the most effective medium for accomplishing our communication objectives. Advertising is able to spread messages to a wide audience. By continuing to use the “Greatness Awaits” and the “#4ThePlayers”campaign in Brazil and the United Kingdom, we can advertise how the PS4 offers new features that provide a different type of gaming experience and raises the consumers’ anticipation for this console.The PS4 goes on sale in both Brazil and the UK on November 29 while the Xbox One is released on November 22.

We want to amplify our public relations efforts especially during this week to draw away any attention from Xbox One’s recent release. Scheduling events such as pre-release parties can put the PS4 back in the spotlight and persuade consumers to purchase the PS4 instead of the Xbox One. Publicity will be especially important for the Brazilian market. The initial high price of the PS4 ($3,999) has upset many consumers in Brazil (Reitzfeld, 2013).We want to use publicity to keep consumers updated on any news regarding changes in price. For example, the PS4 price recently dropped from $3,999 to $1,999 and Sony is now importing the product instead of producing it in Brazil to lower the price even more (Reitzfeld, 2013).

We want to spend the second most effort on public relations because having a 3rd party deliver news about the PS4 seems more credible then our own advertisements (Lautenslager, 2003). We are hoping that this will get consumers to trust the Sony name and purchase the PS4.Our last promotional is interactive/internet marketing. We are spending the remaining 20% on this tool because it will be used to support our strategic plan but not necessarily be a main component of it. Many of the new features of the PS4 are directly related to interactive/internet marketing. Since the release of PS3, the world has become more technologically savvy than ever.

We are surrounded by tablets, smartphones, and social media sites. Using interactive/internet platforms like these are perfect to market the PS4’s new features and make it stand out from the Xbox.For example, the new controller has a button that allows you to share your gaming experience via social media websites (Kosmides, 2003). Target Audience Both Brazil and the United Kingdom are ideal markets to introduce a new video game console. Peter Warman, the CEO of NewZoo, says “Brazil is possibly the fastest growing games market in the world when it comes to total consumer spending.

Its anticipated growth of 32% is way ahead of the global average of 7% and even more compared to the US with 1% and Europe 3%” (Thier, 2013).United Kingdom is also a leader in the video game industry. They are the 4th highest country to spend the most on video games. Both of these markets show a promising potential to launch the PS4.

Our two main target audiences in these markets are major retailers and parents whose children play video games. In Brazil, the three retailers we want to reach are MercadoLibre, Lojas Americanas, and BuscaPe. com Inc. These retailers have the largest reach with 29. 9%, 26.

7%, and %21. 6% respectively (Phillip Driver).Currys and Asda are our ideal target retailers in the United Kingdom. Currys has the largest electrical chain in the UK and Asda has approximately 365 stores making them the third largest retailer in the UK (Retail Economics, 2013). We want to reach major retailers because of the consumer demand that is created when a new product is introduced into the market.

These retailers will then be more open to our advertising since they are trying to fulfill that demand (Peele, 2013). Another target audience is parents of children who play video games.However, we will only be marketing to this audience for a limited time. With the release of the PS4 only being a month away from Christmas, we want to heavily advertise to these parents during this time.

According to the Consumer Electronics Study, they say that video game consoles will be at the top of their wish list this holiday season. It also says 74% of the respondents intend to purchase a video game console as a gift (Eddy, 2013). This makes Christmas an ideal time to persuade these parents to purchase a PS4 for their children.Positioning Approach In order to compete against the Xbox One and other gaming consoles, we want to position the PS4 based on two main qualities: the price and the gaming features. Even though Sony is trying to bring down the price in Brazil, we can only use the lower price positioning in the United Kingdom market. In the United Kingdom, the PS4 is priced at ? 349 and the Xbox One is ? 429.

We also want to position the PS4 as a high quality console even though it is significantly lower than the Xbox One.It has already been mentioned several times that one of the biggest changes from the PS3 to the PS4 is the new focus on consumers who are heavy video game users. There are several features that contribute to this new gaming experience. The independent says, “PS4’s GPU is 50 percent more powerful than the Xbox” (Vincent, 2013). This means that the PS4 is capable of providing far better graphics and allows games to run smoother.

The PS4 also offers their customers a selection of video games to play for free. While the Xbox One offers a similar feature, the PS4 offers more popular games such as Uncharted 3 and Metal Gear Rising (Vincent, 2013).We can position the PS4 using the “#4ThePlayers” campaign in order to emphasize this console as an elite gaming experience. It is also important to note PS4’s efforts to appeal to the users that highly value the entertainment options in a console, which has been the Microsoft’s positioning approach for the Xbox One. By offering the PlayStation Plus subscription (Netflix, Hulu+, YouTube, Amazon Instant) or allowing users to run several apps at once will position are entertainment options close to the Xbox One (Kosmides, 2003).