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A good post on Digg about a blog that was made to look like it was two young guys who wanted a Sony PSP for Christmas from their parents. They made some cute videos, some interesting posts, etc. etc. Though very quickly it was revealed that the domain was registered by an ad agency and this was a poor attempt by both the ad agency as well as Sony to create some viral marketing buzz for the PSP during the holidays.I always wanted to be a fly on the wall during these marketing meetings when an agency is trying to plan out a campaign. I wonder if during this particular campaign meeting, anyone brought up the point that they are being dishonest to any and all people who will come to this blog? This site is being developed, written and launched by an ad agency and these guys in the blog are merely actors and what might the repercussions be if the public finds out for both the agency, but more importantly, our client?!?!?!?

When I was looking over this blog, there were several items that jumped out at me. First off, this agency wrote this focused on the lowest common denominator. I understand the target demographic for this site was probably boys 11-18, but did they assume their customers are stupid as well?

Look at the writing; misspelled words (Kids do know how to use the spell check feature), lower case letters like i (Yea, finding the shift key is tough) and then just total run-on sentences that my cousin who is 4 could of written better.

Many people believe that this campaign failed miserably because Sony and their agency got caught lying. Oh yea, by the way folks, if you are going to lie, don’t register the domain in your ad agencies name. Though the lying part just made this story bigger than it would of been. But no matter what, this campaign would of failed for one simple reason, it did not communicate well with the target audience. It demeaned them, it talked down to them and it offered them nothing of interest. I equate this web site to an accident you see on the side of the road. You know you should not look, but for that couple of seconds as you drive by it, you cannot help but stare at the horror of it all. Though two seconds after passing it, you have moved on to something else in your head never to return to the accident.

If you do not believe me, let’s look at some of the comments users are posting. These are the people Sony wants more than anything to buy their product.

• This site makes me want to get rid of my PSP.
• This is terrible. I mean really terrible. I don’t think anyone is fooled by this terrible, terr1ble ad.
• Things are going really bad for Sony if all they can afford to push one of their flagship products are you monkeys.
• Sony should be ashamed….
• What The Hell! Not only is this fraud of a joke site a simple paid for advertisement for Sony, but it also is horrendously awful! You spent how much on this absolute tripe?

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Technorati Tags: Sony, PSP, dishonest, failed