SPOnG just spoke with Sony Computer Entertainment’s UK PR manager, David Wilson, who is both tired and jubilant (and, we would guess, as relieved as Phil Harrison) following the PS3's launch at Virgin’s Oxford Street MegaStore last night.
You have probably already read or heard that Sony gave away over a quarter of a million pounds worth of high quality tellies; with ebullient UK MD, Ray Maguire, telling the crowd last night just before midnight, "This is a 46-inch Bravia W series. It's an award-winning flat panel. And do you know what the good news is guys? I'm going to give you one free… every single one of you in this queue is going to get one."
The immediate response was one of shocked silence, followed soon after by whoops and cheers and the immediate (and strange and welcome) emergence of a real party vibe.
It was as if the entire crowd had dropped a strong E and were all coming up at the same time. Not, of course, that SPOnG advocates illegal drug use in any way, but we cannot think of any other way of describing the sudden and immediate change in the vibe.
It was, in short, a genius move. It is all that ‘the industry’ is talking about today. “What was the thinking behind doing it?” we asked SCE’s David Wilson earlier.
“Well, basically we have more stock than we have ever had at any launch. For the first time ever retailers can have plentiful stock on shelves. So, people can actually come into the store any buy them for a change!”
“This plentiful stock situation also has spin off benefits, discouraging eBay scalpers and the like,” he added.
“On top of this it’s clearly not good that we came later to market than in Japan and the US… Plus the people at the launch this week, these people didn't need to sleep for 36 hours on a cold floor at Virgin...They could easily go out and buy a PS3 today, so it wasn’t like previous launches where hardware shortages drove crowds to launches.”
“So basically, we just wanted to say thank you to these loyal enthusiasts,” Wilson informed us.
You have probably already read or heard that Sony gave away over a quarter of a million pounds worth of high quality tellies; with ebullient UK MD, Ray Maguire, telling the crowd last night just before midnight, "This is a 46-inch Bravia W series. It's an award-winning flat panel. And do you know what the good news is guys? I'm going to give you one free… every single one of you in this queue is going to get one."
The immediate response was one of shocked silence, followed soon after by whoops and cheers and the immediate (and strange and welcome) emergence of a real party vibe.
It was as if the entire crowd had dropped a strong E and were all coming up at the same time. Not, of course, that SPOnG advocates illegal drug use in any way, but we cannot think of any other way of describing the sudden and immediate change in the vibe.
It was, in short, a genius move. It is all that ‘the industry’ is talking about today. “What was the thinking behind doing it?” we asked SCE’s David Wilson earlier.
“Well, basically we have more stock than we have ever had at any launch. For the first time ever retailers can have plentiful stock on shelves. So, people can actually come into the store any buy them for a change!”
“This plentiful stock situation also has spin off benefits, discouraging eBay scalpers and the like,” he added.
“On top of this it’s clearly not good that we came later to market than in Japan and the US… Plus the people at the launch this week, these people didn't need to sleep for 36 hours on a cold floor at Virgin...They could easily go out and buy a PS3 today, so it wasn’t like previous launches where hardware shortages drove crowds to launches.”
“So basically, we just wanted to say thank you to these loyal enthusiasts,” Wilson informed us.
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Comments
Dreadknux 24 Mar 2007 12:46
1/3
Really? I thought it was things like this that discouraged eBay scapling.
TimSpong 25 Mar 2007 01:35
2/3
Svend Joscelyne wrote:
Really? I thought it was things like this that discouraged eBay scapling.
Capitalism contains the seeds of its own...?
Go on, phone a friend...
A) K Marx
B) G Marx
C) R Marx
Dreadknux 25 Mar 2007 08:48
3/3
Oooh, ooh. It's gotta be Groucho! ;)
"Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows.........."
PS. Destruction. :)
"Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows.........."
PS. Destruction. :)