Sony Home to get Advertisers in a frenzy

Sony has really moved forward with the Sony HOME on the PS3. For those of you not too sure what it is, Sony HOME is Sony’s take on Second Life. To access it you need a PS3 as it is accessible directly through Sony’s XrossMediaBar and you need to be linked to online play. It’s extremely simple to access and once your in, there are a whole host of things that you can do.

Looking at it from a business point of view I wasn’t particularly interested in conversing with other characters online or customising my avatar, I wanted to have a look around this virtual world. I downloaded the Red Bull Air-Race virtual island to give it a go. Red Bull is the first advertiser to create a virtual environment in the Sony HOME portal and I am duly impressed, although it did take me a good 20 minutes to figure out how to get it started! Not only is the game itself extremely addictive and quite fun its the environment that gained most of my attention. Its is crisp, runs smoothly and looks stunning. This is an example of a company doing something quite extraordinary, getting in first, creating excitement and getting players to interact directly with the brand. They have done their homework too, considering their target market also makes up the majority of core-gamers using the PS3 console and network, specifically young males, 18-34, the same market not interested in watching an out-dated medium such as TV and aren’t particularly impressed with any advertising you throw at them. But not this, this was hook, line and sinker.

A little more environment searching led me to stumble upon the shopping mall complex. I understand that these concepts are not new as this has been seen in other virtual world’s such as second life. There are brands in here such as Diesel and they actually SELL virtual products, where the user opts into buying a particular item of clothing (priced from about $1-$2) which is then deducted from their account details stored in the Sony network. 2 things amaze me here. The first is that people are actually BUYING (with real money!) virtual clothing. Secondly, the people buying these products are the obsessed, the dedicated and early risk takers. These are the exact people every company wants, actually needs, to sell their product to.

Will we be seeing dedicated virtual furniture companies appear to take advantage of this demand? Where else can you sell 30,000 couches and $4.95 each and make a profit? Where else would people actually buy them? Will Sony rent out virtual space in their virtual shopping mall or take a percentage of what is sold in the network? How will they control the demand and what limitations will be in place?

Again I’m not interested in the specific environment details so please don’t point out the little nuances as I’m sure there are may. The reason I think this would create amazing opportunities is because you are not selling to the masses here. You are dealing with the small minority and the early adopters who would purchase such products. What gets me bug eyed is the fact that you don’t even need to search for the early adopters, they are already there, buying! These are the people which companies hunt down to sell to because they talk and spread the message. Now Sony has done the hard work and successfully rounded up this bunch and plonked them into a massive online environment. Can Sony charge a premium? For sure. Would it still be worth it? You bet!