Did you hear? The new svelte PS3 is now only $299.
Well, maybe you didn’t know. But if Sony has its way—with radio, TV and print—you and your entire neighborhood will be all-to-familiar with the $100 price drop, and with a bland new spokesperson called Kevin Butler.
Dressed business casual, with slightly frumpy demeanor and sporting a donut-friendly waistline he saunters on screen with little personality, humor, cleverness or… or… anything interesting at all.
It’s the antithesis of Apple’s biting PC/Mac ads that, while perhaps overdone, turned technology branding on its collective ear.
These new Sony ads come from the Deutsch agency based in LA:
“If it delivers like we think it will, like the happy California cheese cows, the Geico cavemen or Mac vs. PC ads, people will want to hear the latest news and see what this guy’s going to say next,” said Eric Hirshberg, president and chief creative officer at the agency.
I’m a little skeptical here. First, why copy? You’d think Sony could come up with something original. Also, isn’t the dopey office manager stereotype also tired (and unassailable thanks to the brilliance of Steve Carell)?