Editor's note: I love Kevin Butler's PlayStation ads, but I never stopped to think about what he might mean for the games industry's actual leaders. Rob did, and he's got some great points. -Brett
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that fake Sony executive Kevin Butler has been the marketing success story of 2010. Butler has somehow managed -- through a combination of perfectly pitched humor and on-target messaging -- to straddle the great divide between corporate shill and hardcore gamer. It's not that gamers believe that Butler is real, but that we wish deep down that the profit-hunting businessmen running the megacorps atop the ziggurat of our favorite pastime were more like him.
We want impassioned speeches that perfectly encapsulate the enthusiasm we have for our hobby. We want humor. We want to feel that we understand -- and are understood by -- these alien creatures called CEOs, when so often that isn't the case. (Whether that's what the games industry needs from these men, the Bobby Koticks and John Riccitiellos of the world, is an entirely different matter.) What Butler has brought into sharp focus is how an expertly crafted marketing push can fill the void Kotick et al are incapable of crossing, and in an industry where brand loyalty forms such a strong part of gamer self-indentification, the man who can achieve that is worth his weight in gold.
So in the current world of instant communication and 24-hour news, do VPs and CEOs need to be both astute businessmen and forward-facing publicity figures? Nintendo of America has Reggie Fils-Aime, who seems to walk the line with aplomb, while Satoru Iwata's regular appearances on the Nintendo Channel speak to an attempt to make Nintendo's president a more approachable figure. Microsoft cycles through attempts to celebritize their mid-level executives to varying degrees of success, while Sony struggled with the waning stars of Kaz Hirai and Ken Kutaragi before switching tack to let the fictional Kevin Butler take the strain of the brand's public face, letting the actual executives get on with running the company.
The danger to the Butlerian approach is simple enough: Unless the writing and characterization -- not to mention grokking the audience -- are pitched to perfection, the message risks coming across as insincere, particularly when the message contrasts sharply with traditional impressions of a company's working practices. This was the case at the beginning of the PS3 era, particularly in Europe, where the arrogance and downright cockery of PlayStation executives successfully undid a good deal of the goodwill carried over from the PS2.
In short, we don't need you to be hip, CEOs. We don't need you to be down with the kids in their 'hoods. If necessary, hire someone to entertain us while you get on with the business of making games, 'cause hell, we don't have the greatest attention spans in the world. Do what you have to, but don't confuse keeping out of the limelight with an excuse to pour disdain upon gaming culture from your lofty heights.
Or if you do, expect to be called out on it.
All I know is that this newer form of advertising sure makes me feel a hell of a lot better about being a gamer. Makes it seem like magic really is going on high up the development chain, as opposed to sales number crunching.
Interesting point about the differences in the business-facing CEOs (i.e., Kaz Hirai) vs. public-facing CEOs (i.e., Kevin Butler). While Kevin Butler is hilarious and incredibly fun to watch, I don't know if I'd go as far to say it makes me feel better about being a gamer. :/ Sometimes the opposite, actually.
I thought talking about KB from E3 would be a little outdated, but this was a good read! Prompted me to publish my own take on KB from E3 (a long-forgotten article that's been sitting in my draft box). :) Thnx.
Sony really knocked it out of the park with this one. It was the first time I actually laughed at a commercial. All in one swing they made their company look hip, with the times, and modest while joyfully makeing fun of themselves (I want companies to be hip damnit!). And at the same time raise plenty of interest for the PS3.
After so many failed attempts it is nice to know that Sony still got it.
The issue that people like Kotick (in particular Kotick) don't realize, is that the second you appear in public as a representative for your company, you are dealing with the public in much the same way as the people in the lowest part of the totem do. You become as much, if not more so a face of the company as the person in phone support. So what you say or do becomes not just a personal representation, but a coporate one.
Sony realized this and decided to put their "big Cheese" out there as an enthusiast, and for the enthusiast. That says to the public that sony is about being enthusiastic about their products. Now contrast this with Bobby Kotick, who seems that any time he's out in the public eye, his words and actions say "so long as I get money out of the gaming public, screw them". Such actions carry over to the impression of the company as a whole.
When you have a situation where buying the products is not a borderline religeous experience (like apple), then the words out of the highest representative of a company can do a lot of good or a lot of harm.