Advertising Proposal for SONY Online Entertainment LLC Case Study

Advertising Proposal for SONY Online Entertainment LLC - Case Study Example Little of this consumer success radiates on SONY Online Entertainment (SOE) as yet, probably because it was established fairly recently as the online gaming firm of the SONY Corp. of America. Notwithstanding its distinguished corporate lineage, SOE is a fledgling company that needs to position its own brand, broaden its marketing base and overcome the heavy competition in online gaming through innovative thinking and ideas.FGH Associates, a full-service advertising agency, proposes to give SOE top-of-mind consumer recall and preference through a one-year advertising blitz that utilises every major medium - TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, cinema, video games, Internet, billboards - to deliver the message. The message: SOE is the online gaming firm for quality, innovation and delivery. This message will be delivered to the target market through meaningful advertising modules that exude warmth, energy and ingenuity. Advertising is meaningful if it is true-to-life and effective, warm i f gentle and sensitive, energetic if lively and appealing, ingenious if imaginative and silly but clever (McKay, 2005).In adopting an advertising strategy, positioning plays an important part. Positioning a product for a feasible market involves communication, which has become difficult in an "over-communicated" society (Goldman & Papson, 1994). There are just too many companies, too many products, and too much marketing noise such that in the US alone, per capita consumption in advertising is placed at $200 per year. In 2006, adspend worldwide was placed at $385 billion and is expected to reach $500 billion in 2010 (Chowdhury, 1994). Through all this noise, however, a firm can manage if it considers not only its own strengths and weaknesses but also those of its competitors. The easiest way to get into a person's mind is to relate to customers in a personal way (Desmond, 2003) and appeal to emotions in some ways (AllBusiness.com, 2008). This can only be done if the advertiser belie ves in his product. Even the most carefully thought out and highly creative ads would fail to connect if the product is not as good as advertised. The American Research Group (2007) sets 10 rules in making advertising more effective: 1. Tell a simple but good story instead of just purveying information. 2. Make the desired call to action an essential part of the story. 3. Use emotional appeal as basis. 4. Use easy and simple arguments. 5. Show instead of tell the message. 6. Use symbolic languages and images that relate to the senses, 7. Match what viewers see with what they hear. 8. Stay with a scene long enough for more impact. 9. Let a powerful video speak for itself. 10. Use identifiable music. When advertising takes these rules to heart and still fails to sway consumers, it may be worthwhile to follow