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Red Bull Builds Tropical Island in Playstation Home
Bamelin
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Registered User regular
Red Bull becomes first brand on PlayStation Home
by Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh, Revolution UK 02-Dec-08, 10:31
LONDON - Red Bull has become the first brand to build a presence in PlayStation Home, Sony's much anticipated virtual world, Revolution can reveal.
Red Bull has built a tropical island, featuring an aeroplane racing game based on Red Bull's real world Red Bull Air Race series.
Home is currently under construction and likely to be opened up for public testing before the end of 2008.
The virtual world will enable gamers to create avatars, interact with each other, create their own apartments, play games, and stream video and music, by connecting to the internet through their PS3 consoles.
John Beasley, brand marketing manager for Red Bull UK said Home represents an opportunity for brands to create "memorable and rich content".
"The game gave us the first opportunity to recreate in the gaming world what we try to do in the real world, which is to facilitate interaction, to give people stories, memories, experiences and a really good opportunity to interact with the brand," he said.
Beasley said Home will show marketers how in-game advertising can be used effectively and will open up the medium to more brands. "It's an easy environment for brands to take that first step into gaming," he added.
Sony has set up Home so that gamers and brands can "generate significant revenues", but has not revealed details of brands it is working with.
A spokesman for Sony said that brand partnerships for Home will be announced at a later date.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/MostRead/866365/Red-Bull-becomes-first-brand-PlayStation-Home/
I think stuff like this is one of the most interesting aspects about Home. While Second Life tried the same sort of concept I think it lacked the mass market inertia a platform like the PS3 has.
Hell the idea of branding may still not really take off, but I think that we're going to get a small taste in this generation of consoles, of what may be a really big thing in the next generation of consoles.
I kind of liken it to Live on the original Xbox and how Live is now on the 360. I wonder if virtual world branding will take off huge or fizzle away?
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Hell, I kind of enjoyed Sneak King on the 360 and I paid 3 bucks or so for that with a combo.
If branding means free stuff to play around in in Home I'm all for it.
The corporations pave the way.
Some people get all superiority complex about this.
Me I just wanna fly that aeroplane.
You do. It's called Earth.
And some spaces on earth used to be without ads. Is it not allowed to feel they should've stayed that way?
Right, because you're being forced to visit Red Bull's little corner of Home.
At gunpoint.
You clearly aren't in the beta
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
You will be.
Oh yes.
You will be.
*yoda face*
Oh, I won't, and SPI won't either. That's the whole point.
Surely you can see why this generates hostility.
They're wasting their money.
That's what I got from zombiemambo's post, that we're pretty stupid for suggesting that we don't want to see ads. Can you see why that would generate my response?
I don't think anyone really cares what another person would do. If you want to enjoy ad-sponsored content then do that. Some of us won't and would rather see some forms of it go away, and I don't see anything wrong with that.
I mean, I see it like this:
Nah I'm joking, yeah I can see it I guess. Can we all stop now though? Please?
Off topic, but does anyone know how much Red Bull costs to make? The cans are stupidly expensive, and unless they're shaving little bits of platinum in each can the profit margins must be ludicrous.
How did advertising work in Second Life? Did they have to pay the company for anything other than the land and stuff to make the island? If they didn't, they might assume that ad islands will be more attractive on Home because there will be fewer of them.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0607/p13s01-lifo.html
In Second Life you pay the company for server space aka land, and you can do whatever you like with it. Some places are not zoned for explicit materials though. You can get a little area in the middle of other people's plots or buy your own huge island that they add a new server for (ridiculously expensive).
When I played it a few years ago there was a huge problem with people buying tiny plots that cost virtually nothing and planting enormous "IMPEACH BUSH" billboards (your property extends infinitely upwards). They dotted the whole landscape and it wasn't a TOS violation so the company did nothing about it. Don't know if they rethought that.
I can't find a link at the moment, but companies would take it on themselves to make big, meticulously designed islands that no one visited. I don't believe the companies paid the Second Life devs, (edit: pay more than they charged everyone for the server space, at any rate) but they did pay millions for the actual development of the Islands. Of course, Second Lifers would have to make an effort to actually find them, while I'm sure this time they'll pay Sony to say HAI GUYS GO TO RED BULL'S GROOVY PAD.
Hah, I knew it. Energy drinks cost that much simply because stupid trendy people are willing to pay that price. I can always hope the recession might cause people to think twice before dropping $3 for 12 oz. of carbonated cough syrup.
There are ads in the main home lobby and in personal spaces. Are you in the beta? They have giant billboards everywhere, though currently blank.
Nope. It is essentially the internet.
A lot of companies build big elaborate websites that nobody visits either.
I get the feeling "quality control" is another word for "give money to Sony."
Home genuinely sounds interesting, though it looks like it has the potential to become adapalooza.
When I was last in home, I honestly didn't think the ads were much worse than a typical kiosk here and there like at the mall, though at the time I didn't see anything in my personal space, so things may have been updated since then.
This whole story strikes me as a bit silly. Is it up yet? Has anyone actually been to it? Is it THAT blatant? Is there anything to actually get or do there? Is the game a garbage throwaway? Or did they basically take a mini game area that was already going to exist, and just paste some adverts on the plane?
The one thing that kind of bugs me about all this is how they basically said one of the biggest reasons for the long most recent delay in the beta was that they wanted to reevaluate Home, and move it away from the more ad-centric model that it was originally being pitched with. That seems to not be the case, which kinda calls BS on their original delay reasonings, too.
And Bam, what exactly is so excited about this for you? Overly branded, money hat islands with questionable content created for the single purpose of, well, ad whoring? I wouldn't completely pass judgment until I actually get to screw with the mini game there, but I don't really see where the excitement would come from with this.
Normally I would agree, but it's Bam. When he's in, he's all in.
Does home do this? I doubt it. I hope it happens in the future, but given Sony's past record with this crap, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
I'm fairly certain that is one of the big points of Home, actually. It was when it was first announced, anyway.
Yeah this. I remember them saying this awhile back. But then again they were saying lots of really ambitious shit that will never happen. So this functionality is still on the table, good. Now what are the chances that developers will actually use it, and use it well.
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
Eh, to be honest, the only thing I can really think of that they didn't follow through on so far (and have vocally cut) was the sharing of media other than pictures in your home. I haven't really seen them cut anything else, at least not publically yet.
It's already been said and shown that Warhawk will use it, but that's no surprise. I think I heard somewhere that Farcry 2 will get it's own lobby room as well. I'm not sure how many games will have their own custom lobby space in home, but I'm reasonably sure you'll still be able to party up and launch everything through home regardless.
I'm attracted because I see the potential to get free quality content (ala Sneak King) at a cost of nothing. I'm all about freebies.
The other thing that sort of entices me I would actually enjoy going through virtual ad content, particularly if it's well done with alot of money obviously spent on it.
Home is essentially a virtual hangout, I think sponsored virtual landscapes will add spice and variety to the overall experience if done properly. I think it might be fun going through a sponsors Home space with friends, either enjoying free content and possible downloads, or just laughing with your buds at potential stupidity.
Most of all though I hope there are lots of free games. Burger King proved to me a half decent game (well almost free in Burger King's case) can be made by a corporate company attempting to essentially ad whore. If Home sponsored virtual space provides free half decent games to play I'll be all over that. It's not like flying the Red Bull plane will make me all of the sudden want to drink Red Bull or anything.
I think that another part of my interest as well is just watching how the marketing end of Home is potentially about to unfold. It reminds me of a corporatized Second Life but one marketed to the masses. It may offer a glimpse into the next generation of consoles as well in terms of what to expect in terms of advertising both in game as well as virtual.
*shrug* this stuff interests me. I find it fascinating seeing what companies are toying with, and Home represents the opportunity for a form of advertising that the mass market isn't really familiar with. In all honesty I'm interested in seeing how it all unfolds.
Wrongo. There has always been ads on earth