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Sony Settles with Kevin Butler: no gaming relatd ads for 2 years

nickcv

Member
was already discussed in the other thread, but new news new thread, so...

http://www.mediapost.com/publicatio...n-butler-actor-over-bridge.html#axzz2I6orQvBH

Under the terms of the settlement, Lambert agreed not to appear in any ad or promotion that features or even mentions “any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company” for a period of two years.

Lambert can do video game commercials again once the two years are up, although the Kevin Butler character remains the property of Sony and Lambert is barred from playing the character without Sony’s permission. For the first two years that he is eligible to do video game commercials again, Lambert also agreed to give Sony notice and provide the company with sufficient details so that it “can assess whether or not Lambert’s intended performance violates [Sony’s] rights in the Kevin Butler character.”
 

GorillaJu

Member
Shitty that the relationship between those two came to this.

His bread and butter is "socially awkward guy in biz casual wear." Applied to gaming it worked out well but he was in a lot of commercials before Sony and always played the same character. He can continue that, just has to stay away from video games... Should be no big deal for him.
 

duckroll

Member
His bread and butter is "socially awkward guy in biz casual wear." Applied to gaming it worked out well but he was in a lot of commercials before Sony and always played the same character. He can continue that, just has to stay away from video games... Should be no big deal for him.

Oh okay, that's cool then.
 

Ban Puncher

Member
After years of creepy baby dolls and embarrassing racist PSP billboards, Sony actually got their shit together for a brief period and made a series of successful commercials with a likeable character who engaged with a section of their userbase.


Then they burn it to the ground with lawyers, piss on the ashes and salt the earth.


ObTwb.gif
 

Grecco

Member
All this because he was barely in a bridgestone tires commercial that featured the Wii? Jesus Sony give the guy a break
 

injurai

Banned
He was the best thing to ever happen to Sony marketing, this is a shame...

Also I bet it's because they are ramping up for next-gen and need a new brand identity.
 

excaliburps

Press - MP1st.com
Is he still doing Kevin Butler ads for Sony? What was the last one?

I hope he's in E3 again this year. Heck, make him the presenter!
 

Xanathus

Member
Sounds like there won't be anymore VP of X advertisements by Butler, that couldn't have been an amicable settlement.
 

Tycho_b

Member
He will be compensated for that, for sure. Such exclusivity agreements are quite common.

Unless they settled in a way that Sony withdraws their plea and he agrees not to play in gaming commercials for 2 years- to avoid a trial.

Which again doesn't mean he will not shoot new commercials for Sony.
 

Flavius

Member
He will be compensated for that, for sure. Such exclusivity agreements are quite common.

Unless they settled in a way that Sony withdraws their plea and he agrees not to play in gaming commercials for 2 years.

Which again doesn't mean he will not shoot new commercials for Sony.

1. This is a settlement agreement to prevent the actor from losing his ass.

2. Your second sentence is confusing, as they have reached a settlement.

3. No fucking way do we see more Kevin Butler ads, at least not with this dude. That angry, bitter ship has long since sailed.
 

DBT85

Member
After years of creepy baby dolls and embarrassing racist PSP billboards, Sony actually got their shit together for a brief period and made a series of successful commercials with a likeable character who engaged with a section of their userbase.


While I liked the KB adverts, they resonated best with people who already owned the console.

Those kind of ads would probably work best when trying to get PS3 owners to buy the PS4, not trying to sell the PS3 to new users.
 

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
I mean he should have seen this coming, you don't portray a character for one company and then turn around and do the exact same character for their competitor without expecting blowback.
 

sleepykyo

Member
After years of creepy baby dolls and embarrassing racist PSP billboards, Sony actually got their shit together for a brief period and made a series of successful commercials with a likeable character who engaged with a section of their userbase.


Then they burn it to the ground with lawyers, piss on the ashes and salt the earth.


ObTwb.gif

Judging from how undead the PS3 is the US, I'm not sure commercials were successful.
 

Alx

Member
I mean he should have seen this coming, you don't portray a character for one company and then turn around and do the exact same character for their competitor without expecting blowback.

If real people can do it (cf Phil Harrison, Peter Moore, ...), why can't actors impersonating fake characters ?
 

Tycho_b

Member
2. Your second sentence is confusing, as they have reached a settlement.

I meant I did not have a chance to read whole settlement - without it I can see few options possible:
1. He already received the exclusivity money in an original contract
2. He did not receive money first, and they settled for x amount for an actor, no other gaming ads for 2 years and Sony withdrawing from court
3. They just settled for no trial and him not shooting gaming ads for 2 years, without compensation
 

Valnen

Member
Wow. Lame commercial characters that no one cares about outside of NeoGAF are serious business.

Everyone with any taste loved the commercials. I'm sad to see there's never a chance of them returning. Would have been perfect marketing for the PS4.

Also, his epic E3 speech was just awesome.
 

Binabik15

Member
They beat up their own mascot. Not a good move publicity wise.

Kevin Butler in All-Stars Battle 2 announced. His face will be so puffy and bruised that LAmbert can't claim that his likeness was used. OR just make the face a blackspot and call him VP of Incognito.
 

Cheerilee

Member
He knows what a Wii is. C'mon. It was an ad for a Nintendo Wii and tires.

It was an ad for tires in a series of ads for tires, none of which starred Sony's "Kevin Butler" character. This series of ads starred a number of lab technicians, one of which had Jerry Lambert's face.

The ad in question offered a free Wii with the purchase of tires (tires are still the main selling point), and due to the nature of the promotion (and likely cross-promotional contracts with Nintendo), the lab technicians (including Jerry Lambert) were required to imply that a free Wii was something to be desired.

People made a joke about Kevin Butler promoting Wiis.

Sony screwed with Jerry Lambert's career, because nobody is going to want to hire him if it means they're going to have to recast him and dump their built up advertising image should they happen to decide sometime in the next two years to cross promote with a company in a field that Sony can claim to compete with, and if for the next four years they would have to run all of their commercials past Sony first to see if Sony thinks Jerry Lambert's face looks too much like Kevin Butler's.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
I mean he should have seen this coming, you don't portray a character for one company and then turn around and do the exact same character for their competitor without expecting blowback.
What exact same character? There's nothing which hint that they are linked except that they both have the same face (due to both being the same actor), which is already a long stretch by its own.
 

omonimo

Banned
Judging from how undead the PS3 is the US, I'm not sure commercials were successful.

Undead? :/ It's not going good how 360 but still has good sales, the hell of perception you have of the things? Anyway, Butler probably doesn't know well sony; they are quite predictable, never forgive.
 

jcm

Member
Sony screwed with Jerry Lambert's career, because nobody is going to want to hire him if it means they're going to have to recast him and dump their built up advertising image should they happen to decide sometime in the next two years to cross promote with a company in a field that Sony can claim to compete with, and if for the next four years they would have to run all of their commercials past Sony first to see if Sony thinks Jerry Lambert's face looks too much like Kevin Butler's.

Sony was the best thing to ever happen to his career. Having a company build their entire marketing strategy around you for years is about the single greatest thing that can happen to a commercial actor.
 
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