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[Barry Lightning]

There aren't too many joys in life like beating a kid in a city-wide water balloon fight.

that's awesome.

 

[Wollan]

:lol

 

[bishoptl]

the thing is, they don't WANT to sell consoles right now (and create even more of an issue with their already limited supply). showing ads of gameplay of PGR3 and NBA Live 06 would send gamers everywhere into a "holy shit gotta have this" mode.

Shpankey, you're a pretty smart guy but that made NO sense whatsoever.

 

[shpankey]

I just meant they don't have any systems to sell, right? What would be the point in trying to convince a ton of people to go out and try to buy a system that's sold out? Sure... they want you to eventually get one, when suppy has caught up; and then I'm sure they'll come with the gameplay ads that actually "wow" gamers into wanting one "omg right now I gotta have this".

Hey, I know it's pretty out there, but it made sense at the time that I wrote it... which could be scary, I don't know yet. :lol

 

[Flo_Evans]

woo I saw it during invasion.....(my GF watches it ; ; )

I don't know, maybe its because I work in advertising and watch commercials a little diffrently than most people - but I really liked it.

It seemed more like a european ad though than one aimed at americans. I didn't know what it was for at 1st but I was captivated. Then BAM xbox360.

I say thumbs up. Later on they can show a bunch on clips from madden and PD0 and all that crap. The point of this ad was too announce the 360 to the people who don't read E3 coverage.

edit:

There aren't too many joys in life that beat being a kid and participating in a city-wide water balloon fight. If you're like me, and weren't expecting the ad, you're taking back to a time of carefree, priceless, genuine fun (or if you WERE a kid, you're totally immersed into the commercial, without the need of nostalgia).

And when you liken that with the Xbox 360 (ultimate gaming experience or not), it's the definitive tie that you can't deny made you "feel" (again, I wasn't expecting a commercial).

I personally thought it was a really, really great ad.

exactly

 

[Ramirez]

What does the "hatch" thing have to do with Halo?I'm lost on that speculation...

 

[krypt0nian]

What does the "hatch" thing have to do with Halo?I'm lost on that speculation...

Probably nothing but people are amping on the 3 that's in the star field to the left. And that when it was posted on the TXB boards, the file name was HatcH3.jpg.

 

[FightyF]

Haven't seen the ad, but it just sounds like a teaser ad to get public awareness up.

Kinda like the DC's first ad of that one chick stealing the DC and being chased throughout a city.

Dreamcast Tw-okay sorry.

It seems that MS will not have any problems selling out all consoles up until Christmas. If that goes to plan...it makes sense not to spend a lot of your marketing budget for the launch and such...but you still want to remain visible.

Keeping that in mind the ad seems par for the course. The thing is, there are so many ways to do these kinds of ads...some more effective than others. Remember the ad for PS9? Same kind of thing, but IMO that was well done and very effective. It sends out so many messages...

 

[G-Fex]

those commercials are stupid/lamer than the sony ones. Man what the hell is the point?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

The point of an ad, is to spark discussion, to get people interested. It's working, look at this thread. I bet that any ad review websites would give this stellar marks. It's about selling a lifestyle. There are so many ways to market this system. It's about creating a dialogue with the consumer. It appears they are doing a great job of it. I've yet to watch this one, but it sounds like the jump rope commerical, same thing. Everybody is having fun, a good time. They are trying to associate that with the Xbox 360. Much better than going, Life begins at 170MPH. I'm a marketing major, I thought this was great. Of course, people don't look at the overall view. We've known about this console for over a year. We already have the console bought, games bought, controllers bought. Why do they need to advertise to us, when they already have your money. It's to get the mass market excited. I think they will do a bang-up job.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

<- you aren't a guy that likes long term avatars, are you?

 

[Flo_Evans]

eek Agent Icebeezy is right


I would bet at least one of you here is going to be asked about the 'new xbox' tommorow at work.

 

[monchi-kun]

i liked the ad...it was pure fun. i wish i could have a city-wide water baloon fight right now

 

[krypt0nian]

those commercials are stupid/lamer than the sony ones. Man what the hell is the point?

To get people to talk about them. Done and Done.

 

[Marty Chinn]

The commercial was pretty damn retarded. It was so dull that people probably just zoned out of it and didn't even realize it was a 360 commercial. Heck my g/f totally didn't notice it and I just barely caught it. I was zoning out of the commercial till I saw the end, and then I was like WTF? Great going Microsoft. What a piss poor teaser.

 

[moowear]

Not sure if these have been mentioned but xboxyde has 3 new(to me) Japanese commercials up which I think are pretty cool.

 

[SolidSnakex]

To get people to talk about them. Done and Done.

If the reason that people are talking about the commercial is because its bad its not doing you any good. Look at ads like the Mario Sunshine one. Its one of the most talked about game ads of this gen, but its not because it was good or did anything to help Nintendo.

 

[Rhindle]

It's not to say that it's a bad ad. It's actually quite good, much better than the jump-rope one.

It's just the wrong kind of ad to be running just before a launch when most of your target market already knows about the product.

Just to be clear: target market at this point is "hardcore" gamers who will be buying the console at full price in the first 12 months, and already know all about it. If you're trying to capture the uninformed casual crowd, they won't be buying the console for a good long time, and any effects of current advertising will be lost on them by the time they do.

 

[Buffy4ever]

I saw the Nintendo DS wifi commercial on Nick at Night and it was a lot better than the 360 commercial.

 

[krypt0nian]

If the reason that people are talking about the commercial is because its bad its not doing you any good. Look at ads like the Mario Sunshine one. Its one of the most talked about game ads of this gen, but its not because it was good or did anything to help Nintendo.

I'm not even sure a teaser ad CAN be bad. This is just GAF hating on anything put out there.

I'm sure that the cauals this is aimed at are wondering what a xbox 360 means. That's all that matters.

 

[Timedog]

I'm not even sure a teaser ad CAN be bad. This is just GAF hating on anything put out there.

I'm sure that the cauals this is aimed at are wondering what a xbox 360 means. That's all that matters.

ding ding ding! And the winner is.....

 

[MightyHedgehog]

I'll just point out that because gamers (i.e. GAF, internet kiddies, etc.) were not the focus of this spot, it's pretty easy to see why most commenting on it don't care for/understand it. Advertising during some of the most popular shows on currently on network television is certainly one of the biggest clues. MS doesn't need to really advertise the system so heavily when it's pretty much guaranteed to be sold out (to gamers, like you and I) this year in just about every territory...so spending the large amounts to advertise on big shows is clearly to get the interest ball rolling for everyone else who isn't a regular gamer. If MS wants to wedge itself into the (non-gamer) masses' minds before the onslaught of Ninty's and Sony's stuff, they'll have to employ a long-term simmer approach over the next twelve months...one that ramps up for them as it gets later and another spoke of marketing clearly designed in a more traditional, gamer-friendly fashion. ...at least, in my opinion.

 

[StoOgE]

That ad was brilliant. Someone said it earlier, but it was perfect. MS isnt trying to sell the console to people that allready buy videogames. People who buy videogames allready know its coming, or will very soon. They will make up their mind with or without advertising.

What MS is doing is showing an ad that has nothing to do with videogames, and its perfect. If you show nothing but footage of things getting blown up and looking cool, people who dont 'get' games will ignore it and move on. This commercial showed a bunch of people having fun. Being a part of that balloon fight looked like it would have been fucking awesome. Same thing with the jump rope commercial. Then, after people have seen a commerical that looks like a great deal of fun the Xbox 360 logo hits and a connection between having fun and Xbox 360 is created.

High concept ads are the future, and its based on psychology. Sony has alot of the same type of adverts that have been going for different stuff. They have one for their HDTV's that shows a really mundane looking world and then a bunch of brightly colored superballs bounding down a street. Has nothing to do with HDTV but it is very striking visually and looks amazing. Then they show the Sony logo, the HDTV and a mental connection is made between shit that looks awesome, and Sony HDTV's.

Hummer runs similar ads that have little to do with their car, but are very rugged looking and show an aggresive powerfull side of things. iPod commercials dont show the features of the iPod (generally speaking). It just shows people rocking the fuck out and looking 'cool'. This is how iPod despite being technically inferior is burying the competition. They created the brand image that iPod is cool, its a status symbol to own one.

Now, to sell games they will have to show games. I suspect the commericals you see on Spike TV, comedy central, Adult Swim, during WWE events, etc. will be the montage of game footage, butt rock, etc. that we normally see. However, this was a very good commercial, it just wasnt made to target anyone on this forum. We all think that showing PGR3 and looking really awesome will convince everyone to run out and buy a 360. It wont, it will convince us to go out and get a 360, but luckily for Microsoft forums like this give them all the free advertising they need to reach us.

 

[Flo_Evans]

This is kinda funny, today I was reading a book by donny deutsch of http://www.deutschinc.com/ he was talking about a tanqueray ad they did - basicaly 50% of the focus groups hated it and 50% loved it. His response was "Fuck it, you are never going to get everyone to switch to tanqueray."

Just because you don't get the ad or don't think its cool does not mean it is inefective. They are trying to reach the other 6 billion people in the world who dont already have a pre-order at EB.

Does anyone know the ad agency that did the commercials btw? I would be interested to know

 

[pixelfish]

That ad was brilliant. Someone said it earlier, but it was perfect. MS isnt trying to sell the console to people that allready buy videogames. People who buy videogames allready know its coming, or will very soon. They will make up their mind with or without advertising.

What MS is doing is showing an ad that has nothing to do with videogames, and its perfect. If you show nothing but footage of things getting blown up and looking cool, people who dont 'get' games will ignore it and move on. This commercial showed a bunch of people having fun. Being a part of that balloon fight looked like it would have been fucking awesome. Same thing with the jump rope commercial. Then, after people have seen a commerical that looks like a great deal of fun the Xbox 360 logo hits and a connection between having fun and Xbox 360 is created.

High concept ads are the future, and its based on psychology. Sony has alot of the same type of adverts that have been going for different stuff. They have one for their HDTV's that shows a really mundane looking world and then a bunch of brightly colored superballs bounding down a street. Has nothing to do with HDTV but it is very striking visually and looks amazing. Then they show the Sony logo, the HDTV and a mental connection is made between shit that looks awesome, and Sony HDTV's.

Hummer runs similar ads that have little to do with their car, but are very rugged looking and show an aggresive powerfull side of things. iPod commercials dont show the features of the iPod (generally speaking). It just shows people rocking the fuck out and looking 'cool'. This is how iPod despite being technically inferior is burying the competition. They created the brand image that iPod is cool, its a status symbol to own one.

Now, to sell games they will have to show games. I suspect the commericals you see on Spike TV, comedy central, Adult Swim, during WWE events, etc. will be the montage of game footage, butt rock, etc. that we normally see. However, this was a very good commercial, it just wasnt made to target anyone on this forum. We all think that showing PGR3 and looking really awesome will convince everyone to run out and buy a 360. It wont, it will convince us to go out and get a 360, but luckily for Microsoft forums like this give them all the free advertising they need to reach us.

A+

 

[SolidSnakex]

Just because you don't get the ad or don't think its cool does not mean it is inefective. They are trying to reach the other 6 billion people in the world who dont already have a pre-order at EB.

Ofcourse, but it also doesn't mean that it is going to be effective as some are saying. We'll find out soon because the launch is coming up.

 

[Rhindle]

Stooge, Flo etc., you're missing the point. No one is saying it is a bad ad. It's just the wrong kind of ad to be running at this point. If it was intended to appeal to the hardcore crowd, it should have run six months ago, certainly before the MTV/E3 unveiling. If it is intended to appeal to casuals, they're pissing money down the drain because casuals arent buying a $300-$400 box anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

[Flo_Evans]

Well it depends on how you judge the effectiveness. The point of this ad is to make x360 = fun in people minds. So you show people having fun and then show the x360 logo. This is a time tested scientifically proven effective way to associate a feeling or an emotion with your brand.

Stooge, Flo etc., you're missing the point. No one is saying it is a bad ad. It's just the wrong kind of ad to be running at this point. If it was intended to appeal to the hardcore crowd, it should have run six months ago, certainly before the MTV/E3 unveiling. If it is intended to appeal to casuals, they're pissing money down the drain because casuals arent buying a $300-$400 box anytime in the foreseeable future.

I have to disagree, these kind of 'association' ads while effective have a short lifespan in the consumers minds. Running it six months ago would of been a complete waste - the hardcore are going to watch the MS press confrence from E3 and read about the x360 every day up until launch. This is just the 1st ad in I am sure a massive campaign. You will get your boobs and explosions once the product is actually avalible to buy. This is just to pique curiosity.

 

[dorio]

Have the jump ads run?

 

[sc0la]

so is it too late to pre-order a 360 so I can sell it on ebay at christmas to fund the puchase of my own 360?

 

[FoneBone]

This is just to pique curiosity.

But that's the point. Shouldn't you be doing more than "piquing curiosity" two weeks before launch?

I'm with Rhindle, for once. The ad was excellent from an artistic standpoint, but for actually selling the product -- terrible.

 

[civilstrife]

Halo 3 announcement coming?

'Hatch'

Um... If that's real, its definately a Halo 3 announcement. Highlight the image. The number 3 appears on the left hand side.

 

[kIdMuScLe]

WTF?? trying to emulate sony now? boo-urns!!

 

[Flo_Evans]

But that's the point. Shouldn't you be doing more than "piquing curiosity" two weeks before launch?

I'm with Rhindle, for once. The ad was excellent from an artistic standpoint, but for actually selling the product -- terrible.

That is because the point of the ad is not to sell the product.

It is to associate the xbox360 brand with fun.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

But that's the point. Shouldn't you be doing more than "piquing curiosity" two weeks before launch?

I'm with Rhindle, for once. The ad was excellent from an artistic standpoint, but for actually selling the product -- terrible.

Okay...what non-gamer is gonna have a great chance of picking up an X360 this year, anyway? I can only assume that this shit was shot knowing full well that they wouldn't have enough to go much (if at all) past pre-orders and ravenous gamers stalking their local TRU/Wal-Mart/Target/etc. They are starting the (re-)branding of X360 now (for the non-gamers)...they don't have to do much for regular gamers, since they aren't going to have anything to sell to them...because you can't get them due to all of the other regular gamers getting it... Or something like that.

 

[Blimblim]

So I guess no one captured that ad?
I'd really like to see this.

 

[SSGMUN10000]

Damn now Im remember seeing an ad recently. I didnt see the one that just aired. The one Im referring to is where they show these girls playing jump rope then random people are passsing by but briefly join in and get out and continue about there business. It ends with lets all play or jump in togther XBOX 360. Damn Im forgetting where i saw this.

 

[kaching]

I'm with Rhindle on this. Nice ad, but don't run such a thing with a casual "Jump in" tagline at the end, inferring there's room for everybody in the heavily supply constrained birthing period of the new product.

 

[swordsman]

:lol

great vid. :lol :lol

--
Bad PR campaigne MS>
Just show the gamers a great upcoming ingame screens instead of a bunch of F**k rope jumping..
I should fire these peoples which came with this crap advertising idea....

 

[Borys]

Whoa talk about hypocrisy :/

Sony shows their "weird" commercials - The Mountain, Double Life, people floating in a big soccer ball etc. - Sony is damn cool!

MS takes a note and follows - MS is stupid.

WTF?

None of you would have a chance to get a job in the marketing department with that attitude.

 

[gunstarhero]

That really was an awesome spot (water balloon) -
Really got across the sense of community (LIVE) and just having fun... It's point was to create buzz and set the tone for the 360 brand - nothing else.

Haven't seen the skipping spot yet.

2 thumbs up!


Anyone know what agency produced these?

 

[Jerkface]

None of you would have a chance to get a job in the marketing department with that attitude.

These guys are the Sony marketing departments DREAM, incredibly stupid brand loyalty whores! All of their work is done, unless they work for a rival company!

As for the ad itself it's fantastic, as is the skipping one. They sell the idea of community based entertainment perfectly and put across the trans-gender/race/generational appeal of it.

 

[marc^o^]

No link to that video yet?

 

[BlueTsunami]

These guys are the Sony marketing departments DREAM, incredibly stupid brand loyalty whores! All of their work is done, unless they work for a rival company!

As for the ad itself it's fantastic, as is the skipping one. They sell the idea of community based entertainment perfectly and put across the trans-gender/race/generational appeal of it.

It sells to you but does it sell to the general gamer? Most of the time ads are used to expand userbase. People that don't use Live! won't get what this means, just a jump roping commercial with Xbox360 shown at the end.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

I totally forgot this was airing... When I finally did remember, I immediately turned to ABC, and voila!...


Pretty freaky. I guess this means I have to cop one now.






Great ad btw.

 

[Oni Jazar]

The point of an ad, is to spark discussion, to get people interested. It's working, look at this thread.

If they wanted discussion they could've just had some old guy shit in a shoe. This thread would be 100 pages by now if they did that.

 

[DenogginizerOS]

I love the idea of a city-wide balloon fight. Plus, it appeared that the city settings were similar to rooftops in PDZ and scenes from Half-Life 2. Essentially, when you play a massive multiplayer shooter with friends, you are having a giant game of tag with your friends with pretend guns and a ton of good times. Great ad.

 

[Ceb]

Um... If that's real, its definately a Halo 3 announcement. Highlight the image. The number 3 appears on the left hand side.

So, Halo 3 unveiling on November 21?

 

[StoOgE]

It sells to you but does it sell to the general gamer? Most of the time ads are used to expand userbase. People that don't use Live! won't get what this means, just a jump roping commercial with Xbox360 shown at the end.

They arent selling to the general gamer. The general gamer

A) Knows its coming out, and has seen stuff on the internet about it. Even if they are 'casual' they may look at something like EGM.

B) Know someone who knows about it, or someone who will have it.

C) Most gamers, even the most casual, understand what an online game is, and even if they havent tried Xbox Live, there is Xbox Live Silver with its free weekends to try and sell it to them.

 

[Stinkles]

Um... If that's real, its definately a Halo 3 announcement. Highlight the image. The number 3 appears on the left hand side.

I often wonder about the gamma on folks' monitors. Remember the origenXbox campaign where people were saying you could see numbers in the background if you selected the image - they were there anyway, in a pretty distinctive gray. Same with this "3" it's clear as day, highlighted or not.


Anyway, I am calling my bookie right now to bet significant sums of money on this NOT being H3 related.