Christmas is coming and Sony undoubtedly wants to make the most of the latest addition to its handheld portfolio. This advert surely marks the company’s attempt to push the PSP-3000 right to the fore of consumers’ minds as they begin to plan gifts to friends and families.
It is often bemoaned how early in the year Christmas advertising starts, but there is quite a logical reason behind it. For the vast majority, Christmas lasts just for a few days somewhere between the 20th of December and New Years. While Christmas itself may only be a fairly short event all the thinking, planning and buying that leads up to that handful of days starts weeks (if not months) in advance.
Given the ongoing monetary mire the world has found itself in, just how much money consumers have and exactly where it is going to go will be praying upon their minds even sooner as they try to organise this year’s festivities.
With this in mind, advertising and the raising of awareness in early to mid November makes perfect sense. Handheld consoles are still pretty expensive and it will take consumers longer to justify the purchase of one to themselves, which is exactly what this advert is about.
Even at Christmas, expensive gifts need to be worth the investment. We just don’t have the money these days to throw them around at disposable luxuries and as such we will be leaning ever further towards rationally grounded arguments when considering gifts for ourselves and loved ones.
The point of this advert is to argue the power of the PSP. Not power in a technological, data processing sense – but power in a social and personal sense. The remixed rendition of the classic Christian song ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands’ is essentially a metaphor for this entire notion of empowerment (along with the fact it is a handheld device). Quite literally, the PSP puts the whole world in the hands of users. It also provides a slightly roundabout reference to the fact that there is a major Christian festival on the horizon without decending into a cacophony of sleigh bells - which in 2008 must surely be a turn-off.
The cut and paste aesthetic of the ad cannot help itself but be reminiscent of Little Big Planet, which isn’t a bad thing because it looks good. The two hands, which feature throughout the advert, act as a visual anchoring of this theme of power and manually direct the commercial's progression through grabbing objects and clapping.
The hands also make reference to the gesture based interfaces of the Nintendo DS and iPhone, along with the way human hands feature so prominently in the advertising of those products. This ad seems to suggest that while users may not gesture directly when interacting with the interface, the relationship will still be dynamic, intuitive and by no means arbitrary – thereby offering a counter argument to one of the seeming disadvantages of the PSP 3000.
Again, the advert is about offering rational arguments in an elaborate and visually stimulating way. By anchoring around this theme of empowerment the advert quite coldly progresses through each of the product’s offerings. From games, to photos to the internet and all points in-between.