Feature: Sony's "Desperate" PS Vita Marketing Isn't That Desperate

Over the last few days the internet has been abuzz with more ridicule for Sony and their latest handheld games console, the PS Vita.

The butt of the joke this time is Sony’s latest marketing campaign for the PS Vita. The campaign itself is pretty self-explanatory. The marketing campaign is presented as a content, a contest that could you see with a lot of extra Playstation Store cash in your digital back pocket.

Check out the details below:

As you can see, the whole thing is designed as a competition.

1. Convince your mates to buy a PS Vita.

2. You and your buddy will both receive a $20 Playstation Network Card, and you’ll get 1000 Sony reward points, worth $10.

3. If you refer the most people, you could win 1 million Sony reward points which are valued at $10,000.

Now, it’s simple enough, but there are those out there who are looking at this and saying “oh dear, Sony” and taking it as a desperate plea by Sony to get their current customers to help shift a few more units.

On one hand, they’re right. It might seem a bit desperate. It might even seem a tad sad. In reality, it’s called marketing. Something each and every business does, and get this, most companies are doing the exact same thing this minute.

It’s probably the best marketing plan they can do right now, something that should have really been done closer to the consoles launch. It’s clever marketing, you get your current customers who are obviously loyal to your product, promise them a reward if they can get their friends to invest in something they know is a great bit of kit, and throw up the possibility of a grander reward for whoever spreads the word best.

From a PS Vita owner’s perspective, you can’t really complain. You’re being offered Playstation Network cards just for showing off your PS Vita to your mates and recommending they get hold of one if they can.

The problem is people who don’t own a PS Vita, either due to not being able to afford one, and there’s no shame in that, food has to come first (sometimes) or through a general hatred of Sony and all their products, because that’s the new “cool thing” to do these days. These people, not all, but most, are laying on the “Sony’s doomed” worse than ever, they want to see the console fail. For what reason? As I said before, it’s the new “cool thing” to do. Mob mentality is fighting against Sony, so you can’t really blame them for fighting back with their own (and I don’t mean this literally) “mob” of PSVita owners.

The bottom line is that the PS Vita is a remarkable games console, it may be expensive for some, but they fail to remember it’s a dedicated gaming console capable of bringing a thorough experience wherever you are, and what’s more is it’s less than the cost of an iPad.

So, if you’re a PS Vita owner, why not get in on this? You’ve got nothing to lose and it’s not Sony losing face, it’s Sony taking a stand and being proud of the product they’ve produced. You can’t lose, you can only gain.

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Will you be taking Sony up on this? How many friends do you think you can get to purchase a PS Vita? Let us know what you think about all this in the comments section below.