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Report: Sony Turns To Street Art To Market PSP

According to a report on popular street art/graffiti site Wooster Collective, Sony appears to be using distinctly alternative marketing methods to promote its PSP handhel...

Simon Carless, Blogger

November 17, 2005

1 Min Read
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According to a report on popular street art/graffiti site Wooster Collective, Sony appears to be using distinctly alternative marketing methods to promote its PSP handheld in the run-up to the holiday season in North America, using chalk drawings and fly-posters for guerrilla marketing purposes. The drawings, which depict children playing with giant PSP handhelds in various ways, were first sighted by the website on the streets of Philadelphia. Since then, further adverts on the streets of New York, and reports of sightings in San Francisco and Chicago have apparently confirmed a concerted multi-city campaign for the images, likely beyond the abilities of a single PSP-loving independent artist. Wooster Collective originally considered the first set of drawings it posted to be the original work of a street artist, and commented of the second sighting: "Obviously they are the same thing as the alley graf in Philly. Obviously not done by a street artist. Obviously done by Sony and their ad agency", though noting of the campaign: "Our take - we like it." Sony has not officially announced this promotion, however, making it possible, though unlikely, that a group of independent citizens have stepped up to promote the PSP in paint and poster form.

About the Author

Simon Carless

Blogger

Simon Carless is the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and creator of the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter. He consults with a number of PC/console publishers and developers, and was previously most known for his role helping to shape the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Conference for many years.

He is also an investor and advisor to UK indie game publisher No More Robots (Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw), a previous publisher and editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and sits on the board of the Video Game History Foundation.

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