Sony Launches Ambitious 'Long Live Play' PlayStation Marketing Campaign

Sony launched its new ongoing "Long Live Play" marketing campaign for its PlayStation division on Wednesday with an elaborate commercial starring a wide assortment of video game stars. The commercial, which airs on television beginning today, is an ambitious two-minute spot starring characters from the PlayStation 3's most popular titles, played by live actors. The campaign focuses on the strength of the PlayStation brand's hardcore gamers, and incorporates photographs submitted to the company by its consumers. The first commercial spot sees game stars like Solid Snake (Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4), Kratos (Sony's God of War) and Nathan Drake (Sony's Uncharted) praising the help of "Michael," a young gamer who has been with them through their adventures. According to Scott Steinberg, Sony's VP of product marketing for the PlayStation brand, Michael is the first of "a dozen or so die-hard gamers" chosen to represent the brand among "thousands" of responses that the company received (a few hundred other submitted pictures are briefly seen at the end of the commercial). "Long Live Play" follows the brand's long-running "It Only Does Everything" campaign, which introduced popular fictional product representative Kevin Butler, whose job title changed at a moment's notice depending on the need of the specific commercial. The full two-minute spot is officially available on YouTube.