Brand Content Audit Report for Sony PlayStation in China

Brand Content Audit Report for Sony PlayStation in China.
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Brand Content Audit Report for Sony PlayStation in China.
           The lifting of the 15-year ban on foreign and domestic manufacturing and sale of gaming consoles opened up a highly lucrative market for gaming giants. Sony’s gaming console, Play station is one of the participants in the Chinese gaming market where establishing dominance is a significantly difficult task. This is further complicated by the requirement that foreign companies ought to partner with domestic game manufacturers and their products remain subject to a lot of censorship. Competition in the 23-million-dollar market requires a comprehensive marketing campaign (Zhang &Chiu, 2020). Sony Computer Entertainment launched its PlayStation business in 2015 after the ban on gaming had been lifted. The gaming giant, in its launch, partnered with domestic Chinese firms to further boost its dominance in the lucrative market. This paper reports on the content audit for Play station’s recent marketing campaign in China from communication strategies to content planning and marketing. 
           Marketing communication is important in disseminating information about a product to the target consumers. PlayStation used strategic communication modes that were keen on influencing the consumers. The brand's name was placed alongside the corporate name for promotions, a strategy known as the “Umbrella Branding Strategy”. Furthermore, the company adopted a commendable media attitude in creating online awareness of the product via websites, televisions, and print media advertisements. These promotional strategies were topped off by the display of its products in stores for direct testing by customers. In the launching of PS5 in the market, the internet was filled with ads about it beforehand which fastened its market transition and domination. Looking into the Sony PlayStation website, there are a number of exclusive contents that differentiates it from its rivals which enables it to overcome competition. The inclusion of the “play has no limits” slogan in its website images for the PS5 also appealed to the consumers. By all the above, the company provided a platform where the target consumers were entertained and educated at the same time (De Regt et al., 2021). Conclusively, the brand’s content served important in its campaign for market dominance.




Fig 1: Screenshots of the Sony PlayStation website, China showcasing the different products and the catchy slogans (Sony PlayStation, n. d)
Content marketing is a strategic approach that is ultimately focused on driving profitable customer actions. This case utilizes newsletters, video and graphic reports, the company’s blogs and websites, virtual conferences, and podcasts as marketing forms (Wawrowski & Otola, 2021). Content that remains relevant, interesting, and useful does well in creating a conversation about the content and in turn the product. The strategy also creates deeper connections between brands and customers. From online advertisement through its various social media handles to product interaction in the online stores, PlayStation’s online content has done well in synthesizing the marketing campaign matrix of awareness, appeal, asking, acting, and advocating. Through the website, awareness of the brand's values as well as products are created through very exquisite images and slides included. The “learn more” button under the online ads and other social media handles picks customer interest. Customers then want to know more about it and end up making the choice of purchase. This, as it turns out, does not end there, customers go on to advocate for the brand by sharing their experience with PlayStation products with many other people.
The content strategy of PlayStation is “always-on”. That is to say that in the new digital technologies, PlayStation launches a channel on them through live streams, social media popularity, and endorsement as marketing strategies (Geng et al., 2020). Content that works best in mobile is important in determining the position of a brand since the mobile is man’s best digital companion. PlayStation understands this concept and applies it to its best in content designing by making it mobile-worthy first (Sony PlayStation and Microsoft on How Brands Can Better Use Content, 2015). Additionally, customer engagement in the content across these channels is upbeat without delays especially in the response to its reaction to events. The engagement metrics of likes, shares, comments, and mentions also do well in facilitating the reactive approach of PlayStation (Balio & Casais, 2021). Loading the PlayStation website takes a very short time, something appreciated by most people. The content uploaded to the website is also engaging to gaming communities, target audiences. By being consistent online and offline, the content reinforces brand equity while taking into account cons...