Sony Playstation 5 launch branding

[Dstock7080]

Levelling up: Sony takes over Oxford Circus station for Playstation launch

London Underground is famed for its iconic roundels, but eagle-eyed commuters will notice something different about Oxford Circus station this week.
Transport for London (TfL) has teamed up with Sony to give the Tube station a redesign, transforming the traditional signs into squares, triangles and crosses — the classic symbols of the Playstation controller.
The makeover, which is in place across the four street entrances to Oxford Circus, comes as the tech firm marks the launch of the PS5, the latest installment of the games console.

Sony has also chosen to launch the stunt outside the Regent Street headquarters of Microsoft — a playful jibe at its rival, which released its new Xbox console last week.

In addition to the signs, TfL has filled the station with Playstation logos and rebranded Tube stations across the network.
Mile End station will be renamed Miles End in a nod to Marvel’s Spider Man: Miles Morales. Lancaster Gate will be transformed into Ratchet and Clankaster Gate, Seven Sisters will become Gran Turismo 7 Sisters, and West Ham will be rebranded Horizon Forbidden West Ham.

The stunt will last for 48 hours at Oxford Circus, while rebranding at the other stations will run until December.

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[gantshill]

These interesting new roundels (squarels, triangels and crossels?) are quite fun, but I do recall that every few years London Transport (in whatever incarnation) decides that the roundel/bullseye is such a good brand image, that nothing should be permitted to interfere with it. That always seems to last for a year or two until once again, playful adaptions of the roundel emerge once again.

[futurix]

Surely they chose Oxford Circus because their own headquarters are nearby?

[quex]

I think this is one of the more fun and inventive branding exercises of recent years. It makes me think of an alternative universe where UERL/LT didn't choose the bullseye as their logo, and went with a purple square instead.

[Chris W]

Seeing these alternative LU Roundels reminds me of the Grenfell love roundel... which IMO is more meaningful/relevant to our society...

www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/grenfell-tower-fire-anniversary-london-uk-14-jun-2018-9715933k

[johnlinford]

While yes, brand purity is important, an icon like the roundel is ripe for subversive or memorial artistic interpretations... Paid out corporate adjustments are also no bad thing when done tastefully as this has been. I'd love to go and photograph it but I don't feel the journey in to town is compliant with the current restrictions.

[quex]

Wait, I might have to back up a bit on my previous comment. While the Oxford Circus part is great, I missed on the press release the part where it says:

Mile End station will be renamed Miles End in a nod to Marvel’s Spider Man: Miles Morales. Lancaster Gate will be transformed into Ratchet and Clankaster Gate, Seven Sisters will become Gran Turismo 7 Sisters, and West Ham will be rebranded Horizon Forbidden West Ham.

The stunt will last for 48 hours at Oxford Circus, while rebranding at the other stations will run until December.

"Gran Turismo 7 Sisters" et. al. does seem more than a little bit tacky.

I have visions that Microsoft, with their recent new console, lost a bidding war against PlayStation to rebrand the main location - they'd surely have called in XBoxford Circus.

[MoreToJack]

Beyond the light boxes this is underwhelming. I stopped by on my way home from work tonight (a ‘valid’ route, no additional journey time, no actual detour, got home the same time as I would have done going any other way, recognising the Covid-19 so-called ‘Tier 4’ restrictions) and took some snaps.

The attention to detail is sloppy and the execution is fairly half-arsed compared to previous brand takeovers.

Interesting how many people seem to have had to make essential journeys across zone 1 today though - especially the correlation between these people and people who have previously lambasted the public for not wearing masks...

Perhaps the most impressive part of the whole thing was how empty Oxford Street was at 2230.

[DWS]

How much money does TfL make from this sort of thing ?

[Chris M]

Enough for them to consider it worth their while, otherwise they wouldn't agree to it. I highly doubt you will get the detailed figure due to commercial sensitivities.

[goldenarrow]

Nov 19, 2020 14:44:18 GMT DWS said:

How much money does TfL make from this sort of thing ?

For this one in particular, £380k plus VAT.

There is a dedicated webpage deep in the bowels of the TfL website that lists all the commercial sponsorship contracts to date.  

[spsmiler]

I've been tweeting about this, I can only find this tweet at the moment but my other tweet was along a similar vein, that being as we are in a lockdown people should not be encouraged to go out on what would be 'non-essential' journeys. I regret that I had to include the sign's builder in my reply, my ire was aimed elsewhere / not at them!

<Removed by admin>

And here is someone else's tweet which may be of interest here

<Removed by admin>

<<Rincew1nd: National restrictions on travel apply in England, people should stay at home unless travelling to/from work that cannot be done at home or for an essential purpose such as buying food or medicines. I'm not sure how going to look at an advertising campaign can be considered "essential travel"; the above post makes complete sense without the embedded tweets from those who have made journies specifically to see these advertisements - they have been removed.>>

[hobbayne]

Well, This must be the most succesful advertising campaign ever!
Hobbayne Junior wants one for Christmas but I cant find one anywhere!

[londoner]

It looks pretty cool although I don't think I would immediately associate the roundels (outside) with PS5. If I saw that on my travels, I would instead think it was some form of artwork piece.

[brigham]

Most PlayStation users would recognise them, I think.

[spsmiler]

Nov 19, 2020 22:30:12 GMT goldenarrow said:

Nov 19, 2020 14:44:18 GMT DWS said:

How much money does TfL make from this sort of thing ?

For this one in particular, £380k plus VAT.

There is a dedicated webpage deep in the bowels of the TfL website that lists all the commercial sponsorship contracts to date.  

In the news today is that footfall in Covent Garden is 80% down on this time last year (BBC TV London news) - I would expect similar % reductions in Oxford Circus.

This makes me wonder whether Microsoft is getting its money worth for the cost of this promotion? That said, the quoted amount does seem somewhat cheap, especially since it involves quite a few locations.

Its already too late for some of the promotion (there for just 48 hours) and by the time the lockdown ends it will also be too late for yet more of the promotion. However on reading the link supplied by goldenarrow it seems that part of the promotion will last until 18th December (but perhaps this only applies to advertising using this material - which means that it will be removed from the stations after seven days ... I am unsure!)

Also, I noted that £100k of the cost was for materials and £280k for the rights to advertise at the agreed locations. (plus vat - which is irrelevant as it can be offset).

[rincew1nd]

Nov 23, 2020 23:44:17 GMT spsmiler said:

This makes me wonder whether Microsoft is getting its money worth for the cost of this promotion?

Given that (as per thread title) the PlayStation is a Sony product I suspect Microsoft are not getting a good return on this investment.

[MoreToJack]

Nov 23, 2020 23:44:17 GMT spsmiler said:

Nov 19, 2020 22:30:12 GMT goldenarrow said:

For this one in particular, £380k plus VAT.

There is a dedicated webpage deep in the bowels of the TfL website that lists all the commercial sponsorship contracts to date.  

In the news today is that footfall in Covent Garden is 80% down on this time last year (BBC TV London news) - I would expect similar % reductions in Oxford Circus.

This makes me wonder whether Microsoft is getting its money worth for the cost of this promotion? That said, the quoted amount does seem somewhat cheap, especially since it involves quite a few locations.

Its already too late for some of the promotion (there for just 48 hours) and by the time the lockdown ends it will also be too late for yet more of the promotion. However on reading the link supplied by goldenarrow it seems that part of the promotion will last until 18th December (but perhaps this only applies to advertising using this material - which means that it will be removed from the stations after seven days ... I am unsure!)

Also, I noted that £100k of the cost was for materials and £280k for the rights to advertise at the agreed locations. (plus vat - which is irrelevant as it can be offset).

The return on advertising is always bigger from the secondary effects - in this case, online and social, as well as media coverage. This is what is referred to until the 18th December.

It’s a PR stunt, simple as. Given the consoles were pretty much sold out before even going on general sale (not unusual for a new games console) it is unlikely that anyone would decide to buy based on seeing the light boxes. Indeed in many respects now is exactly the right time to do a stunt like this as people are spending more time online, giving a bigger platform for reach.

Very few in this thread seen to understanding how PR and marketing actually work, and indeed the differences between them. Sony will have more than recouped their costs through organic reach. Discussions like this prove that.