Sony rolls out the big rig. Cool, but….
Sony has a really cool-looking mobile exhibit rolling around the country at >$4/gallon. I have to admit - it looks like a giant toy that I want to pick up and play with. It comes completely loaded with lots playable product demos in individually themed environments.
My only criticism, having not experienced it firsthand yet, is: In these days of ridiculous gas prices, thanks to the ultra-rich who continue to line their portfolios with speculated gluttony, and our fear of environmental Armageddon only surpassed by our fear of four more years of bush-alikes, why would you roll out an 18-wheeler the size of Delaware and drive around the country with a bunch of PlayStation’s? Compare that to Nintendo, who chose to associate themselves with a Smart Car in their launch campaign.
Having JUST co-written an article with Turtle Transit’s General Manager, Joe Doyon, in the May/June issue of Exhibit Builder Magazine about the use of smaller vehicles for mobile marketing, I’m a little sensitive to this sort of thing.
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June 20th, 2008 at 10:11 am
The Sony 18-wheeler reminds me of Zoot Suits in World War II. Fabric was being rationed because of the war, so people wearing suits with blatantly excess material was a status symbol or were making a political statement depending on your point of view. With the cost of gas going up and many people starting to cut back on gas usage because of their budgets, maybe Sony is making the same kind of statement of excess.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
That’s a really great point, Troy. And in both cases, the excess in some way negatively impacts everyone else. In this case, I think it has more to do with the fact that Sony already owned the two rigs and was thinking it cheaper to retrofit than buy a new fleet, even with the higher transport costs and potential ding to the brand image.
June 27th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I would keep in mind that an 18 wheeler with 30 people is actually more energy efficient than a 2 person Smart-Car if you break it down by emissions-per-person.
Of course, there aren’t 30 people riding in the back of the truck, but if you substitute 30 people for 30 PS3s then compare that to a single Wii Smart Car, then it would take 30 Smart-Cars for every Sony truck to achieve the same brand impact.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:40 am
You don’t have to have equal quantity of playable systems to create equal brand impact, but you have a good point about diminishing returns. I maintain that Sony could benefit from a more advanced solution, environmentally, technologically, and creatively.