kevin-butler
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Sony: Kevin Butler isn't real, can't give interviews
Sadly, Sony pitchman Kevin Butler is not a real person, but SCEA VP Peter Dille says word may not have gotten around. "We've gotten contact from media people that aren't aware that he's a character, asking for an interview!" he told Industry Gamers ... Well, you can't blame us for trying, can you?
Sony launches anti-Kinect attack website, yaybuttons.com
Sony's typically the equal-opportunity offender, poking fun at everything from Wii to iPhone, but the company's latest marketing campaign is unmistakably aimed at Microsoft's motion-sensing peripheral. Head on over to www.yaybuttons.com to interact with a two-dimensional PlayStation Move, which will pop out a series of quotes from Kevin Butler -- Sony's fictional VP of Realistic Movements -- explaining Sony's tactile advantages over Microsoft's Kinect. While members of the Sony Defense Force will surely eat this up in spades, the rest of us will simply enjoy this latest tussle, and go back to waiting for both companies to put their money by their oral socket and make more games worth playing.
Sony launches pro-button, anti-Kinect campaign with yaybuttons.com
Remember when motion-controlled games were simply for old people and children? (We kid!) However, Nintendo's marketing has rarely reached this level of aggression. Sony has launched a new website -- www.yaybuttons.com -- that plays hardball against Microsoft's button-free Kinect experience. By clicking any of the buttons on the virtual PlayStation Move controller, you'll be able to read through a rant from fictional PlayStation VP Kevin Butler: "It turns out that buttons are pretty important. Not like "save the whales" important. More like 'not play games that suck' important. Cuz they help you ... control stuff. Controller. Control. Kinda makes sense. Some people don't think you need buttons. WHAT?! Craziness. Could you imagine gaming without buttons? Where would the control come from?"While there's some reason for concern, this kind of marketing can be interpreted not as playful, but a return to the "arrogant" attitude Sony has been notorious for. Considering Microsoft's Kudo Tsunoda confirmed future games could use the button-y Xbox 360 controller in conjunction with Kinect, this might be an argument Sony won't want to kick up.
Kevin Butler shows us the epic side of PlayStation Move
Sony, here's an idea: just let Kevin Butler control your entire company. Seriously, Sir Howard Stringer is a great guy and all, don't get us wrong -- we've been up plenty of nights bawling our eyes out while he cradled us in his big, burly arms, assuring us that the PS3 would in fact be okay -- but Kevin Butler has proven in his latest ad that he's more than capable for the job. Just look at the image above and tell us the guy isn't CEO material. Heck, even better: watch the new PlayStation Move ad for yourself past the break and try to tell us it isn't the highlight of your day!
New Zealand's TV3 apologizes to Sony with Marmite, Flight of the Conchords
The conflict between New Zealand's TV3 and Sony could have gone much differently than it did. Instead of suing TV3 into oblivion when it found out that the broadcaster had produced a commercial directly copying the PlayStation 3's "Montage" ad, Sony used the Kevin Butler persona to publicly absolve (and mock) TV3. In a PlayStation Blog post, Butler offered permission to copy all PS3 ads in exchange for "TV3's support in making the PS3 the OFFICIAL GAME CONSOLE OF NEW ZEALAND." And a Flight of the Conchords box set. As if this whole story weren't cute enough, TV3 sent Sony a package containing not only the Conchords set, but other local treats -- and a plaque proclaiming PS3 the "official game console of Aotearoa." We'd never have believed it if we hadn't seen it ourselves: two media companies settling a dispute in a friendly, joking manner instead of litigation. Maybe every company should bring in a few fictional executives.
Kevin Butler commercial cloned in New Zealand
Whether you call it an homage or a rip-off, an ad produced by New Zealand's TV3 bears a striking similarity to one of Sony's US PlayStation 3 ads starring faux executive Kevin Butler. As noted by Buttonmasher, the two commercials include nearly the same dialogue, setting, reaction shots and ... well, everything except the same actors. When ad agency Deutsch won the $150 million Sony account back in 2007, it had an uphill battle to change Sony's image following its, err, avant-garde advertisements under TBWA. The new agency succeeded with Butler, who has gone on to become a sensation -- and that's where this copy gets unique. "It's rare to see a carbon copy of a U.S. commercial or campaign created by smaller players overseas," explains Tim Nudd, editor of AdFreak.com. "I think there's a healthy fear of getting caught and sued by the big guys. More common is the reverse -- a big U.S. marketer/agency ripping off unknown work from smaller players." Potential examples of the reverse situation include companies like Apple, 3M and, funny enough, Sony itself with its Japanese "Gameface" ad. See for yourself how similar the two ads are, right after the break.
New Activision Publishing CEO is Kevin Butler's dad
Did you know that in addition to being the new CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg is also responsible for giving birth to fake Sony pitchman Kevin Butler? It's true, the towheaded adman sprung fully formed from Hirshberg's loins while he was still with marketing firm Deutsch LA. However, he says in a Kotaku interview that he's not interested in plopping out a clone for Activision, saying "Kevin Butler was the right solution for Sony." Hirshberg doesn't take the job until September, so he says he hasn't settled on how he'll be attacking Activision's image problems. Hey Eric, if you're hard up for ideas, you can feel free to co-opt our new character: "Blogger Who Carries On a Birthing Metaphor Too Long Until Both He and the Readers Are Grossed Out." We think he's headed for big things.
Have you met Marcus 'PSP' Rivers?
He's kind of like Kevin Butler, but he's a lot younger and he's all about the PSP. His name is Marcus, Marcus 'PSP' Rivers (we're not confident that's his Christian name) and he's the face of a new ad campaign that Sony's running to promote the PSP and PSP Go: "Step Your Game Up." We saw a glimpse of the little scamp during Sony's E3 presser, but apparently Marcus will be branching off on his own in the coming months. A PlayStation blog post details the campaign and points out Marcus' YouTube channel which is full of clips from pieces currently running "on over 19 networks." We've embedded a couple of our favorites after the break, so head on past to make with the yucks.
Worlds collide in LittleBigPlanet's 'Kevin Butler Ware' micro-games
It's been a while since we last posted about a LittleBigPlanet creation that really knocked our socks off, but maybe that's because we were simply waiting for that super special level. You know, a platforming masterpiece that combines Sony spokesperson extraordinaire Kevin Butler with the fast-paced micro-games of WarioWare into a single, functional package. We weren't aware science had progressed far enough to make this fusion possible -- but the very existence of "Kevin Butler Ware" seems to indicate that it has. Check out the video after the jump to see this extremely clever level in action.
Kevin Butler hypes ModNation Racers, gets schooled by Tretton
The latest video from Sony's fictional Vice President of a whole bunch of things has everything you could ever ask for: Tons of Kevin Butler bon mots, some clips of gameplay footage from ModNation Racers, and an appearance by real-life Sony president and CEO Jack Tretton. Unless, of course -- what if Tretton's actually just a highly paid actor as well? Come to think of it, we've never seen him in any context except for ... on the stage! Check out the video above to see the line between fantasy and reality get blurred before your very eyes. Also, the video contains a sneak peek at Kevin Butler's custom Mod and race track -- both of which will be available to download when ModNation Racers launches next week.
Kevin Butler gets his mustache on for ModNation Racers
It's official: Kevin Butler is the worst-case scenario for advertisements. Not only do we enjoy the pseudo-spokesman's pitches for Sony products, not only are we completely swayed by his visage, but now we actually care more about the ads than the products they're trying to sell us. Take this ad for ModNation Racersomethingsomething -- oh, who cares what it's called, Kevin Butler has a mustache! Please, Kevin, if you care about us at all, just hurry up and jump the shark so we can go back to respecting ourselves.
Sony: PS3 'purchase intent' nearly doubled since Kevin Butler campaign
Like all responsible journalists worth their salt, we're inherently distrustful of advertising and the incredible power it wields over us -- err, rather consumers. But we feel like you deserve to know that there's a special place in our coldly detached hearts for pretend PS3 pitchman Kevin Butler. And we're apparently not alone. According to what SCEA marketing boss Peter Dille told the MI6 marketing conference in San Francisco last week, purchasing intent for the PS3 is up 36 percent since the "It Only Does Everything" campaign started last year. Now, does the price drop that accompanied the campaign figure into that? Of course. But according to IGN, Dille added, "we know from research that consumers are more educated as well." It looks like Kevin doesn't need to sweat Craig any longer.
Kevin Butler shows that PlayStation Move only does time travel
Not only does PlayStation Move enable realistic motion controls for PS3 games -- it also allows for corporate dispatches from the future. We didn't hear about that at any press conference! But there's Kevin Butler, addressing us from November 2010 about advances in nutrition and the success of the PlayStation Move. That means, according to Sony's time travel technology, the Move should be out sometime in November at the latest. This commercial features plenty of footage of some guy completely battering air in Motion Fighter, along with some not-so-subtle callouts of the motion-based competition, and even a little bit of reverent Tretton worship. Check the ad out after the break. %Gallery-87963% [Thanks, Antony!]
PlayStation Move ad pulls no motion-controlled punches against Wii, Project Natal
Sony's VP of Realistic Movements Kevin Butler (boy, does that guy have a large business card) is at it again, this time in a video ad for the PlayStation Move. He's back from the future to thank us all for the success of the motion control device, and make a few jabs towards Nintendo and Microsoft for their efforts. Here's a few choice quotes. "Because real boxers don't hit like this [flails arms exasperatingly]" "It's also got what we in the future call buttons, which turn out to be pretty important to those handful of millions of people who enjoy playing shooters, platformers, well, anything that doesn't involve catching a big red ball." "C'mon, who wants to pretend their hand is a gun. What is this, third grade? Pew, pew, pew." Check out the futuristic -- or now-eristic, rather -- commercial after the break. And if you ask, sorry, we still wouldn't bet on Kansas City in six.
Kevin Butler to star in PlayStation ads for rest of 2010
Kevin Butler, you need not worry: Your job as Sony's VP of First Person Shooter Relations is in no threat of ending. Neither is your job as Chief Weaponologist, VP of Epic Footage, VP of Big Action Moments and -- our favorite -- Family Activities Director. In an interview with IGN, SCEA senior vice president Peter Dille talked about the company's new "It Only Does Everything" slogan and marketing campaign. "It's been tremendously successful. Consumers love it. It's great to hear people like you guys love it. And the results are really in the sales because it's really been flying since this coincided in September with the launch of the new PS3." The tremendous success of the ad campaign has guaranteed its continuation through 2010. "You can expect to see Kevin Butler inject a lot of life into the PlayStation brand between now and the rest of the year," Dille commented, and promised we'd see the tagline quite a bit "when motion control comes onto the scene." We personally cannot wait to see the ad Butler will star in for the PlayStation Motion Controller.
MAG dev calls Xbox Live 'more juvenile' than PSN
Zipper Interactive's Ben Jones has some fighting words against Xbox Live users. At a recent European press event for MAG, he told Gamerzines that "Xbox Live [is] the more juvenile of the two," blaming "the things that are being said over Xbox Live." Certainly, anyone that's played a match of Halo 3 or Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox has had to endure trash-talking bigoted 12 year olds, like this one. But, we'd disagree with Jones. Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 on PS3 play home to players that are just as foul-mouthed as the ones on Xbox. Here are just a few examples. Imagine how terribly offensive the service would be if more players used headsets! If only there were more people like PlayStation VP Kevin Butler playing games online. At the very least, the online world would be a funnier place. Check out his new ad after the break. [Via VG247] Source - Zipper: Xbox Live "more juvenile" than PSN - Gamerzine Source - It Only Does 256 Players - PlayStation.Blog
Latest PS3 ad promotes LittleBigPlanet and extramarital affairs
We have to admit: Sony has a real winner with its "It Only Does Everything" campaign. The latest addition to the series promotes the PS3 as a family machine by focusing on Blu-ray movie playback and LittleBigPlanet. Once again, "Kevin Butler" delivers some real laughs by being totally creepy -- just not in that baby-cries-black-oil kind of way.
