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Sony and Kevin Butler actor settle lawsuit over Bridgestone ads
Sony and Jerry Lambert, the actor who plays Sony's eccentric Kevin Butler spokesman, settled their lawsuit. Lambert admitted his appearance in a Bridgestone commercial playing a Wii may have confused some consumers, thinking the Kevin Butler character endorsed both Nintendo and Sony.Sony sued Lambert in October based on violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship. Bridgestone denied that the Kevin Butler character appeared in any of its commercials, but removed Lambert from its ads.As part of the settlement, Lambert agreed to not appear in any advertisements that feature or mention "any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company" for two years. For two years after that, Lambert must notify Sony if he wants to appear in gaming ads so Sony can assess whether his intended performance will infringe on the Kevin Butler character.Though Lambert and Sony settled, Sony and Bridgestone's lawsuit remains ongoing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Bridgestone responds to Sony: Kevin Butler wasn't in our commercial
Bridgestone is responding to Sony's lawsuit by denying the Kevin Butler character appeared in one of its recent commercials. Following Sony's allegations over Butler actor Jerry Lambert's appearance in a Bridgestone commercial, the tire manufacturer made a statement via The Hollywood Reporter declaring its intention to fight the lawsuit. As far as Bridgestone is concerned, Lambert appeared in its commercial but wasn't starring as Kevin Butler in any way whatsoever."Mr. Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer," reads the statement, "Bridgestone denies that 'Kevin Butler' appears in the Bridgestone commercial discussed herein and thus denies that he speaks or does anything whatsoever in the commercial."It emerged last month Lambert appeared in a commercial as part of Bridgestone's "Game On" campaign, featuring him playing a Wii and acting in a similar exuberant manner to his PlayStation persona of Kevin Butler. Sony believes Bridgestone and Lambert's advertising agency Wildcat Creek are guilty of violating the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract, and intentional interference with a contractual relationship. Sony filed the lawsuit on September 11, and Bridgstone has since removed Lambert from its most recent ads. Sony has until October 12 to withdraw the lawsuit, otherwise it proceeds.
Sony, Kevin Butler actor in lawsuit over breach of contract
Sony filed a lawsuit implicating Jerry Lambert, the actor who plays Kevin Butler, Sony's high-energy, aggressive spokesman and fake VP of whatever happens to be relevant. Sony's claims are based on violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship, senior director of corporate communications Dan Race writes in a statement to VentureBeat.Early in September, images and video of Lambert in Bridgestone Tires' "Game On" promotion gained traction online, wherein Lambert is playing a Wii and over-acting in a style similar to his Kevin Butler character. Lambert appeared in Bridgestone commercials as early as February. On September 11, Sony filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone Tires and Wildcat Creek, an advertising agency for which Lambert is actually president.Since the filing, Lambert has been removed from the most recent Bridgestone ads. The Game On promotion ended on September 30."We invested significant resources in bringing the Kevin Butler character to life and he's become an iconic personality directly associated with PlayStation products over the years," Sony's statement says. "Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony's intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony."Lambert and Sony reached an agreement on September 26, and Sony has until October 12 to officially withdraw the suit or announce it will continue forward. NeoGAF member Takao has a detailed breakdown of the entire lawsuit.Below find a few of Lambert's most memorable Sony advertisements.
IMDB: Kevin Butler, Cole McGrath, Drake, Snake voice actors in Playstation All-Stars cast
The IMDB page for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale reveals some more all-stars appearing in the game as some form or another. Listed in the voice cast are Nolan North as Uncharted's Nathan Drake, David Hayter as Snake, Eric Ladin as Infamous's Cole McGrath, and ... Jerry Lambert as fictional executive Kevin Butler.It's tempting to imagine Kevin Butler's in-game stint as the VP of Special Attacks, but these characters aren't necessarily playable. The game is full of cameos, like Captain Quark in the background of a Ratchet & Clank level. We're asking Sony to clarify this information. Kevin Butler would tell us, if he existed.Update: For its part, Sony said it didn't set up the IMDB page. And since IMDB listings can be edited by users, it's entirely possible it was fabricated by a dreamy-eyed fan hoping to will this into existence.
Kevin Butler is DLC in LittleBigPlanet Karting
At least a few pre-orders of LittleBigPlanet Karting will include a free DLC pack featuring Kevin Butler, the fictional VP from Sony's promotional campaigns. The pre-order deal is live through Amazon and GameStop and it includes the Kevin Butler Sackboy costume and executive golf cart.Next step for Sony advertising: The VP: Kevin Butler, King of Shadowfighting: The Game: The Marketing Campaign.
Buy a PlayStation 3D Display at Best Buy, get a PS3 for $100
Like a horseman of the apocalypse, Sony's undeniable spokesperson Kevin Butler has stormed the holiday shopping battlefield, riding a sale horse. The ad above has the juicy details: At any Best Buy across the country, anyone who buys a PlayStation 3D Display -- the Sony-branded, $499 bundle that comes with MotorStorm Apocalypse -- can attach a 160GB PS3 to their purchase for just $100. Think of it this way: For the original launch price of the PS3, you can buy the console, a game and a television which shoots pictures directly into your brain. The times, friends; they are a-changin'.
Kevin Butler honors 'Legit Btness' with festive dance
After kicking open the doors on PlayStation's "Hall of Play" last month, Sony's vice president of often hilarious video advertisements took to YouTube this week and honored Killzone 3 player "Legit_Btness." But not because "Legit" is a pro or anything, but because of his dutiful late game Helghast stabbing. Bravo!
Kevin Butler opens the Hall of Play on Facebook
If you were jealous of Michael and all his video game character fans in Sony's awesome "Long Live Play" ad, Sony's giving you a chance to get your own sliver of the gratitude pie. Just head over to Facebook and let Kevin Butler induct you into the Hall of Play. You'll not only get your own "Michael" ad, you'll get to hang out with KB in a sport coat, and if that's not worth a few clicks and minutes of your time, we don't know what is. (Also, he claims he'll be giving out macaroons.)
Kevin Butler rides a horse into the Resistance 3 ad-campaign sunset
Kevin Butler is kicking off PlayStation's new Long Live Play campaign with a horse and a Move Sharp Shooter in one of two new tv spots for Resistance 3. After a brief affair with flooring, Butler is back -- check out Butler's ad above, and the Joseph Capelli-centric sob story below.
Kevin Butler comes out of 'retirement' for new PlayStation campaign, 'Long Live Play'
Four bleak days after Sony ad man Kevin Butler publicly resigned, Sony released a new video laying out its new ad campaign and reintroducing us to the VP of ... well, everything. "Long Live Play" is the new motto, replacing "It Only Does Everything" as the phrase we hear interwoven into press conference speeches and sizzle reels for the next year or so. Always the showman, Butler kicks off the motto with a bang, as you'll see in the video above. On a personal note, allow us to welcome Mr. Butler back, who's always been the VP of our hearts.
Kevin Butler quits Sony via Twitter, Sony says to 'keep following his tweets'
Kevin Butler would be a wonderful Sony VP if he actually existed, and we would be upset to hear of his resignation if it were real. This makes us very emotionally confused about Sony's latest marketing ploy, which has @TheKevinButler tweeting that he's quit Sony to be president of the family flooring business. How do we react when a fake person fake-quits his fake position at a real company? We're not sure, but so far we've been eating a lot of chocolate and manically watching Desperate Housewives. @TheKevinButler posted two tweets today about the job switch and his profile now reads, "President, Economy Flooring. I'm a man of the people and the people need help. Carpets worn? Hardwoods warped? Linoleum non-linear? Rest Easy, KB's here to help." As legit as this may seem, Sony has hinted at a Twitter-tease, telling Industry Gamers to "stay tuned. We'll have more info on KB's new upstart career shortly. In the meantime, keep following his tweets."
Kevin Butler becomes peripheral to Killzone 3 marketing
Armed with our Killzone 3 review, you should have no trouble entering, enjoying and escaping Kevin Butler's charismatic marketing aura. Well, you might pick up some office decorations while you're in there.
Kevin Butler account accidentally retweets PS3 exploit
Oh, Kevin Butler. You seemed so perfect -- exactly the kind of PR icon that Sony needed, always saying and doing exactly the right thing for the company's image. You were always so in the know, always on top of the public pulse. Until Tuesday night, that is, when the Kevin Butler account on Twitter replied to what it thought was a random series of letters and numbers with a Battleship joke. Unfortunately, that code turned out to be the key once used to hack the PS3 through a USB dongle. In essence, the great KB helped to spread exactly the sort of information his company's been fighting to keep secret in court. Of course, the tweet was quickly deleted. It wasn't that severe a leak anyway, since Sony's already fixed the exploit that it used and that key isn't the one being contested in the ongoing lawsuit. The real damage here is to KB's reputation. After deleting the tweet, whichever PR person runs the account quickly dived into a relatively harmless attempt to start a "#gamingis" trend. What, no snarky comeback or humorous braggadocio, KB? And here we thought he was the Vice President of Knowing What's Up.
PS3 'jailbreak code' retweeted by Sony's Kevin Butler, no punchline needed
Oh, honey. Sony PlayStation's (entirely fictional) Kevin Butler holds many (also fictional) positions within the company, but apparently none of them require him to keep up with (very real) news events. Travis La Marr (aka @exiva) tweeted the now-infamous PS3 METLDR root key towards Butler with the challenge to "Come at me." What's a spokesperson to do but confuse it for a Battleship reference and retweet the entire code? Obviously someone let him in on the joke, as the tweet's since been removed (original URL can be found as More Coverage below). At least Sony won't have to subpoena for his info here. Geohot, we hope you're laughing. Update: As Digital Foundry points out, this sequence actually refers to the USB dongle ID generator key, also used for PS3 security circumvention. [Thanks, Scott M]
Activision Publishing CEO says perception of the company is different from reality
As co-CEO at ad company Deutsch LA, Eric Hirshberg was partially responsible for turning the PlayStation 3 from something that freaked us out into a platform for the VP of Awesome. Now, HIrshberg is able to comment on a similar turnaround at Activision. As the CEO of the publishing group, he says that "some of Activision's reputational challenges are not based in the reality of the company that I've experienced here so far. ... What I can tell you is since I've been here there's not a day or an hour that goes by without a conversation or focus on creative excellence in delivering great gaming experiences to our fans. That's what this place is focused on and about." Yes, Activision may have put a "for sale" sign on UK racing studio Bizarre, laid off staff at Neversoft and Radical Entertainment and elsewhere, and weakened studio after studio, but Hirshberg says all the cuts are indicative of just how tough this business can be. And even in a tough business, says Hirshberg, "we do everything we can to make the relationships with our developers work, and to find a commercially viable use of their talents, and it's only when we've exhausted every other opportunity that [shutdowns and layoffs] happen." The video game industry, he says, is "a high stakes game when everyone's trying to get into that upper echelon of performance and there's no middle class," which means, presumably, that Activision has to be judicious when choosing who gets to keep working. That may be true, but Hirshberg's going to need more than that if he wants to turn Bobby Kotick into PlayStation's KB.
Best Buy bundling PS3 with Bravia 3DTVs, and slashing prices
A Best Buy employee and Sony spokesperson Kevin Butler (both of which shall henceforth colloquially referred to as "Best Butler") recently appeared an a new PS3 ad announcing a pretty sound deal for you 3D-seekers out there. The retailer is currently offering a trio of bundles featuring Bravia HDTVs and 160GB PlayStation 3s, equipped with Gran Turismo 5 and Grown Ups on Blu-ray. Two of these bundles feature televisions that are 3D-ready, while all of the bundles knock over $1,100 off the combined prices of the products therein. That's not bad for a retailer that isn't, you know, Amazon. Click past the jump to see what the three bundles offer, and to see the ever-giggle-inducing Best Butler shill his employer's wares.
Kevin Butler will sell PS3s to your fake TV family
For the holidays, Sony is unleashing a previously unimaginable amount of Kevin Butler on an unsuspecting American public. Following yesterday's Gran Turismo 5 ad, Sony unveiled two additional commercials today starring the ersatz executive. Both ads push the PS3's appeal for the "whole family" (meaning not just you): one highlighting its utility as a Blu-Ray player, and the other depicting PSN's ability to make the device a Facebooking, Netflixing multimedia set-top box. Despite the mainstream message, both ads also have some value to the PS3 "core gamer" -- because they're pretty funny, if just a touch (or sniff) creepy. See them after the break.
Kevin Butler steals cars, our hearts in Gran Turismo 5 commercial
Finally, the reason for Gran Turismo 5's hundred-year delay has been revealed -- and we'd just assumed it was due to the obstinate perfectionism of Kazunori Yamauchi. As it turns out, it was actually due to the obstinate perfectionism of Kevin Butler, as revealed in the commercial below.
Take a swing at this new Kevin Butler commercial
"She's a bad mamma jamma" could take on a whole new meaning for the cast of the latest Kevin Butler PlayStation Move advertisement. Woods' game looks like it might lead this household to domestic violence! How many homes must you divide, Tiger? Answer us! How many?
Watch your back, puppies: Kevin Butler talks up EyePet
Sony faux-spokesman Kevin Butler's no stranger to talking smack about competitors -- though, for the life of us, we never expected him to turn his scornful eye upon infant dogs. Check out the US commercial for EyePet after the jump as we await a rebuttal from the dog people of the world.
