UPDATE 14/12/06: Sony of America have admitted that the ploy was indeed their idea and have released this statement:



Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn't a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony. Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP. Sony Computer Entertainment America

They've also removed comments from the site. And the video from YouTube. The least they could do is leave it up there so others could learn from their mistakes.

Gamers across Web 2.0 are shaking angry fists at the latest alleged viral marketing campaign orchestrated by Sony. Piggybacking the YouTube bonanza, the company has hired "consumer activation" firm Zipatoni to create a false video-and-blogging approach to generate interest in their flagging PlayStation Portable handheld machine. The video/blog/ads featured people portending to be authentic PSP fans creating messages of love/want for the console, but were quickly uncovered by SomethingAwful.com's dedicated base as superficial facades shielding mouthpieces for the corporation.

In the past, Sony's award-winning PlayStation brand ads were celebrated for their creativity and innovation. Their recent campaigns, including an ill-advised series of graffiti art, suggests that they are having difficulty getting a handle on the bottom-up, community driven opportunities made possible with social software.

As I (and others more qualified than I) have commented before (under a different guise), big business must tread carefully if it wishes to employ "yoof" tactics to generate interest in its brands. Blogs and other social software rely upon the trust of the reader, which is why links, references and disclaimers feature on many (not all) posts. Transparency is key in the modern advertising-savvy marketplace. Bad fakes can be spotted a mile away, and good fakes often get found out with a fanfare of negativity. As an aside, I'm very curious how the YouTube-viewing public will respond to lonelygirl_15 when she makes her first above-the-board debut.

Unfortunately this latest attempt to integrate with the MySpace generation on their own terms marks another instance in Sony's recent PSP campaigns which consumers claim is undermining their trust. The most important currency online is trust. rhino86, a SomethingAwful commenter, sums it up succinctly:



and today class we are going to learn about how viral marketing can fail miserably and create distrust and hatred in our user base.

Interactive advertising is so much more than throwing a few irritating pop us in front of content or putting placeholders in the latest software du jour. It needs to start from the community, perhaps - if needs must - sparked by a few good ideas.

Why can't they stick to bus stops covered in bubble wrap?