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Sony fails at keeping secrets, or dignity
The latest in Sony's internal sabotage engine worked itself out at Kotaku yesterday. The Kotaku bloggers heard a rumor about a hypothetical new feature for the PS3, and in attempting to research the issue, they contacted Sony.
If you are ever in this position in your giant international corporation, the correct response here regardless of the truth of the matter is, "No comment."
Instead, Sony said, "Don't print this rumor. If you do, we will sever all official contact with you, cancel all interviews, uninvite you from our press conferences, and demand back our media PS3 and our friendship bracelet."
Kotaku did print the story. Sony followed through.
The internet exploded.
Sony changed their minds.
First of all, good for Kotaku. They conducted themselves with professionalism and dignity, didn't cave in under Sony's leaning, and maintained their integrity as well. That was a towering threat and they grimly faced it. They are journalists, and they report.
But some days I really feel like Sony is falling apart at the seams. They have so much bad press lately it's phenomenal. Their marketing campaigns are incomprehensible and/or offensive, their game systems are overpriced and poorly managed, they brutally shaft other markets, and they delude themselves about their successes and attempt to delude everyone else about them also. Penny Arcade did a strip about it once: if journalists stop asking you mindless self-flattering questions, just keep giving them mindless self-flattering answers and expect them to swallow it. It works for politicians, so why not for Sony?
Well, it doesn't work. You came out of this one looking like bullies, and over something so ridiculous, all but confirming the rumor in absentia. The vacuum created by your desperate not wanting this rumor to be published lends it an authenticity that could never have been achieved by simply saying "We're not commenting on future developments for the Playstation 3 at this time."
In the end, there's a disconnect. Journalists (real ones) want to offer news to their readers; corporations want to package propaganda neatly. Of course Sony would like it if Kotaku only published what they wanted. But if they did that, they would be the unofficial Sony newsletter. And in not understanding that, Sony has made themselves not only a villain, but once again, a disastrous, comical, lumbering villain.
And then they realized it was bad press and reversed the whole thing. "We didn't mean it. You can keep your PS3 and the friendship bracelet. And your interviews. And your invitations. (Please don't hate us.)"
I almost think that's worse.
If you are ever in this position in your giant international corporation, the correct response here regardless of the truth of the matter is, "No comment."
Instead, Sony said, "Don't print this rumor. If you do, we will sever all official contact with you, cancel all interviews, uninvite you from our press conferences, and demand back our media PS3 and our friendship bracelet."
Kotaku did print the story. Sony followed through.
The internet exploded.
Sony changed their minds.
First of all, good for Kotaku. They conducted themselves with professionalism and dignity, didn't cave in under Sony's leaning, and maintained their integrity as well. That was a towering threat and they grimly faced it. They are journalists, and they report.
But some days I really feel like Sony is falling apart at the seams. They have so much bad press lately it's phenomenal. Their marketing campaigns are incomprehensible and/or offensive, their game systems are overpriced and poorly managed, they brutally shaft other markets, and they delude themselves about their successes and attempt to delude everyone else about them also. Penny Arcade did a strip about it once: if journalists stop asking you mindless self-flattering questions, just keep giving them mindless self-flattering answers and expect them to swallow it. It works for politicians, so why not for Sony?
Well, it doesn't work. You came out of this one looking like bullies, and over something so ridiculous, all but confirming the rumor in absentia. The vacuum created by your desperate not wanting this rumor to be published lends it an authenticity that could never have been achieved by simply saying "We're not commenting on future developments for the Playstation 3 at this time."
In the end, there's a disconnect. Journalists (real ones) want to offer news to their readers; corporations want to package propaganda neatly. Of course Sony would like it if Kotaku only published what they wanted. But if they did that, they would be the unofficial Sony newsletter. And in not understanding that, Sony has made themselves not only a villain, but once again, a disastrous, comical, lumbering villain.
And then they realized it was bad press and reversed the whole thing. "We didn't mean it. You can keep your PS3 and the friendship bracelet. And your interviews. And your invitations. (Please don't hate us.)"
I almost think that's worse.
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I think this only highlights the differences that PR people and journalists have. My interest is not in making sure that Sony has positive news or that the timing of their news is correct, my job only is to inform the readers of news as quickly and accurately as I can.
I have been a journalist (college newspaper) and a PR person (graphic designer at a marketing/communications firm.) And they really ARE two different ways of approaching the world. Both are fun. I like having clients I can really believe in, but I go all out even when I don't. I do miss the thrill of going for blood back in the journalism days.
You were totally right about the no comment thing. That was stupid of Sony's representative.
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Did they experiment with mind-altering drugs? Cause really, even when there is unavoidable bad news, Sony seems determined to go out of its way to make things worse. They're trying to be the backyard bully at the worst possible moment and it's gonna cost them.
Whether it costs them enough to make them snap out of it is a whole other question.