In response to Tanya's post...

Tanya talked about the Playstation Vita, the latest portable gaming device released from the company. She asks,

Do you think it is risky to have such a high budget for a device that may not have all the features someone is looking for these days. Example - the Iphone can play video, talk, text, and play games.

Since Playstation has released portable gaming systems in the past, I'm going to base some of my answer on the previous handheld device, which is the Playstation Portable, or PSP. The latest PSP to be released was the PSP2 in 2011. The device is both 3G and Wi-fi capable, has GPS, Bluetooth, built in speakers and mics, two touch pads, and both front and rear facing cameras. It seems like it can do a lot of the same things that an iPhone or other smart phone can do, but with a better processor, graphics and memory, as it needs those to run games.

right: PSP2; left: Playstation Vita

When the PSP was released in 2005/2006, it sold 9.6 million units. Granted, that's not as impressive as selling more units a day than there are people born that same day (like the iPhone), but that's still pretty good. The sales figures for the next years are as follows: 13.8 million in 2007, 14.1 in 2008, 9.9 in 2009, and 8.0 in 2010. While that's declining, that's still not bad.

In my opinion, because the company knows the market they are advertising to, it's not risky at all to have such a high budget. These people are advertising directly to gamers where they are most likely to see it. The people who will want this don't care if it can text or call. In fact, I bet they don't even want it to. They want better screens, more memory (and different kinds), and support from the Playstation network. If someone wants an iPhone, they'll get an iPhone. If they want a gaming device, then that's what they'll get. By understanding their target demographic, Playstaion is making all the right choices.

My concern is that this has been done before. The Vita doesn't offer much that the PSP2 doesn't already have. There aren't many new features. But I'm sure as Apple can attest to, people will buy the new version of the same phone if you change the number, upgrade a few minimal things, fix a few bugs, and tell them that they need to have it.

Do consumers fall for marketing ploys when it comes to "new and improved" versions of technology? Are marketers and companies just trying to make money by constantly releasing products (like the iPhone, iPad ect), or is there real value to the new versions?

Measuring Success

According to Direct Marketing News, 20% of business to business marketers don't measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Business to business marketing centers around selling a service or product to another company. For example, Xerox would sell its copiers to other businesses. It would make sure to highlight how having their copier would be a better choice than a competitor's copier.

Not for Xerox, but still B2B

I found this especially surprising, as I would have thought that everyone measures campaign effectiveness to some extent. While b-2-b marketing is much different than standard b-2-c (business to customer) marketing, it is still important to know if your advertising is working.

There are several different ways to measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign. Something as simple as tracking sales before, during and after a campaign can help you better spend your advertising budget. Most websites now can track from where and how many visitors come to the site. Offering media-specific incentives can also track where customers are coming from. There is a more complete list of measuring ad effectiveness here.

Many of the options on that list apply more to b-2-c advertising than anything else. When advertising specifically to customers and end users, it is much easier to track sales. Asking customers when they visit the store, using specific phone lines for orders and print coupons can all measure the amount of new sales generated by an ad campaign.

What is the importance of tracking these sales statistics? What other ways can companies measure the effectiveness of an ad campaign, especially for b-2-b companies?