August 10, 2005Pepsi, Lounge Lizards and KiosksFeaturing Microsoft(Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox consoles, videos, and cozy seating areas, Pepsi Zone's plan is ambitious, but it certainly isn't original. Two years ago, rival Coca-Cola(NYSE: KO) hoped to win over the mall rats by opening a pair of Red Lounge hubs not too far from where two of the three Pepsi Zones have decided to set up camp. Meanwhile Sony does PSP kiosks in shops and cafes in Japan... Coke has been slow to expand the concept, though it did open up a lounge in Singapore earlier this year. The hangouts are free to the public. Guests can purchase beverages from state-of-the-art vending machines, but that's not the real driver here. Pepsi and Coke are simply trying to reach out to folks who are too busy playing video games or zipping past soft-drink ads on their TiVo(Nasdaq: TIVO) boxes to notice the soft drink industry's more conventional marketing approach. But does any of it matter? Because venues such as restaurants, movie theaters, and amusement parks tend to have ties to just one of the two beverage giants, most soda drinkers have grown up as brand-agnostic. Even in the democratic platform at the corner grocery store, where consumers have a choice, it often boils down to which brand is discounting the deepest. Still, selling syrup concentrate to bottlers is a high-margin business, and Coke and Pepsi can afford to pump money into brand ambassadorship if it means that the company's name will be seen in a favorable light. So is product placement giving way to kiosk placement? No way. The companies will still find clever ways to wedge their presence into televised content. However, they at least know that they own their captive audience in these lounges. The kids belong to them -- at least until they find out about the sale at Aeropostale(NYSE: ARO) three shops over. Pepsi, the Lounge Lizard - Motley Fool - MSNBC.com Meanwhile Sony does it in Japan. Article from 1up.com a few days earlier. PSP Kiosks Attack Japan The hardcore understand the PSP. The minute Sony announced a handheld take on PlayStation, million of sales were guaranteed upfront. To expand the portable market's reach as Nintendo has with niche games like Nintendogs, Sony's has started pushing PSP in front of a different kind of Japanese audience. ITmedia reports apparel shops, cafes, and beauty parlors in Japan will all start receiving PSP kiosks primarily showing off the upcoming release of Mercury, but also showcasing the hardware's multimedia capabilities through movies, anime, and music. Some will even have unique promotions like PSP-stylized deserts and kiosks running at the establishment's tables. The lack the popular software for PSP is only one of the many reasons Sony needs to push the extra features. In the US, UMD movies have proven ridiculously popular despite their higher-than-desired price point, and it's likely Sony will continue riding similar multimedia waves until developers catch up. For those lucky enough to find themselves situated in the land of the rising sun and reading 1UP, you can catch these new promotions at Beams T Daikan-yama, B-in Yoshida, The W Cafe and Beautrium starting today and running through August and, in the case of Beautrium, September. Posted by keefner at August 10, 2005 04:02 AM |