Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Target Market: 

A Group of people or organizations for which an organization designs, implements, and maintains a marketing mix intended to meet the need of that group, resulting in mutually satisfying exchanges.

Sony PlayStation has one specific goal in mind, to make money. Most companies will try and sugar coat it with other get ups like "improving your quality of life" but really when it comes down to it, its a what will garner the most profit type of situation. The difference is, PlayStation knows know color, creed, age, race, or religion. PlayStation is targeted towards one particular niche: GAMERS.

Its an advantage and a disadvantage for PlayStation. Being one of the "founding fathers" of counsels, PlayStation will always have a place in gamers hearts. but an important part of the marketing environment is the external market and understanding it. Gamers always want more from a product. PlayStation can lasts years in a living room but eventually its time for new technologies and new games, to spice things up and not lose existing customers. Analyzing the external environment gives PlayStation the opportunity to know when these changes are necessary.

Environmental Management:

When a company implements strategies that attempt to shape the external environment within which it operates. The factors within the external environment that are important to marketing managers can be classified as, social, demographic, economic, technological, political and competitive.

Social change is extremely difficult to predict or affect, because a lot of the time things just up and change out of the blue. With PlayStation 1, gamers were satisfied with just a gaming device, with PlayStation 2, you could play DVDs and Cd's, with PlayStation 3, apps were introduced and blu-ray, now with the upcoming PlayStation 4, you can create social profiles, and watch television. 

Sony, although a world-wide global company, knows when marketing in the US, it should adhere to American values: 

• Self-Sufficiency: PlayStation is a standalone machine, made for any and everyone, its easy to learn and hands on, you don't need to be dependent on other factors to use it.
• Upward Mobility:  The PlayStation has a separate device, the PlayStation Vita, where you can go anywhere and not be constricted to one place.
• Work Ethic: its a powerful machine that has been built by the best tea
• Conformity: This is especially prevalent in ads, where it shows a variety of different games and slogans that show unlimited possibilities and all being treated equally.

Sony PlayStation is lucky in that, when it works it WORKS, and when it doesn't it doesn't. If you aren't a gamer, PlayStation will not appeal to you period, but if you are a gamer, know gamers, have a child whose a gamer, or even host a lot of parties where games are played, PlayStation can appeal to you due to its marketing.

PlayStation is on every single social media site, like its competitors Wii and Xbox, its important for the Internet savvy to have access to PlayStation news, but its also important with how businesses communicate today. Not everyone watches TV or listens to the radio, but by being on social networks, PlayStation is accessing global domain, and its message is being heard around the world with a single click.

Demography:

The study of peoples vital statistics such as age, race and ethnicity and location.

PlayStation focuses less on race and ethnicity, but sometimes can change marketing depending on age and location. Of course marketing in japan would be different then in US based on different morals and what consumers find appealing. Also for different ages, PlayStation will focus more on teens, there are 25 million teens in the united states alone, they spend approximately seventy-two hours per week tuned in electronically. Teens, unlike adults, are less likely to have full-time jobs, meaning more time to play video games. However, even the adult market is crucial for PlayStation success because of game sub-genres like First Person Shooters, or games like Grand Theft Auto (arguably the most financially successful game series in the history of gaming) are 18+ years are older meaning adults have to be the target audience. 

Another thing to consider is income, PlayStation tries to remain as affordable as possible, allowing people to borrow and rent games, based on there availability. PlayStation doesn't just appeal to certain incomes, because that would severely affect its profits. 

All-in-all, PlayStation is very aware of its marketing environment and that's what leads to its current success.