Sony Computer Entertainment Europe: Thinking outside the box

Adapting a product search tool transforms a service to trade journalists.

The Site

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has a Software Search feature in its online Press Office that gives journalists quick access to information and downloadable imagery about the Sony range of computer games. Searches can be filtered from a set of three conventional dropdown menus that allow selection of Platform (five options plus ‘any’) and/or Genre (17 options; for example, Arcade, Racing, Shoot em up) and Status (‘Forthcoming’ or ‘Released’). Results can be ordered by Title, Developer and Release Date.

Clicking on a title takes journalists to a formatted software profile page that carries a table of standard product data and a full description of the game and its features. All pages are downloadable as Zip files from an icon in the top right corner. Optional items include links to Accessories and Related media. The latter are screenshots that can be previewed from a selection of thumbnails (postage-stamp sized images) and are available for immediate download as Jpeg files (file size indicated).

The Takeaway

Where most organisations’ media facilities revolve around a press releases service and archive, SCEE shows a more sophisticated appreciation of its particular audience’s needs by adding a separate product information section. Many of the journalists covering the company will be from specialist computer and gaming publications or sections and so will want details of individual software titles. SCEE’s Software Search caters directly for this, giving speedy access – always appreciated by journalists – to information and usable images.

While the feature is admirably usable, there are plenty like it acting as product choosers on B2C and B2B sites. What makes it notable is its transfer to the Press Office, where it has transformed the service. Often you can pick up good ideas from looking at what other people are doing in your area, but it can also pay to look further afield to see if you can repurpose the wheel rather than have to reinvent it.

First published on 25 January, 2007