Sat, August 13, 2005
UMD?—9:40 AM
I've been browsing the Amazon DVD section a lot lately, finding links to add to the Reviews section, and it strikes me that Sony has made a tremendous marketing blunder with its new UMD format.
UMD stands for Universal Media Disc, and it's the disc format used by the new PlayStation Portable (PSP) that all your geek friends are slobbering over and no one else has ever heard of.
The blunder is this: Sony is spending way too much time marketing the UMD format. Amazon listings – as well as promotional billboards around town – always mention "UMD (for PSP)." Guess Who is "coming soon to DVD and UMD (for PSP)." The ads themselves admit that people are more familiar with the term PSP than they are with UMD. So why not just say the movie is coming to PSP and skip the confusion? Why expend any extra effort pimping the new UMD format when you could spend all your energy selling PSPs and people will become aware of UMD over time as they buy discs for their PSPs?
I understand that Sony wants UMD to be separate from PSP, because they have an interest in using the format to drive other devices in the future, but for now it seems like a real shame to be splitting the promotion between both acronyms, confusing customers, and cluttering up my pretty billboards.
Bee Boy — Thu, 9/29/05 1:37pm
Just saw an ad for the video release of The Amityville Horror, and they've gone with "buy it on DVD or PSP." You're welcome, advertising industry.