By Max Van Kleek
From the outset, Sony has realized the importance of the "E-Factor".
Though its primary business was originally consumer electronics,
Sony moved quickly into the content market, and grew its now
multi-billion dollar movie, video, music, and console game
enterprise. Furthermore, all the products in its consumer electronics
line have been designed with the E-factor in mind. Even the name of
its personal computer product line, VAIO, promises "Visual Audio
Integrated Operation" and every model comes outfitted with
hardware for editing digital video, and special Sony software
"Media Managers" for cataloging digital media collections.
Throughout
its product line, Sony has concentrated on making their products
stylish, sleek, and most of all, fun.
When Sony, a company that has proven itself an expert in the E-factor
set out to make a shopping mall, one thing was guaranteed: the
attraction would be fun. The Metreon is an hybrid mini-mall,
cinema, arcade, and theme-park experience all woven together with
Sony's
entertainment expertise. The cinema features Sony films, while
the custom designed "Airtight Garage" has outfitted its
interior decor to match its video games - which were all designed
specifically for the Metreon. The theme-park aspect is extended
from its IMAX theatre, as well as a David MacCaulay-designed
Way Things Work 3D motion simulator (in "Mammoth 3D"). This
is further
brought out by a life-sized storybook of Maurice Sendak's
"Where the Wild Things Are", where young customers can enter
the world of the story's protagonist, an imaginative boy
named Max.
The building layout and environment itself was also designed
very carefully. From the street, the building looks bold, strikingly
futuristic and inviting; - at night, neon lines glow down the side,
giving it an exciting, electrified glow. On the opposite side, the
building opens up to the Yerba Buena gardens, which is a beautiful
little paradise, with sculptures and an artificial waterfall,
through which paths meander to the SF Museum of Modern Art.
Everything about the Metreon exudes fun and entertainment.
But looking through the Metreon's fun facade, one cannot help but
see how
incredibly clever Sony has been in developing this attraction. Not
only has the Metreon pulled people inside to see Sony films, buy Sony
music, play Sony video games, and to purchase Sony content related
merchandise, but also to shape public perception of the company
and its products. For example, at the heart of the Metreon lies the
Sony Store, which hosts a museum-like hands-on display of the latest
Sony consumer electronics product line. This store, placed
alongside the themepark-like attractions at the Metreon, makes
visitors draw parallels between Sony's products and the sci-fi realms
of the Airtight Garage or the fantasy world of Where the Wild Things
Are. This adds additional appeal to their already stylish product
line, which directly gives Sony an advantage over their competition.
One aspect of the Metreon which seemed uncharacteristically weak,
particularly for Sony, is the Metreon.com web site. Compared to the
"physical space", Metreon.com the virtual space seems undeveloped
and
not-particularly exciting. Although the metreon.com site invites visitors
to shop at the online versions of the stores in the physical Metreon,
none of the virtual stores offer a very large selection, or
a particularly appealing virtual storefront. Moreover, the textual
descriptions of the themepark attractions, such as of Airtight Garage,
would seem to me to be less effective for the video-arcade audience
than something more audio-visually exciting. Although the physical
Metreon seems designed to follow Sony's commitment to careful design
of the look and feel of its products, the web site lacks luster.