MARKET
The name Sony stands out among global brands and dominates its category in the same way that Levi’s does in jeans or Coca-Cola does in the carbonated soft-drinks market. In the consumer-electronics market, Sony is arguably the most recognised brand – thanks to a legacy of innovation and quality that is synonymous with its country of origin, Japan.
Having said that, the market for consumer electronics is highly competitive even in Sri Lanka. Despite the emergence of South Korean and Chinese brands over the past ten to fifteen years, offering consumers a wider choice than ever before, Sony continues to project a very strong brand image. It represents cutting-edge technology and products that most people aspire to own.
Sony’s Sri Lankan market presence, and its development and penetration over nearly 50 years, has been largely due to its strategic business partnership with Siedles – a company that has placed Sony at the forefront of the consumer-electronics market.
Siedles has invested heavily in brand development, supplemented by innovative advertising campaigns. In the audio-video segment, Sri Lankan consumers have discerning tastes – and they understand modern technology. In the digital era, Sony’s diverse product range covering TV, digital cameras, hi-fi systems and portable radios (including car stereos) has made its mark – and the Sony brand continues to be a strong favourite among Sri Lankan consumers.
Whilst technology is valued very highly in the marketplace, consumers also look for after-sales service and the track record of the company behind the product. Recognising this as a priority, Siedles established a modern service centre to complement Sony’s high-ranking brand image. Today, this state-of-the-art centre is what sets the brand apart in Sri Lanka. With technicians trained by Sony, and an assurance that only genuine Sony spare-parts are used, the Siedles Service Centre is the only one of its kind authorised by Sony International to repair its products in Sri Lanka.
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ACHIEVEMENTS
Sony is probably the most prestigious brand amongst a vast array of electronic products. The uniqueness of the brand is derived from its remarkable innovations in the global audio and video industry. With many firsts in the world, Sony is not only a leading brand; it is a most sought after brand in the global market.
In Sri Lanka, Sony has had a continuous presence for almost 50 years. During the period in which imports were restricted, Siedles – the authorised local distributor – assembled Sony radios, thereby keeping the brand alive. Following the liberalisation of imports, Sony was reintroduced to Sri Lankan homes.
Locally produced print advertisements for Siedles, on behalf of Sony, have been repeatedly chosen for reproduction on the Sony International Ad Exchange – a publication of selected Sony advertisements worldwide.
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HISTORY
Sony was established by two Japanese friends who met during the Second World War. In the backdrop of a war-ravaged Tokyo in 1946, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded Sony.
Morita’s belief that Sony had to be marketed worldwide and not restricted to Japan helped take the brand to the US. By 1956, its transistor-radio production had gained momentum. Among its first successes was the Sony transistor radio, which became so popular that the catchphrase pocketable radio was coined to emphasise how compact the new model (TR 63) transistor radio was.
Morita is regarded by many as the face of the Japanese miracle. TIME chose him as one of the twentieth century’s most influential businessmen – for creating a business philosophy that epitomised Japan’s post-war success story. He was also credited as being the first Japanese businessman to take his country’s manufacturing prowess overseas – Sony was, in fact, the first Japanese company to set up a production plant in the US, list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange back in 1970 and recruit executives from abroad. Morita was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, for his outstanding achievements in the world of business.
Sony’s relationship with its local distributor Siedles dates back to 1959, when the latter was known as Siedles Cineradio. This collaboration grew even stronger by establishing both names, Sony and Siedles, and maintaining brand leadership by means of introducing Sri Lankans to the latest technologies.
Beyond transistor radios, Sony expanded its product range with audio and recording tapes entering a market dominated by brands such as TDK and 3M. In 1958, Sony developed a TV which was the world’s first non-projection, all-transistor TV. This brought Sony worldwide recognition, especially in transistorised TV technology. Ibuka’s dream had finally been realised.
By 1963, Sony had established a plant in Japan as the centre of its transistorised TV production. Since then, Sony has grown from strength to strength – it is considered today as being the world’s first, smallest, largest and best! The Sony Walkman, Profeel TV and Handycam are some of the reasons for Sony’s unique reputation.
In the 1960s, Sony continued to innovate – it gave the world its first FM transistor radio, the smallest-ever pocket-size set and the transistorised eight-inch TV. As the 1960s drew to a close, Sony had set a new standard in consumer electronics with the introduction of the Trinitron colour TV. It represented a breakthrough based on the use of a single gun and three cathodes, popularly known as the famed Trinitron Picture Tube. Soon, Trinitron technology revolutionised TV production by raising the bar for picture quality.
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PRODUCT
In broad terms, Sony’s product range can be classified into audio and video segments. It is no secret that Sony has been awarded unparalleled recognition for its innovative leadership in these segments. Sony’s present colour TV, developed from the famous Trinitron technology, has yet to be surpassed in terms of picture quality. Trinitron picture-tube technology and the Sony Walkman (the world’s first portable stereo) are two examples of Sony innovations that have taken the world by storm.
Despite the availability of lower-priced alternatives, Sony continues to be the preferred brand of many consumers. Sony’s digital technology offers total solutions to consumers from tiny, portable media-storage devices (Sony memory sticks) to Sony printers and Vaio computers. Sony, therefore, offers the consumer a complete solution to a digital lifestyle. Its home-entertainment systems offer supreme quality in terms of both picture quality and sound. The Wega Theatre, which combines the legendary Wega Flat Trinitron technology with a variety of innovative sound systems, is ideal for music and movies.
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RECENT DEVELOPMENT
Two of the most recent additions to Sony’s product range are: the Bravia Theatre, Sony’s latest LCD TV with top-of-the-line home-theatre systems, which produces unrivalled picture quality and magnificent sound reproduction; and the XPLOD range of car stereos, another product line that is enjoying increasing demand.
Siedles recently introduced a Sony DVD recorder to the market, offering customers an opportunity to record, store and watch TV programmes while maintaining the quality of the programme stored on a hard drive.
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PROMOTION
Sony’s technological advancements have taken place at a rapid pace. And they have had to adapt to a smaller market in Sri Lanka. Siedles has invested heavily in brand development, while also introducing new products periodically. This strategy has been maintained for over two-and-a-half decades – and it has paid dividends, in that the market’s first choice is still Sony.
Siedles produced one of the first TV commercials in Sri Lanka, for the Sony black-and-white TV, which was essentially targeted at the rural market. This commercial not only made its impact in Sri Lanka, but it also won accolades overseas. At Sony International’s marketing conference in Japan, it won an award for the best black-
and-white TV commercial produced in Asia.
Siedles also produced the first colour-TV commercial featuring Sri Lankan talent.
Promotions in Sri Lanka have included locally produced multi-media campaigns and exhibitions in towns throughout the island. These exhibitions bring the latest technology of Sony audio-video products to people in rural areas. Promotions also include hands-on trials for customers, which has been especially successful in promoting digital cameras.
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BRAND VALUES
Sony’s brand values are deeply rooted in its spirit of innovation, its proud history and the confidence of its customers. It is undoubtedly one of the most recognised brand names in the world. And Sony continues to raise the bar in terms of quality and consumer needs – and global and regional communications.
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THINGS YOU DONT KNOW ABOUT SONY
♥ Before transistors and TV, Sony’s first product was an electric rice-cooker. The primitive contraption was a memorable failure and lent credence to the adage that failures are the pillars of success!
♥ The brand name Sony was coined from two words ‘sonus’ (which, in Latin, is the root of words such as ‘sound’) and ‘sonny’ (meaning ‘little son’). The words were used to portray Sony as a very small group of young people who have the energy and passion to pursue unlimited creations.
♥ Founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, Sony has grown to become a US$ 60 billion-plus global organisation.
♥ Ironically, the single largest boost for Sony’s transistor radio sales in the US was a result of a robbery! In 1958, some 4,000 radios were stolen from a warehouse in New York. That story appeared in the New York Times and gave a fledgling brand more publicity than it could have afforded at the time.
♥ Ten years after its launch, the Sony Walkman became the most loved portable stereo in the world, with total production reaching 150 million units by 1995.
♥ Locally produced print advertisements for Siedles, on behalf of Sony, have been repeatedly chosen for reproduction on the Sony International Ad Exchange – a publication of selected Sony advertisements worldwide.
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www.sony-asia.com
