Sony pushing HD format as the biggest paradigm shift since B&W TV become color TV
NEW YORK -- Shooting to become synonymous with all things high-definition, Sony said that it is plugging in a massive advertising effort to tout its high-def TVs. Kicking off its new fiscal year next month, the San Diego-based company will splurge on U.S. media, spending “significantly more” than the $140 million it shelled out last year to promote its TVs’ HD superiority, Sony Electronics CMO Michael Fasulo told Brandweek today.
Among the campaign’s highlights is a TiVo-friendly ad for Sony’s Bravia line of LCDs that will let viewers with a DVR select from one of two endings. McKinney-Silver, Durham, N.C. is working on the spot as well as other new executions that continue to tout the top-selling LCD line as the “first TV for men and women.”
This campaign and others will be tucked under an umbrella HD effort launching this summer called “Ignite your senses.” The ads will attempt to depict how HD products affect the senses. One being worked on shows a regular smile while a smile as a result of HD is as wide as a Cheshire cat’s.
The SXRD sub-line of TVs will continue their “Lo-Def” campaign, which shows memorable sports moments reenacted in the decidedly low-tech fashion that Sony says is typical of regular TVs.
Sony is pulling out all of the stops because “HD is a huge paradigm shift. It’s a huge opportunity. We haven’t seen this since black and white went to color,” Fasulo told Brandweek.
Sony will work to leverage its movie properties like Click, Open Season, Talladega Nights and Casino Royale into its marketing efforts “like never before,” Fasulo said.
For example, he said, “there will be electronics everywhere” in the upcoming James Bond sequel Casino Royale. Product placement aside, he noted that popular movies like Adam Sandler’s Click will help promote products at the retail level as well.
Sample POP for Click, which is about a man who uses a remote control to control his life, showed Sandler and said “Sony electronics helps control high-def solutions.” The film, which hits theaters June 23, will also help the brand launch its Blu-Ray Disc players in July.
The brand will sponsor PBS’ Big, big world while continuing its relationships with Nascar, the New York Yankees, The San Diego Padres, golfer Michelle Wie (who will star in lifestyle ads later this year), the National Football League and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
Sony will continue to target camcorders with its family-targeted “Emotion in motion” campaign. The first ad, “Star,” shows a family recording their daughter in a school musical whose singing is crystal clear as she donned a compatible Bluetooth wireless microphone. Sony will offer the $200 microphone free with purchase.
Digital still cameras will get a tongue-in-cheek campaign called “Unlock your muse,” starring a flying fairy. And Sony HD audio will launch a campaign called “Hear the big picture.”
Fasulo stressed that all of the efforts that will run are designed to run for years. “We need to drive continuity by sustaining campaigns over time. Time is more than just one year.”
McKinney handles all of the efforts except for the DVD camcorder ads, which were created by Bagby & Co., Chicago. Sony Electronics spent $143 million on media in 2005, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
Source: Brandweek
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