Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 2, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Japanese electronics group Sony plans to attract consumers with a new marketing strategy. To give them a more lasting view of the breadth of its entertainment products, the company has rented space in a cinema complex integrated into a large shopping centre in a Los Angeles suburb. The group will present its complete multimedia product portfolio there, ranging from new digital cinema projectors to LCD televisions and video-game consoles. Live music events will also be used to demonstrate the quality of Sony technology to cinema visitors. The objective is to create new marketing synergies among the company’s business areas and improve overall brand awareness among users.
“This marketing concept is certainly interesting and sensible. It combines various elements of marketing,” said Markus Hübner, Managing Director of brand-management agency Brandflow (www.brandflow.at). One central aspect is the “third place” principle. “Alongside their homes and workplaces, the places where people spend the third-largest share of their time are becoming increasingly important to advertisers and marketers. A cinema is certainly a particularly interesting location in this respect,” Hübner explained. The setting in which consumers encounter a product offering is decisive for a later purchasing decision. “In an environment where consumers feel comfortable and can relax, they are also more open to new products,” Hübner said.
The New York Times reports that the new high-tech cinema is scheduled to open this week. Sony has simultaneously announced plans to close its PlayStation Store in San Francisco and concentrate more heavily on the new marketing strategy. “Sony’s approach moves clearly away from the flagship-store concept that was widespread in recent years and is also used by Apple. That strategy worked for a long time, but the range of innovative marketing possibilities is far from exhausted,” Hübner emphasised. Companies must be considerably more creative than they were a few years ago, particularly to appeal to younger audiences. “The task is to find new niches for the brand so it can position itself authentically and tangibly,” Hübner concluded.
