Panasonic, Sony battle on the home front Sarah Plaskitt
SONY and Panasonic have gone head-to-head in a marketing war for the high ground in the home entertainment systems market.
The rival electronics competitors have taken opposite approaches in their TVCs, which aim to capitalise on the boom in sales in this area.
Sony’s TVC, created by Generator Bates NZ, forms part of a $3m campaign that includes the delivery of two million catalogues, flyers, a dedicated website, retail display stands and retail catalogues promoting its products.
“Sony embarked on some extensive research with both consumers and retailers in Australia and New Zealand to better understand consumer views on home cinema, looking for the key motivator that leads to purchase and stretches across all home cinema products,” Sony Australia audio and home video marketing manager, Rob Nelson said.
“Sony discovered that surround sound was the clearest point of differentiation in a home cinema system.”
This was the basis of the TVC theme, which shows a real estate agent showing a house which has three sound studios.
When the Sony home theatre system is removed, they become ordinary rooms.
Panasonic has taken a different approach based on research which says that consumers who are in the market for a home theatre package often have unique and specific needs.
Three tongue-in-cheek executions, through Leo Burnett Sydney, show three characters portrayed as quirky eccentrics living in their own worlds.
In each ad the character has a monologue to camera about what goes on in his or her respective “universe”, with the voiceover suggesting that no matter how strange it may be, “Panasonic has a home theatre package for whatever turns you on”.
