make. believe...possible.

The Sony (Ericsson) Vision

To become THE communication entertainment brand. We want to inspire you to create and participate in entertainment experiences. Experiences that blur the line between communication and entertainment.

Source; www.sonyericsson.com

The Sony vision is a good one and with a few key changes could become a really powerful strategy.

NB – I was also going to recommend that they drop the ‘Ericsson’ for various reasons but I found out that this is going to happen anyway.

At the moment Sony is a massive under achiever... like Fernando Torres.In the last Gartner report they had a 1.9% market share for units shipped globally 3rd Q 2011.This puts them in 9th spot just above the ‘others’ category.Yet technologically the Sony Xperia Arc and Play are capable of competing with the market leaders (Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia)Importantly this shows that Sony is an under achiever not a failure as they have potential.

Assessing the Sony brand and the competitive environment.

I asked a small (very small sample admittedly but I think the point is still valid) number of people to rate the smartphonesabove on how good they thought they were technologically and how cool they thought they were.

Apple comes out as the clear leader, I think we all know why (first to market, they led they way in smartphone technology and launched of the back of the iPod which was already a massive success).Samsung are the main competitor having been the first of the rest to invest in smartphone technology and get a rival product to the iPhone out to market.Nokia are yet to really make an impact with the Lumia but they are still quite a trusted brand.And Sony Ericsson have not managed to make an impact at all yet.

Source; 15 of my friends

Source; 15 of my friends

AND YET other Sony products are right up there with Apple in people’s minds.

Sony has an opportunity to put their smartphones up there with the rest of it’s brands by stealing market share from it’s main competitors (Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia) who have between 20 – 15% market share.

So what exactly is the problem?Nobody knows or cares about the Sony Ericsson brand anymore.

And what exactly is the challenge for communications?It’s quite a simple one, to build a strong brand around great products.

Source; Mobile Phones Key Note Market Report 2010

So who are we talking to?16-34 year olds are most likely to rate the aspects of a mobile phone relating to a smartphone as essential. I couldn’t find the stats for Gaming but I would bet they skew even more heavily to a younger audience.

% Composition of Smartphone Owners by Age

Source: comScore MobiLens, 3 mon.avg. ending April 2011

The majority of smartphone owners are in this age group.

16 -341. They want smart phones2. They make up the largest amount of users already and are always entering the market3. They change their phones more often than anyone else4. They are the early adopters/thought leaders who will act as brand advocates and change the brand in peoples minds

“I always listen to music when I’m on the go. I don’t know what I’d do without it”

“Taking pictures and videos is a must nowadays”

“I do play quite a lot of games, especially when I’m bored”

Source; Almost everyone I’ve spoken to over the last few weeks aged 16 -34

Question asked - ‘Tell me about your smartphone. What is the best thing about it?’Everyone spoke about their phone in a really distinct and personal way.No one mentioned texting, phone calls or even email. This is not to say these aspects aren’t important but demonstrates that they are a prerequisite of a phone.

communication entertainment.

I would like to rewrite the Sony idea of communication entertainment.Firstly I would take off communication as it is a prerequisite.

entertainment.

Then I would add personal as everyone spoke about there phone in such a personal way.

personal entertainment.

And due to the nature of a smartphone I would add everywhere.

Personal Entertainment. Everywhere.

So Sony are selling what they have always sold, personal entertainment.And now you can have it everywhere

Smartphones are the convergence of many different technologies and products.There is a temptation to talk about them like a charity shop display, putting everything in front of the customer in case you miss something they might want.You try to say everything and end up saying nothing.

Like this.

When really we should talk about one thing at a time, where most relevant, to the right person.

Also entertainment is about feelings, it’s exciting.The thinking is secondary.

And Sony have historically done this very well.Here is an advert that talks about 1 thing – Colour Like No Other.And shows us how exciting this colour can be - how it feels to watch this TV.Why the screen is technically better than the rest is secondary.

This Playstation ad, ‘Double Life’ does the same.It talks about how it feels to be a gamer.As previously shown, the Playstation brand holds huge equity in peoples heads.As it is now technologically part of the phone it should be in the advertising as well, to leverage the existing brand equity.

Further to this point Sony also have a heritage in the field of personal entertainment that still holds very true to most people.This should be exploited as well.

This is a Sony smartphone. It is the convergence of all of these products.Very strong individual brands have ‘blown a donut shaped hole’(Rita Clifton, Interbarnd) in the Sony brand and the smartphone has the opportunity to pull this all together and make a really powerful brand offering.

So what is the strategy?To sell personal entertainment to young people emotionally in a direct and simple way, focused around the PERSONAL excitement that Sony entertainment can offer, leveraging existing brand equity where possible and highlighting Sony’s heritage in this field.

Our Vision

To become THE personal entertainment brand. We want to inspire you to create and participate in entertainment experiences. Great experiences, everywhere.

I want to rewrite their vision to this.

The Proposition Sony Smartphones are the convergence of Sony brilliance which brings the consumer the best of personal entertainment everywhere.

Meaning this is the proposition.

So what does that mean for the creative work?

This is an idea not a finished ad but shows how you can develop the strategy visually.NB – I have left the proposition in as a tag line, I would in reality develop this with a creative team, suggestions welcome!

And then in more targeted advertising, this for example targeting gamers.

NB Again this is a visualisation of an idea not a finished ad... Logos missing etc.

Or movie Lovers

NB Again this is a visualisation of an idea not a finished ad... Logos missing etc.

Distinctive

Relevant Supportable

Unique

Convergence of Sony Brilliance

Why this will work-Distinctive – By drawing on the other world class brands and advertising Sony has.Unique – Only Sony can offer all these brands .Supportable – Sony’s heritage demonstrates the quality of their products.Relevant – Talks about how entertainment feels to the individual.