By James Wells
SYDNEY: Sony Australia managing director, Carl Rose, told retailers this morning that since regaining the number one consumer electronics brand position in November, the brand is “back in the game” and is focusing heavily on high definition technology.
Rose said that since the last year’s Sony Experience more event, the Australian subsidiary has introduced 488 new products to market.
“Since the last Sony. Experience More event, we supported key categories with killer advertising and promotion, and our efforts paid off as Sony hit number one back in November. We’re right back in the game,” he said.
Reinforcing the local subsidiary’s performance, Rose recognised the performance of the global business following the appointment of Dr Chubachi and Sir Howard Stringer to run the company.
“I’m proud to say that we’ve seen Sony returning to global leadership in technology and innovation, and returning to number one here in Australia.
“I can confirm to you that the plan is working – Sony is back on its game with innovative products and a renewed vigour.
"Testament to that fact is that Sony’s share price has risen more than 60 per cent in the two years since Dr Chubachi and Sir Howard took over,” he said.
“Although we know that globally and even more so in Australia, we’re back on top we also know that like all good sporting teams, we need to keep improving our performance.
“This year we saw HD World become a reality. We were there when Blu-ray was launched in Australia, Playstation 3 hit the shelves back in March, we launched new Full HD 1080p Bravias, we extended our Blu-ray Vaio range, and for the first time we saw major sporting events like AFL broadcast in Full HD. We also saw Sony Pictures and other major studios release more and more Blu-ray titles.
“So what did we learn from the past 12 months? We learnt that the market is being driven by the total high definition entertainment proposition. Our differentiation within that market comes from the strength of the Sony group, our training and marketing initiatives which educate and excite the market and provide the platform for you to achieve higher average selling prices and enhanced gross margins.
“We learnt that Australia is embracing full 1080 high definition, in fact we have fallen in love with Bravia. With a population of 20 million we are number three globally and is selling more X series per capita than any other country in the world including the US and Japan.
“This is an unprecedented situation and really demonstrates Australia is leading the world in 1080 HD flat panel take-up.
“Clearly, the message coming through to us is that the market is changing. No longer is our world about just hardware performance in isolation. Now customers want to Experience More with content and connectivity.
“They want and expect to Experience more and likewise, we want you to experience more. I hope that’s exactly what you will feel today.”