Sony Mobile is leveraging its global partnership with the 2014 FIFA World Cup, starting Friday morning in Brazil (Australian time), to promote its new range of Xperia smartphones in kiosks is Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Having experimented with fully fledged brand stores in major cities, in partnership with established retailers such as Bing Lee and VideoPro, Sony Australia is placing a greater emphasis on in-mall kiosks, which are cheaper to operate while still capturing a lot of incidental foot traffic.
The new activations have been set up in partnership with experiential agency Ooh! Edge. Guy Marshall, managing director of Ooh! Edge said engaging with customers and then directing them to Sony’s retail partners was the central pillar of this campaign.
“These activations will be near various Xperia and Bravia retailers where shoppers can access special offers to close the sales loop,” he said.
“This campaign demonstrates how Connect Kiosks can innovatively engage with shoppers to drive product awareness, trial and sales.”
Kristin Atherton from Sony Mobile said the company was very happy with the Ooh! Media’s efforts.
“They have stretched the level of engagement beyond awareness by creating a layer of excitement, which in itself has a nice link to the brand and its proposition of being packed with entertainment,” she said.
The kiosks are located at the following Westfields: Warringah Mall, Parramatta, Hornsby and Penrith in New South Wales; Chermside and Carindale in Queensland; and Knox and Southland in Victoria.
Considering it is a global partner, Sony has been a little slow to act in fully leveraging its association with the World Cup, which is expected to be the most watched TV event in history. Unlike its major rivals in the TV industry, Samsung and LG, Sony has not held an official launch for its new Bravia range (Panasonic has a launch scheduled for 18 June 2014), instead sending out a media release and re-launching its very popular gift-with-purchase offer, which now gives away a PlayStation 4 with selected TV purchases.
In addition to the new kiosks focused on Xperia smartphones and Bravia TVs, Sony also has an activation dedicated to its free PlayStation 4 promotion, called the ‘Score Twice’ campaign, at Chatswood Westfield, though this one is not in partnership with Ooh! Media.
UPDATE #1: An original version of this story indicated that these kiosks were being administered by Sony Australia. They are in fact under the auspices of Sony Mobile.
UPDATE #: Sony Australia has asked that we make clear that these new Sony Mobile kiosks, known as “Connect Kiosks”, are temporary.