By Matthew Henry
SYDNEY: Panasonic Australia has appointed Jan Ergen to the position of product manager – visual, in its consumer electronics group, a role which includes managing the brand’s Viera plasma and LCD line up and its home theatre projectors.
Ergen has moved into the new role from his previous position within the organisation as product manager for DVD, and replaces Hitesh Ojha, who has returned to Dubai.
Ergen is stepping into the position at a time when Panasonic will be heavily promoting its Viera plasma TVs through a multi-million dollar advertising campaign featuring star Australian Olympian, Matt Shirvington. The campaign will focus on the technological advantages of plasma over LCD for large screen displays and will encompass TV, newspaper and online advertising and in-store promotion starting this month and building in the lead up to the 2008 Olympic Games.
The Viera TV range is currently being updated with new 42-inch and 50-inch plasma models featuring integrated HD tuners and a three new HD-integrated Viera LCDs – a 26-inch and two 32-inch models.
Later in the year, Ergen will oversee the introduction of Panasonic’s first full HD Viera plasma TVs featuring 1920×1080 native resolution suitable for viewing high definition content like Blu-ray movies.