Client Challenge: Sony -- the one and only. It's
the world's best known consumer electronics brand, known throughout
North America for Trinitron, Handycam, Walkman and Discman. But
not cell phones -- decidedly not cell phones. Especially in the
early days of the cellular wars.
So when the newly commissioned Sony Wireless Telecommunications
Company started producing innovative CDMA cell phones, in conjunction
with QUALCOMM, the challenge was clear: Establish a presence in
the domestic wireless marketplace every bit as daring and high-profile
as Sony's other best-selling products.
It wasn't as if SONY didn't know phones. They rolled out mobile
phones in Japan in 1989. They were the first to market GSM cellular
phones in Europe, with notable success. In 1994, they offered the
world's smallest phone with their credit card-sized TACS offering
in Asia Pacific. The problem was, even the most knowledgeable executives
at many US carriers weren't aware of Sony's impressive offshore
credentials.
McQ Response: McQ went to work. We identified
the wireless industry's premier event, the Cellular Telecommunications
Industry Assocation's annual conference, as the best venue for rolling
out Sony's new organization and advanced phone offerings. Our public
relations team quickly informed our media contacts throughout the
country that not only was Sony WTC's president, Yutaka Sato, going
to be available for interviews, but he would be accompanied by the
legendary Carl Yankowski, president for all of Sony Electronics.
Over the next three weeks, briefings for the two executives were
scheduled with 34 editors, reporters and industry analysts.
Wanting to ensure the news about Sony carried just the right tone
and spin, we then published a special edition newspaper dedicated
to Sony's roll-out - a four page tabloid publication that gave us
enough print "real estate" to articulate feature sets for the new
phones, including Sony's "jog-dial" innovation; run an executive
Q&A with Sato on WTC's goals; and provide Yankowski's vision of
the "digital dream kids" of the future - Sony's strategic goal of
extending its digital properties to mobile platforms for anytime,
anywhere communications and entertainment.
Copies of the "Sony Subscriber" newspaper were mailed, pre-show,
to 435 media and analysts, as well as key decision-makers among
the domestic carriers, infrastructure provviders and industry opinion-leaders.
At the show, special arrangements were made to have the newspaper
distributed at all entry-ways to the show floor, left on chairs
for the first two days keynoted addresses, and "wrapped" around
USA editions left at the doors of key business hotels throughout
Dallas, where the show was held.
Results: In the first six months of working with
Sony WTC, we garnered 52 articles and news "items" in both trade
and lay print press, as well as extensive radio and TV spot coverage.
A follow-up perceptual audit following the CTIA roll-out registered
91% industry awareness of Sony's new role in North America, vs 2%
before the program. In thee three months following CTIA, all major
carriers in the United States, three in Canada and four in Mexico
scheduled meetings with Sony sales executives to discuss carrying
the new Sony lines in their networks.
