Sony to boost marketing spending to push HDTV

[Marwin]

Sony to boost marketing spending to push HDTV

Sony Corp's U.S. unit plans to push marketing spending to record levels this year to fuel sales of high-definition electronics such as televisions, camcorders and DVD players, a senior executive told Reuters.

Cheaper TVs, more broadcast channels, and the launch of next-generation Blu-ray DVD players that will allow consumers to make their own high-definition viewing choices are all expected to spur demand for HD components.

"This will be the year of mass messaging," Michael Fasulo, chief marketing officer at Sony Electronics, told Reuters in an interview this week. "HD is building by double-digits (in percentage) every year. We haven't seen this kind of opportunity in a long time."

Sony Electronics, one of the world's biggest consumer electronics makers, had an estimated $100 million advertising account annually, though it nearly doubled that spending toward the end of 2005 to push flat panel televisions, digital music players and other devices, according to trade reports.

Now Sony plans to spend hundreds of million of dollars more on marketing in the coming year, Fasulo said. A Sony spokesman said the planned budget represents "a significant bump" from last year."

"We are making a huge investment. It is the largest in history that I can recall," Fasulo said, adding that advertising and promotional spending would include everything from TV commercials to sponsorship of NASCAR professional auto racing to film-related merchandising. "We are serious and aggressive about this being the year for Sony and HD."

Fasulo said 75 percent of the marketing investment will focus on high-definition TVs, digital camcorders, still cameras and Blu-ray DVD players and related products.

Sony is trying to shake off criticism from investors and analysts that its restructuring plans may not revive its consumer electronics business.

Sony was, until 2000, the world's top TV maker led by its flagship Wega and Trinitron brands. But a shift in consumer demand to flat TVs dealt a severe blow.

Though it has rebounded somewhat, Sony must still compete with rival makers of high definition TVs and devices, such as LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.'s Panasonic brand, and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Sony aims to grab share in the market for HD TVs, which this year is expected to outsell analog units in the United States, reaching total unit sales of 15.9 million, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.

Key to that push will be the introduction of Blu-ray, the next generation DVD technology led by Sony that will compete with HD DVD, championed by Toshiba Corp.

"We are coming out with Blu-ray players this summer, we've got Blu-ray PCs and media, and PlayStation 3 (which can play DVDs) in the fall," he said. "We have a strong marketing plan around Blu-ray independent of HD, but the connection is HD."