Sony Case Analysis
1. Through years of innovation, Sony has developed high-quality products that consumers desire and established a number of cultural meanings for itself. Consumers see Sony as a manufacturer that produces high-quality products that are innovative and push the marketplace forward. Motivated and creative, Sony brings cutting-edge technology from Japan to America. They are mostly responsible for Americans perceiving products made in Japan as high-quality (Peter, 2010, p. 307). Sony is also perceived as insular for pushing proprietarily technologies instead of industry standards. Even though this has caused turmoil in the marketplace, it has also led to further innovation (Eaton, 2009).
With an innovative history, Sony is becoming a household name that is instantly recognizable. This has allowed Sony to focus on creating needs in consumers, as opposed to only filling existing ones. Sony has been successful at adapting new technologies and marketing them in a way that create needs in customers.
Sony’s marketing strategy has been to create attractive advertising that connects the consumers’ emotions and creates brand awareness. Some of the reason people buy their products is their reputation for being innovative, reliable, and of the highest quality and their advertising reflects this. The most important reason people buy Sony products is the meaning of the products to the consumer. For example, the Walkman empowered consumers to listen to whatever they wanted wherever they were; it was not the device, but the social practices associated with it that made it so popular (Du Guy, 16). By acting as a portal for people to gain enjoyment from possessions like music, movies and games, people built a relationship with Sony’s products (Peter, 2010, p. 307). Consumers extended the goodwill they had for the media onto the media player and developed rituals around the device.
2. As time changes, so does the culture shift. Sony’s
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