Sony Walkman wakes up too late.(Viewpoint)(Brief Article)

Advertising Age, August, 2004

Sony is taking on Apple's iPod with a $30 million to $40 million marketing campaign for Walkman. "The most aggressive campaign in our history,'' vows a Sony exec. Too bad Sony's too late.

IPods accounted for seven of the 10 best-selling MP3 players one day last week at Amazon.com. The top iPod ranked fourth in sales among all products across the retail site. The best score for a Sony model on Amazon's MP3 sales chart was No. 37-for a product (a MiniDisc Walkman) that came in No. 5,735 across Amazon.com. Among all electronics wares at Amazon, the top Sony, a digital camera, came in a distant No. 49.

The Japanese marketer built a premium brand based on product innovation and superior design, yet it's degenerated to little more than another commodity...

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