Sony Ericsson’s new W205 Walkman phone delivers a great music experience with its Walkman player, FM radio and TrackID music recognition. The W205 also enables users to easily share the handset and content with family and friends – its multiple phonebook feature lets up to four users create personalised contact lists that are kept separate, and the Bluetooth functionality offers image and video sharing.

Sony Ericsson challenged its agencies to create a consumer campaign which focuses on the idea that the W205 is “My First Walkman phone”, as it is an affordable mobile phone that is accessible to everyone, offering the quality expected from the Walkman brand. 

McCann Erickson led the campaign, supported by Burson-Marsteller, iris and Mediaedge: cia, and they developed the theme ‘My personal music revolution’ to effectively show how everyone is able to enjoy the full Walkman experience and get the most from the handset’s music features.

Carolina Ortiz, Global marketing communications manager at Sony Ericsson, comments: “The W205 is for those who love portable music but have never had the Walkman™ phone experience. As the most affordable Walkman handset to date, more young people can now revolutionise their music experience by taking their music with them everywhere.”

To communicate the benefits of the W205, consumers will be reached through multiple media channels, including:

Print and billboard advertising: McCann Erickson developed a campaign to celebrate the W205 at an accessible price, with all the features consumers need to fully enjoy every moment. “Welcome to your own personal music revolution” was created to engage a youth target audience group and the advertisements have vibrant visuals of a multiplied person dancing and enjoying their music. The ads can be seen as single and double page spreads, as well as out-of-home advertising and some special format materials that emphasise the overall campaign concept.

Public Relations: Burson-Marsteller created a strategic global PR campaign with various consumer tactics and materials that all local markets could use to outreach to relevant media. Globally generated PR materials, including press releases, Q&As and toolkits, were developed, along with product factsheets,  a social media news release and a product tutorial with the international Hed Kandi DJ, Sam Cannon.

Retail and Digital activation: Working with the ‘music revolution’ idea and strategy, iris created an immersive BTL in-store campaign that not only covers the core consumer journey but also builds on the revolution concept when it comes to activation. iris also developed a website allowing users to create their own music revolution.  Visitors simply have to pick one of the rooms that are displayed on the website and play their music through a microphone on their computer. They will then either see the crowd in the room revolutionised, with enthusiastic cheering, or else throwing tomatoes at the screen, a direct effect of whether or not they like the sound of the music.

Media planning and buying: To initiate buzz and conversations around this new Sony Ericsson campaign, Mediaedge:cia’s strategic media outreach programme combines a mix of online, strategically placed outdoor and print advertising to drive consumers to make a purchase.

Courtesy: Sony Ericsson

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Related Books:
Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman
Hell Phone
The Phone Calls

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 15 July, 2009 4:48:24 PM IST #