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Bangkok, June 3, 2009 – Sony Thai Co., Ltd., the market leader in innovative electrical appliances to suit all consumers’ lifestyles, today announced its 2009 business direction and marketing strategies, while unveiling a range of products to drive its business growth in 2009, at the ‘SONY Annual Press and Dealer Conference 2009’ held at the Swissotel Le Concorde. The extended new product portfolio includes Bravia LCD TVs, Cybershot digital cameras, Alpha DSLR cameras among others, highlighting the company’s commitment to provide an inspiring, fulfilling consumer experience.

“Against the backdrop of persisting concerns from the worldwide financial crisis, Sony Asia Pacific has managed to show positive growth for three consecutive years, thanks to significant contribution of markets such as Thailand.  This remarkable achievement is based on Sony’s leadership in High Definition innovation, allowing us to deliver digital lifestyle experiences based on real consumers demands as well as our commitment to building the Sony brand in Thailand. The partnership with Sony group of companies under Sony United spirit also serves as a key contributing factor to our success,” said Mr Narihiko Uemura, Managing Director, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific.

“Despite the fact that Thailand’s electrical appliance market has been affected by the global economic recession and political uncertainties, Sony Thai has succeeded in maintaining its business growth with increased market shares in a wide range of product categories, including Cybershot digital cameras. Furthermore, Sony has been able to retain its number one position in audio-visual (AV) products with 25% (by market value). It is expected that this year Sony Thai will grow more than 10%, thanks to increasing market trend and demand, particularly for LCD TVs, notebook PCs, digital cameras, and D-SLR cameras, etc.” According to Sony Thai’s Managing Director, Mr.Taisuke Nakanishi.

“Since August last year, Thai business sectors have suffered from stormy business climates, amidst the ongoing global financial crisis. Take it into account, the above conditions, this year we will place more emphasis on strategic areas of high-growth product categories, like Bravia LCD TVs, Alpha D-SLR cameras, Cyber-shot digital cameras, and VAIO notebook PCs to achieve double digit sales growth using new strategies and innovative communications channels to meet diverse and distinctive consumer demands, along with integrated CRM activities as part of the effort to maintain our long-term customer base, while enhancing the value-added marketing solution and operation excellence as well as Sony brand’s leadership in AV IT,” He said.

A greater focus for Sony’s business direction for 2009 will be on satisfying the demands of existing customers with innovative new products featuring distinctive technology developed to strengthen its position as a premium brand.  The continuous Youth Marketing strategy aimed at capturing young consumers and enhancing an innovative brand image will also be employed through product groups, incorporating a series of out-of-the-box marketing campaigns to convey a unique lifestyle to consumers such as the Let’s Color Strategy under which Sony makes its color products available in all core product groups, ranging from Bravia, Cybershot cameras, Handycam, Walkman, and VAIO. Furthermore, integrated marketing communication activities, covering all media channels, broadcast, print, online, as well as consumer events and road show activities, will be organized in order to secure Sony’s new target, teenager customers effectively. Also a key to driving Sony’s success will be the collaboration with other Sony companies in both global and local levels, and strategic business partners such as True EPL (English Premier League), Adidas, and sponsorships of Thai movies such as Dear Galileo.

This year, Sony Thai will gear up to launch exciting activities to communicate with the young generation. The official partnership with the 2010 FIFA World Cup football competition in South Africa and an agreement with Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite), FIFA’s 2007 Best Player, for its latest Bravia LCD TV promotional campaign are important strategies for Sony to directly target key customer groups.    

“The success and continued growth of Sony, both in terms of business and as a trusted brand, can be attributed to the excellent cooperation from dealerships nationwide, as well as the consistent support from our valued customers who appreciate our product quality. The achievement is reflected in in a number of consumer surveys conducted by various institutes and the highly-recognized awards given to Sony as a top-of-mind brand in consumer’s choice, including the prestigious Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand award and consumer surveys by BrandAge and Marketeer magazines. Consequently, Sony will move forward to strengthen its dealerships’ capabilities while also differentiating the Sony brand  from other rivals to deliver a new level of satisfaction to our consumers,” Mr Taisuke Nakanishi added.

Sony Thai will also gear up to form a partnership with other Sony companies which include Sony Ericsson, Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment, along with business partners like the leading global sports equipment and clothing maker Adidas, to unveil a series of marketing campaigns and to present consumers with brand-new experiences, while reaffirming Sony brand image as a sophisticated brand that perfectly blends into today’s fast-paced lifestyles of consumers.

Sony’s extensive line-up of products come in unrivalled sleek designs and feature state-of-the-art technology, offering a wide range of choices for consumers’ trendy lifestyles. They include:

– An extraordinarily slim new 40-inch ZX1 Bravia HD LCD TV measuring a barely believable 9.9mm at its slimmest section, priced at  149,990 baht

– A Sony Cybershot DSC-HX1 featuring capability of up to 10 frames per second, achieved through a recently developed high-speed Exmor CMOS sensor and Sony G lens and priced at 19,990 baht

– The lightest ever Alpha DSLR-A230 digital camera with a sleek and durable pure titanium body as well as the Alpha A380 with an exclusive Sony feature,  Quick AF Live View, for responsive auto focusing and variable-angle shooting while framing the subject on the LCD monitor

– Sony Handycam HDR-XR520 with the newly developed “Exmor R CMOS Sensor” to capture clear images even in low light condition, and the HDR-TG5 Handycam camcorders with 16GB internal memory are among the six other new models of brand new line-up for Sony Handycam range.

– Walkman® X1000 series Video MP4 Player with touch screen display and wifi connection support for the ultimate personal entertainment experience priced at 12,990 baht for the 16 GB model, and 15,990 baht for 32 GB model.

– A Walkman NWZ-W202 MP3 player boasting its wearable unique design for the dynamic lifestyle of today’s teenagers with an affordable retail price of 3,490 baht.

– Introducing a brand new offering of the much-talked about Sony VAIO P in gold, complimenting the colorful range of the mobile computing technology in red, black, white, and green.

Finally, to celebrate the upcoming mid-year sales festival, Sony will be launching a nationwide sales and promotional campaign entitled “Sony Days 2009 Let’s Cheer”, including a wide range of special offers and privileges for consumers, starting from June 12 until August 2, 2009.