Sony aims to reconnect

Peter G. 7 Jan, 2010 at 2:00am ET Article published in Tech

Sony today announced a new initiative at its CES press conference called Make.Believe (pronounced “make DOT believe” WUT?!).

The new initiative is Sony’s campaign to reconnect with its brand audience. Sony President, CEO, and Chairman Sir Howard Stringer quipped something along the lines of “everyone hates us and thinks we’re lame” but it was much more British and stiff-upper-lip so it sounded better.

Make.Believe is the corporate fight against that image, carrying the tag line “Anything that you can imagine, you can make real.” Through interconnected devices, public outreach, and some good old fashioned marketing, Sony will try to be your friend again.

Apparently the best way to do this is with Taylor Swift, who they named their brand ambassador for the next year. Swift was on hand for the event to put on a little song with her rhinestone guitar before heading off to some award gala in California later tonight. It was cute and broadcast in 3D, which Sony and everyone else this year are touting to be the BEST NEW THING.

But why Taylor Swift?

Sir Howard said it best. “Maybe you’ll call us as cool again? Who knows.”

On that front, Sony introduced new BRAVIA TVs and components designed in what they call the “monolith” style. Imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey obelisks but more rectangular and TV-like. They sit with a six-degree recline to compensate for the low-to-the-floor positions many people now put their TVs at. This reduces viewing angle distortion they say. All the new products feature smooth surfaces devoid of buttons and screens. It’s slick stuff. Available in sizes from 22″ – 60″, they’ll stream Netflix and YouTube and support 3D TV and Blu-ray playback. Matching speakers, streaming 1080p players and accessories abound.

BRAVIAs are known for their cool internet capabilities. The new ones all have built-in WiFi, but they’ll also be getting PlayStation Network connectivity. PSN is going to be Sony’s content distribution tool for all new products. With a unified login you’ll have access to its 2,700 movies and 16,000 TV shows, Netflix, 3D movies in HD, and all sorts of other stuff. They’re banking on getting PSN integrated into your daily life, so there will even be a Windows application for it. It has tons of potential, but we’ll have to see what happens.

With the PSN expansion, the PS3 will get a firmware update that will support 3D Blu-ray playback and 3D gaming. I had the pleasure of playing Gran Turismo 5 in a full force-feedback racing setup in HD 3D after the press conference. I’m hoping to find lots of time to go to the Sony booth for more racing as it’s even more addictive in 3D. It’s a safe bet to say Sony has the most addictive thing in Vegas sitting at their booth. The first hit is free kids, and I took it for ya like a champ!

Bobby’s article earlier discussed ESPN’s 3D channel. It’s a partnership with Sony, but there’s one other partnership that’s going to hit TV screens. In 2011, Sony, Discovery Communications (aka Discovery Channel) and IMAX will create Discovery 3D. Just think: Shark Week in 3D! I’m already sold.

We also saw new cameras (introduced on stage by America’s Next Top Model photographer Nigel Barker) including a “prosumer” Handicam that looks sweet, a FlipVideo-esque vblog device called Bloggie, and new Reader products with exclusive content from the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and MarketWatch. And, they’ve got a cool personal internet device called the Dash that’ll stream TV and media (thanks to BRAVIA technology) and have 1,000 APIs/widgets you can use to make it do everything from play music to work as a digital photo frame, or be the coolest alarm clock on the planet. Your mom will want one. I promise.

The final thing Sony showed at its show were three OLED 3D HDTVs. They’re thin, bright, and look great. Sony is trying to lower the cost on the technology so we’ll hopefully see them unveiled next year. Fingers crossed.

We’re heading back for a little one-on-one time with Sony later this week at CES. Let us know what you’re interested in and we’ll talk to them about it. Maybe you’ll think they’re cool again. Who knows?

Comments

7 Jan 2010 ~ 3:13am Garg /me scans article for references to backwards compatibility for PS3 slim.

None? I'm disappointed in you, Taylor.
7 Jan 2010 ~ 8:57am Linc Reconnect with its brand audience?

"We messed up a bunch, so the suits had a meeting and this is what they decided we should do. Also, here is a hot babe."
7 Jan 2010 ~ 9:29am photodude any news on any of sony's DSLR line expansion or new models???
7 Jan 2010 ~ 10:30am Cliff_Forster Ask them when they will stop making devices with proprietary standards that suck. Memory stick & ATRAC I'm looking at you.
7 Jan 2010 ~ 1:50pm Linc PS: Brands don't have audiences. Gah, this PR-speak makes me cringe.

Cliff_Forster wrote:

Ask them when they will stop making devices with proprietary standards that suck.

Precisely. Their brand doesn't have an audience, they have products with users that are pissed about their design choices. Deal with that, not how you're going to spin your image this year. Ugh.
7 Jan 2010 ~ 3:28pm Snarkasm rootkit
10 Jan 2010 ~ 3:33am Thrax

Lincoln wrote:

PS: Brands don't have audiences.

Do I smell 37Signals? Daring Fireball?

Spend a month in retail and then tell me brands don't have diehard audiences.
10 Jan 2010 ~ 4:02am NiGHTS I'd have to disagree, too. I can think of 6 people off the top of my head that have told/argued with me that Sony is a superior brand for x, whether or not it's actually true. Brands certainly have their audiences. They were the Apple before Apple, have since fallen off, and are trying to become that company again.
10 Jan 2010 ~ 5:50pm Garg Informed consumers aren't part of brand audiences. Falling back on a brand name is what I do when I'm lazy or rushed, and I'm usually disappointed.
Exhibit A: piece of crap Sony car stereo that stopped gripping disks properly within a year
Exhibit B: piece of crap Aiwa (Sony) car stereo that stopped gripping disks properly within a year