Sony Corp departs from the well-worn model of gadget marketing in ads for its new flat screen television, seeking to hook women consumers with the product's slim lines as much as with its large display.
The company's Sony Electronics division is launching on Wednesday advertising for its "Bravia" flat TV series, a new brand that aims to bolster its ailing TV monitor business.
But while much of consumer electronics advertising gears its imagery and messages of technological sophistication for men, Sony's ads play on the battle between the sexes in the living room.
Touting its new brand as "The World's First Television for Men and Women," Sony has purchased all of Wednesday's advertising space on Style.com, the Web site for Conde Nast fashion bibles Vogue and W.
"Coveted by Men, Admired by Women," reads one of the Internet ads, which will run on Style.com during one of its heavier trafficked periods for the Milan fashion shows.
"Style is one of the attributes of the product that Sony really focused on to make this a beautiful thing in your living space," Kevin Berman, strategic marketing manager at Sony Electronics, told Reuters.
"The decision making on (purchases of) high-end consumer electronics is not so male dominated as the rest of the advertising out there would lead you to believe," he said.
The U.S. Bravia campaign will roll out through Spring 2006, with advertisements also running on top Internet portals like Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN, as well as television commercials. All the ads carry the dual-gender appeal theme.
The exclusive Style.com placement also marks another trend for advertisers trying to create interest around products as consumers divide their time between media outlets.
Retailer Target recently paid for all of the advertising space in an edition of the New Yorker magazine that sported the retailer's red-and-white bull's eye logo, while GM's Chevrolet bought all the commercial time on the Sept. 22 NBC network's "Tonight Show" for a serial-style advertisement with comedian Andy Dick.
"It's the idea of turning advertising into an event," said Dee Salomon, a managing director at Style.com. The site has tailored ads for other technology and consumer electronics advertisers for its core audience of women viewers with a focus on style as well as function.
"The aesthetics and functionality play equal roles in the buying decision" of Style.com's audience, she said. Sleek gadgets, from cellular phones to handheld organizers, have become fashion accessories in themselves.
Sony was, until 2000, the world's top TV maker with a nearly 10 percent market share for its flagship Wega and Trinitron brands. But a shift in consumer demand to flat TVs from bulky cathode ray displays dealt a severe blow to the company.
Sony is seeking to bring its TV unit back to profitability in the second-half of 2006-2007 and has been investing aggressively in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
The company aims to gain a 30 percent share of the Japanese market for LCD TVs with its Bravia line. Sony began selling some Bravia models in the United States in August.