When a company introduces a new product, there is never a guarantee that it will be a hit with the public. Some variables such as determining the proper target market, packaging, advertising, and product quality all affect the eventual outcome of how successful a new product will be. According to Robert McMath of the Failed Products Museum, only about five percent of new products actually end up on store shelves (Jerome, 2000). Some additional factors that can be attributed to a new products failure are: it offered no advantage over the existing brands currently on the market, little or no interest from retailers to carry the product, lack of brand identity in an image driven category, ignorance of buyer behaviors, and misleading positioning of the products goal (Gruca, 2003). This paper will look at Sony Betamax, the evolution of the product, the demise of the product and what Sony could have done differently to make it a success.
Sony introduced the first Betamax combination TV and Betamax system in 1975 and the first stand-alone video cassette recorder (VCR) in 1976 as the model SL-7200 (CED, 2006). The stand-alone unit initially sold successfully in the U.S. for $1,295.00. An optional external clock to set recording times came at the request of Sony's then CEO, Akio Morita (CED, 2006). Previous models included an internal clock, but Morita believed that by having an external clock, should it malfunction, repairs could be made without having to bring the whole VCR to the repair shop. The external clock was mistake number one of many made by Sony; VHS (Video Home System) VCR's made by JVC hit the market in 1977 and offered an internal clock and much cleaner look, giving VHS a much needed marketing advantage. The interest in th...
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...was needed. With pre-recorded movies and blank recording tapes extremely hard to find, consumers naturally chose to use the products that were more easily accessible. By reducing costs, Sony could have made up what they would have lost in decreased prices with an increased volume of sales.
The result of all this is that Sony had a significant advantage over their competition, but let it slip away by not recognizing consumer needs and striving to meet them. Competing products that are not compatible with each other must accurately determine the most important element of success, which is having the majority of the market share and being the product of choice since they can not co-exist; in this case it was the stand-alone VCR unit. Sony failed to recognize that, and as VHS systems became the unit of choice, taking the full market share and consumers away from Betamax.
Paramount, one of the big five Hollywood studio corporations, controlled the most amount of theatres in the United States during the 1930s and 40s. This meant they had an advantage when the economy in the US turned around after the great depression. This being said, many more factors come into play when defining to what extent the studio is a typical representation of a major Hollywood studio corporation in the 1930s and 40s. In this essay I will be going in depth into what extent Paramount is a representation of other key studios in Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s. I will be discussing how Paramount’s methods as a corporation such as exhibition, distribution, star system and genre to see how it is a typical representative of a Hollywood studio corporation. I will be using material such as Richard B. Jewel’s The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929 – 1945 to go into detail in explaining my points.
The market penetration of TiVo has been very poor. Fourteen months after its introduction only 0.04% penetration has been achieved out of the total of 102million TV watching population. This is also reflected in the poor revenue position of the company. Exhibit 3 shows that the company recorded a loss every quarter since the introduction of the product in September 1999 and has been getting worse.
Among the film companies Kodak had the highest market share with 70%, far beyond companies like Fuji (11 %) and Polaroid (4 %) as well as private label (10 %) and other (5 %). (Exhibit "Market Share") However, Fuji´s global sales of $10 billion made it half Kodak´s size. Even though Kodak was the dominating brand, it faced the problem of a 6% decline in market share within the last five years and a 3% drop in sales in the last year. At the same time, Fuji´s and Polaroid´s sales grew more than 15% in the past year. This is closely linked to the four price tiers in the film market, namely, Superpremium brands, Premium brands, Economy brands and price brands. With prices ranging from $4,27 to $4.69 Fuji and Kodak are positioning themselves in the high price segment through their superpremi...
Since 1999 the growth of spending on DVD purchases and rentals has been incredible. According to Alexander & Associates, “Rapidly growing consumer activity and spending has built this industry into a major market phenomenon. The DVD format for enjoying pre-recorded entertainment at home is extraordinarily popular and consumers are changing their behavior to accommodate it.”
TiVo was incorporated in 1997 they intended to create an interactive television system that developed the idea of recording digital video on a hard disk. TiVo allowed consumers to watch their T.V shows when they wanted to watch them by recording, playing back, and pausing live television. TiVo has now bundled its services with many companies, but at one point Direct T.V accounted for 70% of TiVo's costumers. Effective marketing and innovation have made TiVo the best known DVR in the industry. TiVo has always considered itself as a hardware provider and a service provider and now seem to be shifting to an all service future. Despite having the strongest brand name and one of the largest customer bases TiVo has suffered millions in operating losses. In 2003 a massive transaction from analog to digital DVR's took place. TiVo has been quick to respond to changes in the market by upgrading the features and refining performance. But, the new digital technology has caused TiVo's market share to drop as competition grows quickly.
Sony Music should have been better engaged to allow this division’s management to properly voice their concerns over the piracy of their content. If there had been a taskforce, as mentioned above, developers for the two music devices could have worked with Sony Music to adjust their products to meet the piracy concerns. Maybe then either team could have produced a product that not only did not have sizeable technical drawbacks, but was innovative enough to capture the attention of the marketplace.
The Z3 case provides a stimulating overview of how creative ideas can influence a new product launch. It illustrates the role of cross-promotions and movie product placements within the marketing mix, as well as their role in developing a new brand and a brand’s ‘personality’. It also shows how communications strategy and tactics have evolved beyond traditional TV advertising.
[3] Gandel, Stephen. "How Blockbuster Failed at Failing." TIME.com. N.p., 17 Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
...ons as to why the studio system collapsed and how Hollywood tried to prevent this from happening. The Hollywood we see today is a reformed version of the old studio system, yet is still seen as the most dominant film industry in the world, despite its earlier collapse.
Sony is in a different industry than Kodak. Sony belongs to the Audio/Video Equipment Industry where Eastman Kodak is in the Photography Industry. Sony, however does manufacture photographical tools. Based on the two companies’ history, Kodak will likely continue to have a larger selection of electronic photography products, but Sony will continue to develop similar products, often “improved” versions of Kodak’s original products.
Apple Inc. has undergone a sea of change over the years, from being PC creators to IPod, the revolutionary digital media player. This write-up will discuss the article Total Brand Management, Choices Again and vis-à-vis Apple Inc (AAPL).
Apple, encapsulated in that name are the ideals and paradigms that have made Apple the most successful brand of the early 21st century. The connotations of that name Apple is far reaching immediately conveying to one the aims, goals and dreams of this company. As Steve Chazin (2008) put it, “They are making complex things simple and elegant”. In recent times one can easily juxtapose the word innovation with Apple, they have become synonymous with each other and rightly so in that Apple’s ability to dislodge the hegemony that Microsoft had presided over the software/hardware market required unprecedented innovative efforts. These innovative efforts were at the foundations of this company where in the 1970’s they introduced the television as a display system of watching and cassette interface for listening and recording programs. This paper attempts to gauge and give an appraisal through marketing lens specifically targeting their use of Neil Borden’s marketing mix elements (product, place, promotion & price).
With a near total saturation of the consumer electronics market, companies need to look beyond their boundaries and add value to their offerings, and sometimes it means total reinvention of the company.
Although Hastings vowed to be divergent from other video retailers, his goal was to use an identical pricing strategy; however, one that would “appeal to customers [. . .] who used online shopping as an alternative to traveling to retail outlets” due to ease of access and more preferences (Shih, Kaufman, & Spinola, 2009, p. 3). Furthermore, Netflix launched its business at a time DVDs had barely hit the marketplace as the firm anticipated the new technology to be a promising venture. Nonetheless, within a year DVD players became so vast...
When creating a marketing mix for a product, the company needs to look at the 4Ps: product, place, price and promotion (Eugene McCarthy, 1960). “When considering the 4 P’s of the GoPro, it is clear that the company’s success has been due in large to such great marketing.” (Suki Chan, 2013)[1].