Marketing Mix of Sony Essay Example

wholesalers and retailers to direct sales to customers. Finally, promotion is essential for businesses to communicate with customers.This text discusses the importance of promotion in marketing, which involves effectively communicating marketing strategies to influence customer perception and facilitate exchange. The creativity and cost associated with promotional activities can be significant, but successful promotion increases sales and can be cost-effective in spreading advertising and other costs over a larger output. While increased promotional activity may be a response to competitive activity, it enables organizations to develop a series of messages and create awareness among publics about their products and services. A company's promotional efforts are the only controllable means for creating favorable attitudes and perceptions among customers.Sony India plans to spend Rs 200 crore this financial year on advertising and promotion for its range of consumer electronics, with Rs 60 crore of this budget dedicated solely to digital imaging products. The company incorporates various elements of promotion mix in its marketing communication strategy, such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity. Sony employs a variety of advertising methods and media, including TV commercials featuring products like Bravia televisions and Sony wega TV, targeted programs, its own channel called Sony TV channel, events like Miss India 2008, and print media like newspapers and posters. Additionally, Sony utilizes direct-response advertising.Sony uses direct response advertising to encourage consumers to provide feedback or make purchases via phone, mail, or the internet. This type of advertising is often done through direct mail or catalogues. In addition to this, Sony employs various communication strategies to maintain favorable relationships with their stakeholders including employees, shareholders, media, educators, potential investors, financial

institutions, government agencies, officials and society as a whole. Their website provides contact information for customers in need of information from the company. However, negative events can still lead to unfavorable public reactions. To avoid this, Sony has policies and procedures in place to manage any public relation problems that may arise. For example, when Sony released an advertisement showcasing a man with a crown of thorns and button symbols (A, O, X, D) with the copy "Ten Years of Passion," they were prepared to manage any negative reactions that arose.

Sony received criticism for two separate advertising campaigns. The first was in response to an advertisement that took advantage of the publicity surrounding the film The Passion of the Christ, causing outrage among the Vatican and local Catholics. The campaign was quickly discontinued. The second campaign, released in July 2006 in the Netherlands, featured a white model holding onto the face of a black model with the words "White is coming" appearing in the ad. Critics deemed the ad racist, though a Sony spokesperson denied that it had a racist message and stated that the ad was only trying to show contrast between the black PSP model and the new ceramic white PSP. Other ads in that same campaign showed the black model overpowering the white model. It is essential for Sony's public relations department to handle such issues in order to maintain good public relations with consumers. In its advertising process, Sony provides dealers such as Sony World with materials and guidelines for developing advertisements for print, television, or radio commercials, ensuring that the message aligns with what the manufacturer wants to

communicate.

Co-operative advertising is when the company and dealers share media costs. Sales promotion is a marketing strategy that provides incentives to customers, trade, and sales levels to inspire a measurable response. Free samples, discounts, rebates, coupons, contents and sweepstakes, premiums, scratch cards, exchange offers, and early bird prizes are examples of sales promotion techniques. Sony used sales promotion to advertise their BRAVIA full HD LCD TVs by offering early bird prizes in 2008. Customers who claimed one of the first 35,000 Bonus Playstation 3s after registering their purchase within two weeks were eligible. Sony also advertised their Sony Ericsson Pl i phones by including scratch cards that offered customers the chance to download 10 free software applications.