Blogger Outreach: Sony Vaio P Launch In Singapore, 8th January 2009
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009A week and a half ago, I had the privilege of being invited to the National Museum of Singapore for the launch of the brand new Sony Vaio P, Sony’s venture into the realm of ultra mobile computing. This blog post is more about the social media/communications standpoint of the event, rather than the actual product itself because I had to leave early and didn’t actually get to “play” with the product.
The Unveiling
First up, I have a video of Mr. Kazutoyo Araki (Senior Manager, Area Marketing Group, Global VAIO Direct Department Business Planning and Strategy Division, VAIO Business Group), telling us a little about the history of Sony’s innovation from the Walkman, and unveiling the actual product. Now I was expecting someone to walk on stage and flash it or a curtain to be swept aside to show the product, but how he did it was way better. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it:
Singapore Sony Vaio P Launch (8th January 2009) from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.
The Message
Tech 65 has their interpretation of the Vaio P from a pure technology point of view, but I look at the communication of the message. Whether it was Mr. Araki or Ms. Janice Yang from the VAIO Product Marketing Department of Sony Singapore, the key message was clear: It’s a premium, portable device, for the road warrior who needs regular access throughout the day (or on trips), but won’t necessarily use it for extended periods of time.
Word Of Mouth
One thing I think Sony did excellently (at least for the bloggers) was to provide us with a pamphlet the exact same length and width (but obviously not depth) as the Vaio P. While I was working on this blog post, I had that pamphlet with me and invariably, many of my friends asked to have a look and were oohing and ahhing over the size. Excellent way to reach the tertiary crowd.
- Sony Vaio P
The pamphlet also allowed me to take a “real” representation of how small the Vaio P is with the picture to the right. Barely the length of three business cards. All this is proof that you don’t need expensive, crazy collaterals to make an impact, just the right one.
All in all, as an unabashed Sony fan, I have to say I think the Vaio P has chosen the right time to enter the market because everyone wants to be mobile without carrying around a 2kg laptop, and with their clear messaging to the public, they just might have a silent winner on their hands.
To close off this blog post, I leave you with the models strutting their stuff, as well as the Sony Vaio P at the product launch:
Singapore Sony Vaio P Launch (8th January 2009) – Product Catwalk from Daryl Tay on Vimeo.
[Disclosure: A family member works at Hill & Knowlton, the PR firm behind this event, and as such, I have opted not to comment on their role in the event.]
Tags: communications, national museum singapore, netbook, size of sony vaio p, social media, sony, sony vaio, sony vaio p, sony walkman, tech 65, ultra mobile computing, umpc, word of mouth
