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Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Matsushita unifies branding of products
Matsushita Electric Philippines Corp. (Mepco), maker and distributor of National and Panasonic brands of electronic and electrical appliances, has announced that it will stop using the National brand and will unify the branding of all its products to Panasonic starting October this year.
Mepco said the brand unification is in line with the new global brand strategy of its mother company, Matushita Electric Industrial (MEI) Co. Ltd of Japan, to position Panasonic as its main global brand.
A global campaign will be launched with a new brand slogan “Panasonic ideas for life,” which reflects the customer-focused strategy behind the development of Panasonic products, it added.
The slogan will be incorporated in all of the Matsushita Group’s corporate communications and advertising messages worldwide.
Mepco also said the change in brand strategy comes from MEI’s strong needs to consolidate its brand communication efforts under the Panasonic brand, which covers over 90% of sales outside Japan. The company said the brand slogan represents the commitment of all the employes, from research and development and manufacturing to marketing and services, to supplying products and services based on valuable ideas, which can enrich people’s lives and advance society.
History
Matsushita Electric adopted the brand name National in Japan in 1927 at the initiative of the founder, Konosuke Matsushita. The brand became a very popular household name in Japan and was also increasingly used in overseas markets.
The Panasonic brand was first introduced in 1961 in the United States where the National brand name had been registered by others and, therefore, could not be used.
Building on the successful brand recognition of Panasonic in the U.S., the company started using the name in Europe in 1979 and other regions in the late 80’s for products other than the home appliances for which National continued to be used.
In the Philippines, National is found on products like refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, microwave ovens, oven toasters, electric fan, blenders, as well as flashlights and batteries.
The Panasonic brand, on the other hand, is used for products such as televisions, home theater systems, movie cameras, mini components, micro components, CD players, DVD players, cellular phones, fax machines, LCD projectors, factory automation equipment, and other audio-video systems and industrial products.
Mepco said under the global brand strategy, the brand name for all home appliance products in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and China will be changed to Panasonic from National by the end of March 2004.
The National brand will, however, continue to be used in Japan where it originated.
(June 4, 2003 issue)
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