Dentsu

Dentsu Tokyo, in conjunction with the agency GT Tokyo, for Sony Walkman. Above, is the viral video depicting how to use the new TV-recording capability that is available on the new Walkman. Below, is the "Rec You" website that allows consumers to create their own bobbing, singing version of themselves by simply uploading a picture of themselves online.



This campaign was released in 2009, in the midst of the ipod, iphone, zune, and tons of other mp3 players, all competing for sales and market share. Who would have ever thought the Walkman would make a comeback?!? After all, the Walkman was starting to become the typewriter of music listening devices. However, Dentsu along with GT, has been successful at re-introducing the brand back into the marketplace, which is not an easy task when dealing with a brand that is still regarded as old, obsolete, and is even the butt of a lot of jokes. Granted, this new Walkman has all of the same music-sharing capabilities of any other modern mp3 player, so it has clearly kept pace with other music player brands; still, the out-dated brand image of Walkman was working against both client and agency.

The work Dentsu created for Sony's Walkman did help bolster the brand's image because it not only utilized new media technologies, but it also introduced an online activity for users that had never been done before. In this way, it seems as though Walkman is reclaiming their original position as an innovator in the field of technology. Both viral and interactive media are popular channels for reaching the tech-savvy population; another plus for these outlets is that they can be viewed and used around the world. The viral spot especially, was strategically crafted because there is no real dialogue, so no language barriers. The music used isn't exactly easy to follow in any language, making this campaign an incredibly smart and directed way to reach a particular subset of people around the globe. Sony is an international brand, so their product advertising should reflect this cross-cultural element as well.

The process depicted in the viral campaign is really interesting; it uses a technology called motion portrait technology, which was developed in-house. This technology allows you to upload a still picture of yourself, and it uses "photo-realistic animation" to make it look like you are bobbing your head, singing along with a song, and of course, wearing your Walkman. Things get more interesting because the program sends you a movie of yourself singing; this movie starts to pop up everywhere. You join a group of singing photos from everyone who has taken part in this, then your movie appears on MSN, then it pops up in places like sports stadiums or in local ads, and eventually some will make it into a new TV ad for Sony. Kind of an invasion of privacy, but still a great way to integrate user participation across various geographic markets.