The Brief

With the Sony waterproof Walkman swimmers can now experience the performance enhancing benefit of music while they swim. It’s a groundbreaking product yet after a traditional launch campaign, sales in New Zealand remained extremely disappointing. The brief from Sony was to raise the profile of this little known product, in order to drive sales to a disparate audience of swimmers.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

To do this, we flipped the electronics category on its head by placing the product in bottled water, to create a truly unique packaging innovation. The Bottled Walkman. Because it was such a unique solution, we could not project response rates, but Sony tasked us with lifting Jan/Dec sales by 20% (on top of the typical 10% Christmas lift).

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Because it was such a unique item, word of The Bottled Walkman spread across the globe. Reaching a potential audience of more than 672 million people across print, broadcast, online and social media. This exposure saw sales of The Bottled Walkman increase by 400% (target of 20%), taking it from being the 30th to the 3rd most purchased Sony product. Sony New Zealand completely sold out of all available stock in the country, and their next shipment has already sold out a month in advance.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Sony are the originators of innovation. So this innovative solution was completely in line with the brand ethos. The Bottled Walkman was also a powerful product demonstration that instantly highlighted the key benefit of the product. By placing it in a drink bottle, it connected us with hydration, another swimming essential. This then allowed us to stock them in vending machines, something swimmers will find in every fitness centre the world over. Removing the barriers to purchase, and placing the product right where they need it the most.