Panasonic focuses on families for high-def promotion
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/1/2007
AUG. 1 | To hype its array of high-definition offerings, Panasonic launched an extensive marketing blitz today including Web site www.livinginhd.com and a program that will award families $20,000 worth of its products.
At LivingInHD, people will be asked to submit stories explaining how they would take advantage of such featured products as Panasonic plasma TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, camcorders and digital cameras. One hundred families deemed to have the best ideas will be granted $20,000 packages, each also including a Nintendo Wii.
With the help of X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner, the winning families’ use of their Panasonic products will be documented for use on the LivingInHD Web site. Serving as chief creative advisor to LivingInHD, Ratner will compile families’ footage of them enjoying their new technology and putting their ideas into action.
Ratner also will be involved in selecting the participating families, the first 15 of which will be chosen by mid-November.
Additionally, four Panasonic-branded trucks will carry the LivingInHD items around the country for people to sample. Details on the tour, launching this fall, are forthcoming.
Families are particularly being targeted by Panasonic because studies indicate that many parents are concerned that technology alienates them from their kids. The company hopes LivingInHD will bolster the image of high-definition.
“Panasonic is going to bring back family time,” said Robert Greenberg, VP of brand marketing for Panasonic Corp. of North America during a Wednesday Webcast presentation. “With computers in each child’s room, different handheld devices, multi-function cell phones—these products have their place, but there is a tendency to keep families apart. Panasonic wants to create an ongoing dialog with families, and technology can play an important role.”
Ratner signed on to support the Panasonic initiative because he is impressed with Blu-ray releases of his films, including 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s X-Men: The Last Stand. Also, Ratner likes that high-definition camcorders empower people to make films.
“A kid living in middle America has in the palm of his hand the power to make a film. This will inspire families to be creative,” said Ratner. “And for people around the U.S. to see their footage, I think that is a very exciting prospect.”
He added of Blu-ray, “When they put X-Men on Blu-ray, I couldn’t believe it. This is better than going to see it in a movie theater. It is possible that one day, every family in America will be able to see the film with the clarity that I had looking through the camera making it.”
