Endorsing the Tao way

David & Rene: careless whispers ^__^ Getting to like this coupling but dear David, are u already taken? If not Rene is a super choice *__* Found this interesting online article abt China's Mobile Market where David is mentioned:
SPECIAL To CBW From CHINA MARKETING MAGAZINE
Sony Ericsson Combine to Capture Large Share of China’s Mobile Market
Successful JV Looks to Become World’s No. 3 Cell Phone Producer
By Cai Qingyi, China Marketing Magazine
Over the last couple of years, China’s mobile phone market, the world’s largest, and generally considered the most competitive, has come to be dominated by five or six major players. Brands have come and gone, and others have been consolidated. Today, one consolidated brand, Sony Ericsson, has very nearly overtaken Samsung for third place behind market leaders Motorola and Nokia.
How Sony Ericsson, a combination of two major multinational companies, was able to join competing mobile phone units and challenge the entrenched leaders is a marketing story driven by the successful combining of fashion, technology, and consumer demand.
Mergers between two powerful mobile brands have often failed in China. Less than a year after European giant Siemens’ mobile unit was acquired by rival BenQ, the combined entity found itself on the brink of bankruptcy.
In the case of Sony and Ericsson, the hoped-for magic of consolidation has actually worked. However, it hasn’t been an easy road, In fact, when the two combined their China operations five years ago, the general view was that the reformulated Sony Ericsson Mobile would never be more than an also ran.
Known for its design-centric form/function, Sony was a latecomer to the mainland’s mobile phone market, and almost from the start, found it difficult to gain much traction on its own. Ericsson, on the other hand, was a telecom megaplayer, heavy on breakthrough technology. However, in China, it had failed to create a package with real consumer appeal.
After a rocky start and difficult growing pains during a period of integration, Sony Ericsson finally emerged in early 2006 with a popular new product—the “Walkman Phone,” which managed to do everything Apple’s iPod could do and more. It was a full-fledged mobile phone, which stored and played music, lots of music. It was also a music store, where users could buy songs, store them by the thousands, and call them up on order with the click of a button. To help bring major record labels on board, Sony Ericsson enlisted Tao Zhe (China’s “Godfather of R&B”), and, almost immediately, the company’s “mobile music zone” made the brand a super hit, and not incidentally, a star in the blockbuster movie, “The 601st Phone Call,” whose stars all carried Sony Walkman phones. This gained the brand a firm position as the popular mobile of choice among the trend setting 18-24 demo.
Originally founded in 1876 to repair telegraph equipment, Ericsson grew to dominate the world market in telephone equipment. However, company endured continuous losses in 2001 and 2002, watching its world market share plummet from 15.4% to 7.4%. Quality suffered along with profits. In fact, Chinese consumers found so many technical glitches with Ericsson’s top T28 phone, they called it the “King of Problems.”
Although it lacked any real experience in telecom, Sony decided to enter the burgeoning mobile market just as Ericsson was faltering and tried to sell early models positioned as high end “classic mobile phones.” Unfortunately, Samsung had just launched a cutting edge range of products—the first mobile phones with digital cameras, video games, and other bells and whistles. These were aimed squarely at the same high end consumers targeted by Sony. Almost overnight, Samsung surged to number three in the global mobile market, and in China nearly overtook the leader, Nokia. Samsung’s mantra, “Surpass Sony” sounded to many a little like overkill, since as things turned out, Sony might actually have exited the mobile market entirely had Ericsson not fallen into its arms.
The Sony Ericsson jv marriage, which took place in October, 2001, was never easy and meant combining a personnel complement of over 4,000 into one efficient, smoothly functioning entity. The company’s new mission was to stop the hemmoraging at both companies and, with a little luck, perhaps even turn a profit — someday. BusinessWeek called the new venture “a marriage of eager desperation,” but despite the fact that most big mergers of leading brands seldom crystallize into winning propositions, senior management at both Ericsson and Sony saw only a “dream combination,” and predicted immediate profits and long term market dominance..
Reality, of course, intervened, and Sony Ericsson posted losses for nearly two years after the merger, with their combined market share dropping to just over four percent. Rumors were rampant that the combination was a failure, and that both companies were ready to call it quits. Sony even floated an offer to buy out Ericsson, and trade media began to call Sony Ericsson a “dead man walking.”
In August 2002, however, Sony Ericsson decided to centralize operations inside China, closing down its European and Japanese research and development operations in the process. Gunilla Nordstrom, an Ericsson veteran with a full understanding of the Chinese markets, was brought in as head of Sony Ericsson China. In January 2003, Sony and Ericsson each contributed nearly $100 million of new capital to the China operation, reorganized the design and manufacturing process under Nordstrom, and basically left the merged entity to operate on its own.
The hugely successful T68 handset was the first real new product from Sony Ericsson. Its multimedia capabilities, together with Sony’s high end digital camera, created what became a runaway hit in cell phones. Sony’s influence and experience in product design insured that the T68’s form was as appealing as its unique functionality. Partnering with wireless carrier, China Mobile, Sony Ericsson used high end design to create a device with strong consumer appeal, suddenly vaulting the brand to fashion leadership in the mobile phone market.
In taking charge, Gunilla Nordstrom described Sony Ericsson as “ a dream-chaser,” and set out to challenge the market leaders with a range of mobile phones that emphasized target elements he defined as “moving image, multimedia, entertainment, and strong industrial design.”
The T618 handset, launched in early 2004, was Sony Ericsson’s next big gamble and this advanced model, loaded with Java software, Bluetooth capable, embedded still and movie camera, and a raft of appealing new video games, soon became the mobile phone of choice among China’s burgeoning middle class young adults. Over a million T618 and the upgraded T628 handsets were sold in less than a year, breaking the record for single model sales. The phones were identified with an elite, trend setter demo who actually came to be called “The T618 Users.” One particular tech element, a 45 minute video recording capability, particularly endeared the phone to its upscale young users. And by the end of 2004, Sony Ericsson registered its first profit and its market share rose to just over six percent.
Competing in the huge China market, however, proved far from easy. Prices kept falling drastically. New Chinese competitors emerged on almost a monthly basis. Ongoing consolidation created powerful new market forces, which drove prices down further. As changes continued, all players were pressured to constantly upgrade their products, and tighten their relationships with the major carriers that drove sales. The carriers found new ways to boost handset sales by assembling “mobile packages,” which included full set of features, plus services like speed dialing, caller ID, and call forwarding, which only the carrier could provide.
By 2005, Sony Ericsson was on a roll. Miles Flint , an Englishman well-versed in the China market, was brought in to lead the company in what was termed its “Branding Year.” Using its popular music phones to expand the world of mobile entertainment, the company introduced its new “PlayNow” service, providing users with the Top Twenty Pop Songs each week.
Sony Ericsson also launched “2005 Wind-Summer Music Season”, introducing new artists and creating new music trends, which secured Sony Ericsson’s position as China’s “entertainment weathervane” and one of the country’s fastest growing brand names. By the end of 2005, nearly two dozen other brands–including Toshiba, VK, Panasonic, Oriental Dragon, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Siemens, Datang, Kejian, Panda, Tsinghua Unis, Amoisonic, Soutec, Langchao, DBTEL, Soyea, Orsus, and Top—had all disappeared from the marketplace. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson was able to report revenues that finally exceeded its parent companies’ investment in the joint venture.
Sony Ericsson continued throughout 2006 to introduce new elements to its handsets, integrating Sony’s popular Cyber-shot camera into with mobile phones, and providing stiff competition Nokia’s arl-Zeiss-equipped camera phones. Sony Ericsson also matched its Walkman music phones against Samsung’s M series handsets, pricing them lower, but offering significantly more features. Sony Ericsson also introduced a new, low priced J series, challenging Motorola and Nokia for leadership in the low-end, mass market segment
Reflecting on Sony Ericsson’s first five years, president Flint has suggested that his company’s success thus far has resulted from a marriage of world class design and cutting edge technology— combined with the effective marketing of the company’s brand as a uniquely functional communications device. In Flint’s view, “Fashion, together with a successful integration of our human capital and manufacturing resources has equipped us with advantages that our competitors simply cannot match.” The last five years have not been easy, he notes, “but in the next five years, we fully expect to be at least the world’s number three cell phone producer.”
(Reposted from CFC Blog)
Remember I was wondering abt the strange partnership between David & SE. Guess they did their research & concluded that David would give the right kind of branding for their product. Someone actually said to me before that BenQ would win the fight against SE cos their image was trendy, fun & young compared to David. Even Panasonic lost despite having Jay Chou as spokesman. Of cos Jay had already jumped ship to Motorola maybe to save his own image :P Basically I think with handsets, quality matters more than being just a fashion accessory. During the whole SE ad campaign last yr, David managed to bring across his own characteristics of dependability & longevity. So even though David's endorsement with SE has ended, still proud that he had a part in raising SE profile during their important branding last yr.
This man is just so focused that even with product branding he would not only give his vry best but in his own special way. Conceding that commercialism is a necessary evil, he still try to give new meaning to his involvement by choosing the product & the way he endorsed. Even though the product is ladies' shoes but his involvement has a fun element in bringing together 4 vry different women & working with them through music. I really feel that he is developing nicely through his music & helping others develop as well. Gosh I am just so proud of him heehee Also found some youtube newsclip of Daphne launch. Funniest was when Ella tried to get him to lick her finger full of cake icing. Watch & see if he did ^__^