Hitachi Launches New Marketing Campaign

Hitachi is going all out to try to bring awareness to its ultra-thin HDTV design. With its news campaign, which they are calling “Thin Is In Motion” involves circulating four 17 foot trucks throughout 120 different cities in the United States. These Hitachi-branded trucks will be displaying the 1.5 inch televisions, with one truck having a 32 inch black display, one with a 32 inch white display, and one with a 37 inch black display. All of the televisions will be showing high definition movies, and the two 32 inch displays will involve placing the televisions on rotating pedestals. This way, consumers will be able to see just how thin the televisions are. Some of the cities that are part of the tour include Houston, Dallas, New York, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Seattle, St, Louis, and San Diego.

Critics question the decision to launch the touring truck campaign, saying that these tours are overdone and are not best for products such as Hitachi. Branding expert, Laura Ries, says touring truck campaigns are only effective when they are used along with “innovative and recognizable brands” because these campaigns take the product out of their usual element and catch consumers off guard. Ries maintains that this is not the case with Hitachi, stating “When you go into Best Buy for a HDTV, you choose between Sharp, Sony, or Samsung, not Hitachi. I’m not even sure if they carry it in the store. I can’t remember seeing it. And that’s the problem.”

So, if you listen to the experts, it looks like Hitachi has a lot of hard work ahead of them. If you ask me, however, they are taking some pretty smart moves to help increase the visibility of their product. For example, they have managed to get several high end hotels and department stores to place display the new televisions. Since these businesses tend to deal with those people that purchase luxury items, having them on display in these establishments may help Hitachi establish a new type of customer base. In addition, since the TVs will be on display in more natural areas rather than just on a showroom floor, potential customers can get a better idea of how one would look in their homes.

I am personally a fan of Sony and have built my home theater around that brand. Nonetheless, Hitachi seems to be moving in the right direction with this marketing plan.

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