ON THE HORIZON
HISTORY LESSON
The Greatest Marketer You May Not Know
BY GLENN RIFKIN
efore there was Apple, there was Sony. And before there was Steve Akio Morita built Sony into Jobs, there was Akio BMorita. A marketing genius who the world’s top brand. built Sony into one of the world’s best-known and widely respected brands, Morita and Sony almost he was intent on forging strong Given the abject destruction single-handedly shifted the business relationships in North of Japan during the war (when negative, second-rate connota- America, Europe and elsewhere. the nation had lost a quarter of tion of “made in Japan” and Under Morita, Sony became its wealth), Morita’s achievement demonstrated that the nation, a glittering household name was extraordinary. Always devastated by World War II, around the globe; at its height fascinated with gadgets and could become an economic force it was a better-known brand appliances, Morita studied in the world. than Coca-Cola. As recently as physics in college, and in 1946, Under Morita’s 43-year watch, 2006, a Harris Poll showed that amid the rubble of postwar Sony created a remarkable string Sony was the No. 1 brand among Tokyo in a bombed-out depart- of industry-changing products American consumers, ahead of ment store, founded the earlier that range from the first home- Coke and General Electric. version of the company with his use VCR to the groundbreaking “He was probably the greatest partner Masaru Ibuka. While Sony Walkman and the compact marketer of the 20th century, right Ibuka handled the technology disc. He even took Sony into up there with Steve Jobs,” says development, Morita became the movie business by acquiring John Nathan, professor of Japanese the front man, raising money Columbia Pictures in 1989. A cultural studies at the University and becoming the company’s visionary who believed in global of California, Santa Barbara, and chief salesman. A dozen years markets, Morita understood that author of “Sony: A Private Life,” later, he would coin the name for innovation and marketing would a look behind the scenes at Sony the corporation, combining the drive profits and growth, and during Morita’s tenure. word sonus, Latin for sound, with
A REMARKABLE STREAK OF “FIRSTS” Landmark products and events during Sony’s Morita era include:
The company, under an earlier name, Now called Sony, becomes first Japanese Trinitron 1950 introduces Japan’s first tape recorder 1961 company to offer shares in the U.S. 1968 color TV
Japan’s first Enters the music industry in a joint 1955 transistor radio 1968 venture with CBS, CBS/Sony Records
18 Briefings On Talent & Leadership “sonny boy,” an English phrase that connoted energy and youth. Morita often told the story of his first trip to Germany in 1953, when in a Düsseldorf restaurant he was served a bowl of ice cream decorated with a miniature umbrella. The German waiter, attempting to be kind, informed Morita that the umbrella was made in Japan. Morita was infu- riated that “the world associated ‘made in Japan’ with trinkets and cheap imitations,” according to his obituary in The Economist in 1999. “For the rest of his life “The public he sought to prove to foreigners does not know that ‘made in Japan’ meant origi- nality, quality and value for what is possible, the money.” but we do.” As Sony grew, Morita felt the —AKIO MORITA pull of the U.S. marketplace and Morita demonstrating the Betamax in 1979. moved his family to New York. With his blue eyes and shock of white hair, he was handsome, Apple’s iPod, required the use of home videocassette recorder. flamboyant and charismatic, a earphones, which were considered Within a year, competitor JVC perfect figure to spearhead the anathema because they were introduced the VHS format—a globalization of Sony through used primarily by deaf people. cheaper, more versatile product— the 1960s and ’70s. “Our plan Undaunted, Morita unveiled the but Morita refused to give in and is to lead the public with new Sony Walkman in 1979 and it fun- spent years marketing a format products rather than ask them damentally changed how people people wouldn’t accept. “He what kind of products they listened to music. got blindsided by his passion,” want,” Morita said. “The public But if there is any cautionary says John Nathan. Still, though does not know what is possible, lesson in Morita’s story, it’s how chastened, the Betamax fiasco but we do.” the power of marketing has did little damage to Morita’s One of his greatest examples its limits. In 1975, Sony tried legacy, and when he died in 1999 was the Sony Walkman. The to revolutionize how people at age 78, he was hailed as “the Walkman, a portable audio cas- watched television and movies engine that pulled the Japanese
Portrait by: Ullstein Bild / Contributor, Getty Images sette player and a forerunner to by unveiling Betamax, the first economy.” •
Morita appears on the Betamax home CDP-101, the world’s first Discman, the world’s first 1971 cover of Time magazine 1975 video recorder 1982 compact disc player 1984 portable CD player
Wins an Emmy Award for Walkman, the world’s first Acquires Columbia Pictures 1973 the achievements of Trinitron TVs 1979 personal stereo 1989 Entertainment, renamed Sony Pictures
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