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Font Size Abc Small. Abc Medium. Abc Large. ET Bureau. After the Walkman, came the Discman, which gave way to MP3 players, that in turn led to the birth of iPod, which was the genesis of the iPhone in more than one way and the world since then has never been the same. Portable music players — in whatever form — have been a part of popular culture for more than four decades now. The Walkman: Where it all started The Sony Walkman was introduced to the world on July 1, and was perhaps one of the first lifestyle gadget.
From Timbuktu to Trivandrum, the Walkman was what the Apple iPod became in the early s: a device the cool kids carried and something which everyone wanted. Not only is this product awesome but you can listen to all the Depeche Mode you want. If you were into Depeche Mode….
It was mass marketing and personal differentiation. And they did a lot better job at marketing it than what was happening with New Coke around the same time in the 80s. Is it just me or was that Morgan Freeman narrating that commerical?
Not forgetting that the Walkman first debuted in Japan it was a hit right out of the gate. Sony originally predicted that it would sell about 5, units a month. They sold 50, in the first two months. In America, the Walkman actually had a disappointing first few months of sales but then the advertising campaign kicked into full steam and they were off to the races. This also had a massive impact on the sale of cassette tapes.
By cassettes started to outsell vinyl for the first time ever. This also lead to a huge influx of competition by other companies trying to get on the Walkman craze. Companies like Toshiba and Panasonic started putting out there own versions. The other big thing that was happening was the launch of MTV and the exposure to more music than ever. Basically, you were not restricted to top music anymore and had more awareness of new music than ever before.
They would ask men and women in focus groups and the initial response was pretty positive as the new Walkman seemed sporty and better than the boring black ones that were now everywhere. On the way out of the focus group they allowed everyone to take a complimentary walkman and put a bunch of original black ones and the new yellow sports ones on a table.
Why would people do this? And since people were getting on board with the yellow Walkman in the focus group it becomes more difficult to speak up against a group. Sony wanted to stay with the original yellow color but in theory could have put out a bright purple one and might have got the same feedback due to the issues that can come with market research. What helped propel the yellow sports Walkman was again a great advertising campaign and its ability to stand out as the must have accessory.
Once you see something in advertisement and then start seeing it out in the streets in real life it becomes a bit of a desire. Electronics companies have always had smart ways to create buzz by getting it out there in the public.
Companies like Kindle would plant people on subways in major cities like New York and London with their new e-Readers as a way to show it in action. This helps create desire in other people who are witnessing this new must-have item in real time.
Again, this is something Apple has probably done better than anyone in history. Once people saw others out for a jog with that yellow Walkman in their hands and those yellow headphone in their ears the desire was created.
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