Print

Mail

wiki links

Sony wins New Year's Eve sponsorship bid

Sony Corp will again be in the world's highest spotlight during the countdown to New Year's after the Japanese electronics giant won the bid for the sponsorship of the fireworks at Taipei 101.

"We enjoyed good collaboration with Sony last year. The chemistry is great," Michael Liu (劉家豪), assistant vice president of Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司), the operator of the world's tallest freestanding skyscraper, told the Taipei Times yesterday.

The decision to grant Sony the sponsorship was made late on Wednesday evening, Liu said.

On Dec. 31 last year, the phrase "2006 Bravia by Sony" appearing on Taipei 101 during the countdown attracted the attention and aroused the curiosity of spectators, who did not know what Bravia -- the brand name of Sony's liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs -- stood for.

Shots of Taipei 101 were simultaneously broadcast by global media, including CNN, Japan's NHK and China Central Television. Hiroyuki Oda, division president of Sony Taiwan Ltd, said on Nov. 15 that the effect of last year's firework sponsorship "was so much better than we had expected."

Sony paid NT$20 million (US$61,140) to sponsor the 128-second fireworks last year. The TFCC decided to raise the price to at least NT$30 million this year by extending the fireworks to over three minutes.

"Sony's bid was not the highest. But this is a branding campaign for both Taipei 101 and the selected firm and we wanted a clean, creative marketing idea," Liu said.

In total, over 10 firms expressed interest in sponsoring the event. The final candidates included companies from the telecommunications, consumer electronics and automobile industries, both domestic and foreign, Liu said.

The Government Information Office had asked local big names -- such as Acer Inc; Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦); BenQ Corp (明基); and Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) -- to place a co-sponsorship bid.

Liu said that the Sony sponsorship package will include images taken during the countdown for use in commercials, brochures and Internet promotions.

The skyscraper's management team also said yesterday that Taipei 101 has achieved over 72 percent occupancy rate and hopes it will reach 90 percent next year. It also said that revenues had increased by 20 percent this year.

additional reporting by dpa
This story has been viewed 1402 times.