On New Year's Eve last year, tens of thousands of revelers flooding the streets of Taipei Xinyi District were all excited to usher in the arrival of the new year.
When the clock ticked at 12am, the 128-second fireworks burst from the top floors of Taipei 101. People were not only enchanted by the fireworks, but also by a sentence projected on the world's tallest freestanding building.
The phrase "2006 Bravia by Sony" had caught everyone's attention, at the same time arousing curiosity among those who were not in the know.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Chao Yi-chien (
The 22-year-old part-time tutor did not know the meaning of Bravia until she read news reports the following day.
Indeed, Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp managed to send its message across to potential clientele from all walks of life, and they are not limited to those in Taiwan.
The image of the world's tallest countdown was simultaneously broadcast by global media, such as the US' CNN, Japan's NHK and China Central Television.
The price reportedly paid to sponsor the fireworks was NT$20 million (US$60,661).
Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司) operators have decided this year to push the price tag up to NT$30 million and prolong the fireworks display to 188 seconds.
"We want to break last year's record by showing a longer display of fireworks this time," TFCC assistant vice president Michael Liu (
"The firework countdown attracts international media attention and it is the biggest moment of the year for us," he said.
Already 10 companies have approached TFCC this year for possible firework sponsorship.
The list includes local and foreign big names in the computers, communications and consumer electronics industries. Even an automobile firm made contacts, he said.
Sony is definitely not missing out on the exposure this year.
Hiroyuki Oda, division president of Sony Taiwan Ltd, was all smiles last Wednesday when asked by media about the effect of last year's firework sponsorship.
"The impact was so much greater than we expected," he said.
All that the company initially wanted people to realize was that Bravia is the brandname of Sony's liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TV sets, he said.
Sony brought in its first LCD TVs to local stores in September last year, already throwing a bomb into the market with competitive pricing for the 32-inch model.
The price war caused a shortage for its TVs until October and sales shot to the No. 1 position the following month.
After the 101 sponsorship, Sony maintained its leadership in terms of sales amount for the next nine months until September this year, according to the company's latest statistics.
This translates to an impressive victory in the competitive market, as local makers such as Kolin Inc (歌林), Sampo Corp (聲寶), BenQ Corp (明基) and Tatung Co (大同) are fighting for a share with foreign big names -- Samsung Electronics Co and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which owns the Panasonic brand.
While the company is now gearing up for this year's firework bidding, Oda said Sony is still evaluating the campaign format.
"We are looking forward to any form of partnership with 101, but we haven't reached any conclusion yet," he said.
However, some locals were wondering if foreign brands should not have given way to local players to pronounce their branding powers to the world.
"Some people were complaining that 101 had given the advertising chance to a foreign brand last year," Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Cheng Wen-tsang (
The office has decided to play the role of mediator this year by communicating with TFCC, hoping the latter will favor local firms.
The GIO has reportedly asked local big names, such as Acer Inc, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), BenQ and Giant Inc (巨大機械), one of the world's leading bicycle brands, to form a joint bid.
It hopes each of their brands will be projected on the four sides of the skyscraper.
But Liu said it might be an uphill task to please everyone as views from four directions of the building have a different "value." The tentative plan is to leave all attention to only a single brand, he said.
"What we are looking for is a productive and creative proposal. The sponsorship is not to use Taipei 101 as an outdoor media, but rather co-branding for both the sponsor and the building," he said.
Sony outbid others last year as its sponsorship did not end with the short-lived fireworks.
The deal also included the use of Taipei 101 images in Sony's corporate calendars and brochures, as well as further collaboration on the Sony Fair held in April at the Taipei 101 concourse, he said.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS