Matsushita will scrap its Japanese brand name “National” and start a marketing blitz called “Hello Panasonic” in an ambitious drive to boost market share, company officials said yesterday.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, a major Japanese electronics maker that rivals Sony Corp, is changing its company name to Panasonic Corp next month, dropping the name of its founder, Konosuke Matsushita, one of Japan’s pioneering entrepreneurs credited with leading the country’s modernization after World War II.
The move symbolizes the company’s growing international stature and ambitions. Panasonic has long been its brand name abroad.
PHOTO: AFP
The end of the National name also highlights the firm’s break from its past, when it built its customer base in Japan through an army of electronics salesman-cum-repairman at small National stores around the country.
Under its new marketing blitz, Matsushita will push products that connect digitally —such as audiovisual products that link with each other and home security gadgets that link with car navigation equipment, it said.
Products will also become more green to respond to growing public concerns about global warming, it said. Sixty percent of electricity consumed in a household is from appliances, Matsushita said.
Company executive vice president Shunzo Ushimaru said that Matsishita’s market share had risen from 20 percent in 2001, to 28 percent this year, and hoped to lift that further.
Although cars tend to be viewed as one of the biggest household purchases, the combined value of electronics products bought by a family is about ¥2.9 million (US$28,000) — more than the average price of a car, he said.
“We hope to have greater impact on homes with our products by unifying our brand into Panasonic,” Ushimaru said at a Tokyo hotel.
The firm will embark on a major advertising campaign, changing National showrooms’ names to Panasonic, airing TV commercials and starting a mobile Web site to promote the Panasonic brand, Ushimaru said.
Matsushita showed an energy-saving air conditioner, refrigerator, washer-dryer and vacuum cleaner. The products go on sale next month in Japan.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
RSS