Matsushita Electric Industrial Co unveils global brand unification strategy to replace National brand with Panasonic

A worldwide marketing campaign has been recently launched with the new brand slogan 'Panasonic ideas for life', which reflects the customer-focused strategy behind the development of Panasonic products.

Matsushita Electric adopted the brand name 'National' in Japan in 1927 at the initiative of the founder Konosuke Matsushita. The 'National' brand name became a very popular household name in Japan and was also increasingly used in overseas markets. The Panasonic brand was first introduced in 1961 in the U.S. where the 'National' brand name had been registered by others and therefore, could not be used. Building on the successful brand recognition of Panasonic in the U.S., the company started using the Panasonic brand name in Europe in 1979 and in other regions in the late 80's for products other than home appliances. Under the new global re-branding strategy, all home appliances in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and China will be changed to 'Panasonic' from 'National', except in Japan where the brand was originally born.

This was announced at a press conference held today by Panasonic Marketing Middle East FZE, to announce the initiation of the brand unification process in the region.

"The change in brand strategy comes from the company's strong need to consolidate its brand communication efforts under the 'Panasonic' brand which covers over 90% of sales outside Japan. . With this brand new direction, the Panasonic brand name will be positioned as the main global brand to further strengthen brand competitiveness worldwide and also to have a unified identity in the market. The name Panasonic is built on quality and trust and as we come under a single identity for our home appliance products, we assure you that we've changed nothing but the name from National to Panasonic. This name will only further power our efforts to create valuable products for our customers to enhance their lives and society" said Shoji Itoh, Managing Director, Panasonic Marketing Middle East FZE.

"At Panasonic, we are driven by the needs and requirements of our customers, who are of immense significance to us. Our new brand strategy will help us increase our brand equity and provide added benefit to our customers. From this strategy emerges our core concept of 'ideas' which will deliver Panasonic's brand value and ensure a smooth flow of ideas to create new products and services that are extremely valuable to our customers in their daily lives", added Itoh.

With the implementation of the brand unification process, the company will introduce new home appliance products in the Middle East under the Panasonic brand, starting with the launch of key products like the NN-C2003S Microwave Oven and the MC-7650 and MC-5030 models of environmentally-friendly Vacuum Cleaners.

"The introduction of the new products under the Panasonic brand name will coincide with an aggressive marketing strategy, incorporating the 'ideas for life' slogan in all of the company's corporate communications and advertising messages worldwide. This will further boost our sales by communicating the new branding message directly to all our customers and business partners", said Itoh.

"We are targeting a 50 per cent increase in sales in the next three years with the help of a four-pronged growth strategy, focusing on distribution and sales, merchandising, brand, and direct customer contact. By March 2004, we would like to finish our preparation for the brand unification so that by April, all products would already bear the Panasonic brand name", concluded Itoh.

Panasonic's newly launched NN-C2003S Microwave Oven is designed for easy operation with twin big dials and one touch sensor cooking with an inverter turbo defrost function. Aesthetically designed with a half mirror screen and new stainless steel face the C2003S has a 42 litre capacity with 1800 watts convection power.

The MC-5030 vacuum cleaner has a revolutionary bag-less dust compression system, that maintains suction power even with large quantities of dust in the dust bin, and has the capacity to collect and store twice as much dust in the compact dustbin. The vacuum cleaner also has an anti-bacteria 10 stage filter with a 3 speed high power control function. The MC-7650 vacuum cleaner model has a 2000 watt high powered motor with a super silent mechanism that can reduce the vibration of the motor as well as cut higher frequency noise. Both vacuum cleaners models have a copper based anti-bacterial filter that removes allergens and pollutants while simultaneously eliminating odours to ensure a clean and fresh environment after vacuuming.