Sony’s underwater MP3 player, which was launched last year, is being marketed in New Zealand in an ingenious way. To drive home the device’s usefulness, the local StopPress and DraftFCB marketing agencies decided to stock vending machines at gyms with “bottled Walkmans” – getting the product to swimmers just when they needed it. Credit: StopPress/DraftFCB
If those ads showing swimmers rocking Sony's new Walkman haven't convinced you it's really waterproof, then get this: you can buy one packaged inside a full bottle of water. "The Bottled Walkman" is currently being sold from vending machines across New Zealand in places like gyms, right beside neon-blue bottles of Gatorade. The idea behind the promotion is to get the device out of electronics stores and into the places target customers actually hang out. Of course, the shock value of being encased in liquid certainly makes the Walkman a bit more enticing than if it was sitting behind the front desk. The big question is, who wants to drink a bottle of water that's had a Walkman sitting in it for days (or weeks) on end? Check out a video of the vending machine in action after the break.
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MP3 players are no longer the hot property they were 10 years ago, but Sony has come up with a novel way to get people buying.
Sony's waterproof W-series Walkman has been around for a year or so, but, given that it's a product with a very specific niche — people who don't want to damage their phones with jolts of sweat or water while exercising — it probably hasn't sold as well as the company would like.
Cue creative agency Draftfcb. In partnership with Sony, it devised a way to market the Walkman directly to its target demographic: by putting the Walkmans in bottles of water in vending machines. These vending machines were then placed at pools and gyms around New Zealand — right at the feet of its intended buyers.
Sony's W Series Walkman is a barebones MP3 player with one key selling point: it's waterproof. But that can be a difficult thing to highlight on store shelves — at least when you're limited to traditional retail packaging. For its customers in New Zealand, Sony decided to try something different. With the help of ad firm DraftFCB, the company came up with a brilliant plan to help set its product apart from alternatives like Apple's iPod shuffle. The earbud / MP3 player combo comes packaged inside a full bottle of water, a clever marketing tactic that immediately highlights its waterproof construction.
From there, Sony concentrated on product placement for this "bottled Walkman," selling it in vending machines at gyms and indoor pool facilities. This made it possible for consumers to buy an MP3 player alongside their normal workout refreshments — but at a cost much higher than your average bottle of Gatorade.
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since launching at the 2013 CES in las vegas, sony approached auckland-based advertisment agency draftfcb to help produce a campaign for their ‘NWZ-W27′ walkman sports mp3 player, a water-proof, all-in-one digital device with 4GB of internal memory. designed specifically to withstand not just water but the sweat from intense workouts, the compact mp3 provides a perfect solution for everyone from the health conscious to performance sports athletes. to showcase its waterproof capabilities, the marketing initiative re-purposes the ubiquitous vending machine into a unique sales portal for athletes looking for a new waterproof music player.
‘when sony briefed us on the ‘W’ series sports walkman, its first wearable, wire-free, and waterproof mp3 player, it quickly became clear that swimmers were our ideal target,’ says kevin walker at draftfcb new zealand. ‘we needed to get it somewhere swimmers couldn’t ignore it – right where they needed it the most. so we hijacked something they’ll find in every fitness centre the world over: vending machines. in order to do this, we placed the product in bottled water, something else every swimmer needs, and in doing so created the perfect product demonstration.‘
‘this simple packaging innovation gave us a unique way to display the product, which instantly demonstrated its benefit. it also transformed the humble vending machine into a conversation starter and a distribution channel, allowing swimmers to buy the product as easily as they’d buy a bottle of water,’ he adds.