Sony Ericsson unveils new brand identity

"Sony Ericsson is entering a phase of aggressive growth and to succeed it is important that people everywhere can connect with us at every level," says Dee Dutta, CVP and head of marketing for Sony Ericsson.

Energy, passion, excitement

"Over the past five years our brand has become established in the minds of our consumers. Now it is time for us to appeal to both the minds and the hearts of consumers. The mobile device will become increasingly central to our lives in many different ways and as this happens it is vital that our brand stands out above others with energy, passion and excitement," he adds.

The brand identity includes a new range of vibrant colours, deliberately selected to stand out from the white, grey, black and blue tones used by most technology brands today. In addition to the new colours, there is a strong central concept comprising two key elements - a worded message and the portrayal of sentiment around the Sony Ericsson liquid identity.

Simple rules

The rules are simple: the message always starts with 'I', the individual, followed by the liquid identity and then a message relating to the things the individual loves, cares about or is inspired by. This framework can be applied in any number of ways, in any language, connecting with the audience visually and instantly.

Andrew Warner, head of brand management for Sony Ericsson, explains how the identity is designed to connect with its audience: "As soon as you see this there is immediate engagement between you and the Sony Ericsson brand. The message is that it is treating you as an individual - it is not telling you what to think about Sony Ericsson, it is reflecting what you think. This is not just a traditional, static brand identity. We plan to increase our use of interactive media to build a dialogue with consumers around the world and effectively start co-creating our brand messages with them.

"People want to know how our products can add to their life - how connected they can be, how much fun they can have, how much better they can work, and more. Our new brand identity relates our products to the things people care about in a very simple way. It is focused less on what's inside the products and more on what consumers get out of them," he concludes.

Underlying principle

Simplicity is the underlying principle that runs through every aspect of Sony Ericsson's business, from product design to marketing, so the new brand look will further strengthen the company's commitment to this approach.

Adam Throup, creative director at Wolff Olins elaborates: "We are developing a distinctive global brand that is flexible enough to embrace local differences, speaking directly to people about what they want and what the love doing."

"This is an exciting time for us. Our forward thinking continues to prove that we are a consumer responsive company." says Martijin Lutgerink, GM, Sony Ericsson Southern Africa.