Making a Big Splash for the Sony VAIO Graphic Splash Notebook

The notebook PC is much more than a boring black box. Sure, it’s how you get work done, but it’s also how you connect to your friends; it’s a reflection of your personality. In the uber-competitive notebook PC space, Sony turned to Ruder Finn/West to build the connection between the VAIO brand, fashion and self-expression, as a point of differentiation.

To illustrate this, RF conceptualized the “My Graphic Splash” design contest – an online competition challenging anyone to submit an original design for the lid of the new line of VAIO Graphic Splash notebooks. We invited people to showcase their personalities and style – awarding three winners the honor of having their design mass produced as exclusive VAIO notebooks.

To support this initiative, Ruder Finn created a multi-dimensional communication program, including:

• Partnerships with celebrity judges including Lauren Conrad of MTV’s “The Hills” to validate the fashion connection. Click here to see video of Lauren at our event: http://tiny.cc/1QccL
• Engaging the public in the design contest, and again to vote for winning designs
• Announcing semi-finalists at a well-known fashion-forward PROJECT Las Vegas – one of the world''s foremost fashion trade shows where designer labels such as Rock & Republic, True Religion Brand Jeans, 7 For All Mankind, and L-A-M-B gather to define next year''s hottest trends.
• The program culminated in a VIP media event at Mansion, a hip Manhattan nightclub on Sept. 15. Lauren Conrad, Maya Hayuk and fashion luminary, Kelly Nishimoto, were all on hand for the event honoring the winners. In addition to showcasing the PCs, the three finalists strutted the runway and showed off their designs in a fashion show for all attendees. To see video from the runway event, click here: tiny.cc/jwwWO

The Graphic Design contest Web site received more than 800,000 unique visitors throughout the competition, driven by early online coverage such as BoingBoing, ElectronicHouse, FashionNews, GeekSugar, Gizmodiva, Seventeen, TeenDiariesOnline, and Yahoo! Buzz.

Approximately 100 reporters attended the VIP event representing CNET,Computer Shopper, Consumer Reports, Elle, Gizmodo, InTouch, MTV News, People, US Weekly, among others generating more than 65 placements, and more than six million media impressions.

In addition to successfully persuading the media to embrace the connection between Sony and personalization, RF also exceeded Sony’s marketing and sales objectives. Sony received more than 1,500 entries for the design competition, attracting an average of 21,500 daily unique visitors to its Web site. As a result of the PR efforts and early coverage, there was significant demand for pre-orders.

Absent any advertising, Sony’s retail Web site, SonyStyle.com, sold out of the limited designs within weeks, blowing away all expectations. Sony executives attributed this success to the strength and abundance of media coverage generated by PR, demonstrating the correlation between the successful campaign and exceptional sales performance.

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