MARKETING MANAGEMENT

BRAND FAILURE:
SONY- BETAMAX

GUIDED BY: DR. GAURAV ASHESH

SUBMITTED BY: MISS SANJANA SINGH
DATE: 14-02-2022
 In the 1970s, Sony developed a home video-taping
equipment which used Betamax technology, and hit
the stores in 1975. Sell of 30,000 Betamax video
recorders were sold in the United States alone.

BETAMAX Again, in a year Sony’s rival JVC came out with ‘video
home system’ in VCR format. By January 1977, four
more Japanese electronics companies were
NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
manufacturing and marketing VHS-based machines.
And Sony was unable to license Betamax technology.
This later proved to be a critical factor in the demise

of Betamax.
Soon enough, Sony felt pressure due to its
competitors and started dropping prices as low as US
$300.
The beat down amongst the companies was in full
swing by 1982 which was joined by Sony reluctantly
by contributing a US $50 rebate as a ‘Home
Improvement Grant’.
(Haig, Matt. Brand Failures. Great Britain & US,
Kogan Page, 2003.)
REASON FOR FAILURE
From 1981 onwards Betamax-based machines were rapidly losing
popular favour. By 1982, the year of the price war, Betamax VCRs
accounted for a paltry 25 percent of the entire market. The
customers were being warned that the selection of video rentals
available for Betamax owners would be slightly smaller than that
for VHS owners.
“Furthermore, while Sony continued to claim that Betamax was a
technically superior format, video owners were becoming
increasingly aware of one serious failing. Whereas VHS machines
could record for a considerable length of time, Betamax machines
could only record for one hour – meaning that most films and
football matches couldn’t be recorded in one go. This was the price
Sony paid for enhanced sound and picture quality. To deliver that
better standard, Sony used a bigger, slower moving tape. As a
result, it sometimes took as many as three cassettes to show an
entire movie. This caused frustration both among video owners,
who had to swap tapes over and retailers, who had to supply more (Haig, Matt. Brand Failures. Great Britain &
cassettes.”
(Haig, Matt. Brand Failures. Great Britain & US, Kogan Page, 2003.)
US, Kogan Page, 2003.)
 RECOMMENDATION TO AVOID FAILURE
AS A MARKETER
Until the early 1980s the word ‘Betamax’ was synonymous with ‘video recorder’. This association
impacted negatively as well as positively because in 1979, Universal Studios and Disney took legal
action against Sony, claiming VCRs were infringing the copyrights of movie producers.

Before marketing the

It would have been better for
product, getting the license
Sony as a company would Sony should have
for Beta format to ensure its
innovate more technology approached other firms to
widest distribution was
keeping in mind the future of discuss the prospect of their
necessary,which was
the market.Sony being a brand adopting the Sony machine
unwillingly compromised on
known for its clarity and sound as an industry standard
their standard with OEM
should have kept in mind what before beginning the
shipments.
would be beneficial in a long manufacture of the Betamax.
WP# BPS-3266-91
run.
(Michael A. Cusumano, Yiorgos Mylonadis, and Richard S. Rosenbloom,Strategic
Maneuvering and Mass-Market Dynamics: The Triumph of VHS Over Beta, March 25, 1991)
 OVERCOMING THE PROBLEM

With the growth in technology, I would sit with the R&D department to devise a model
that would be ahead of its time with the help of AI technology and Machine Learning.

Even though it had short recording time the clarity was better than that of VHS which
would be helpful for high detailed content and thus the segmenting should be done in
this manner.

 KEY LEARNING
Know your competitors: ‘Contrary to popular belief,
what would help every category pioneer is
competition,’ says Al Ries. but while doing that you
should know your competitors and it’s product well
enough.
Mergers of companies might be beneficial at times.
Losses should be analysed. Sony’s decision to
ignore VHS until 1987 is what led it the whole
product to the downfall
Supply equals demand. When the manufacturers of
pre-recorded tapes decreased their supply of Beta
format tapes, demand for Sony’s Betamax recorders
inevitably waned.

(Haig, Matt. Brand Failures. Great Britain & US, Kogan Page, 2003.)
Thank
you!!