So what went wrong?
Like so many Japanese Companies Pioneer were great at developing products and their Kuro plasma offering is a classic example but unfortunately they were absolutely lousy at marketing them.
Their marketing was being driven by Japanese engineers who simply did not have a clue as to how to build a brand. They loathed spending on marketing. They were more interested in factories and production and the design of the product than getting the product to market and incentivising consumers to buy.
And when they did bring in the advertising agency that made the iPod famous it was all too late because their positioning was wrong and their go to market in tatters.
In Australia they dithered between the specialist channel and mass retailers and they absolutely loathed investing in advertising. The philosophy was more "lets sell some models and from the profits we invest some in advertising".
Their creative prior to bringing on board a global advertising agency was poor in both concept and execution.
In comparison Companies like Panasonic Sony and Samsung spent millions on marketing using TV, print and outdoor.
Pioneer has not made a profit since they stupidly purchased NEC's plasma plant five years ago which for NEC was a blessing in disguise because they also have great products but are poor marketers and their early exit from the plasma market actually delivered them a $400 million dollar return.
Last year Pioneer lost their crown jewels in the form of the 120 research and development staff that had developed the Kuro technology that won the Company accolades around the world for their breakthrough in plasma TV technology. Blacks were really black with the Kuro engine.
