Posted by doc on 07/16/06 16:43

EXACTLY! a classic case of the inferior product winning! was there myself
working on the marketing plans for similiar clients :o)

drd

<blackburst@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1152804728.863635.115160@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> A lesson in marketing!
>
> Sony's BetaMax was superior to its later-introduced competitor, JVC's
> VHS.
>
> JVC aggressively licensed its system to other manufacturers,
> undercutting Sony's comparatively higher licensing costs and lack of
> marketing aggressiveness.
>
> JVC aggressively courted studios to release titles in the VHS system,
> and ultimately decided to institute a program of low-cost super-titles
> (starting with ET, as I recall), dropping the average cost of
> prerecorded titles from $79.95 or $39.95 to $19.95, scoring bigtime.
> Virtually all titles dropped to $19.95 or lower after this.
>
> While blank BetaMax tapes were going for $24.95, blank VHS tapes were
> stealing the market at $7.95 and less.
>
> JVC also aggressively offered discounts to the then-mushrooming
> independent video stores to carry VHS titles, and in time the ratio
> available in stores became about 85-15 in favor of VHS. Sony eventually
> had to license VHS from JVC!
>
> Sony managers were surprised, startled and angry about JVC's rapid
> theft of the market, according to some conversations I had at NAB this
> year, and they never again dropped the ball like they did in 1977-1980.
> Sony still maintains a respecatble showing in the home market, but they
> still own a large share of the pro market, while JVC struggles. What
> goes around...
>
> No matter how good the product, it still needs to be marketed
> successfully.
>

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