[andrewparker]

Check out the Aiwa World site -

http://www.aiwa.com/aiwaworld.htm

Fucking class!

[sleepingfish]

Cool, in a crazy kind of way

[Mr Fred]

its allright.,
bit random.

[Stickman]

I quite like that.

At least they've put out something a bit different. More bright colours and crazy creatures and less stock-photography based lifestyle cliches from the big companies please.

[andrewparker]

I think in the context of revitalizing the Aiwa brand it is a bit better than alright. I just hope they bring out some quirky products because this image isn't going to work with the bargain basement Argos crap they sell at the moment...

[Mr Fred]

i dont see how people ( and the general consensus is that aiwa are pants) will assosciate this with a crappy tape recorder they purchased in the 70's.

as a brand it doesnt say anything.

I think its jumped on too many trendy cliches (is there a deer? in there ) and as such will be woeful dated come 3-6 months.

And as you say Andrew, will the people who shop in argos purchase aiwa due to its new found values or the fact its cheaper than most bags of chips.

[Stickman]

But if the site was to represent the products or brand realistically, it'd be shit.

[tomson]

It's just another step in Sonys great rebranding of the Aiwa name - has been going on for a while now, they had some really nice print ads not too long back - from the mentioned budget, Argos type image to a more quirky, youthful out-there brand. You cant blame them for wanting to change their image though... you just have to look at what a brand makeover can do for a company (Volvo for example).

As a content rich flash site I think its nice. As a tool to creating a brand image, I'm not convinced.

[lucidcreations]

Aiwa aint cheap, they're just Sony's sister company that is supposed to be aimed at the youth market, a few years back their home cinema systems were the wasps nipples, more What Hifi awards than you can shake a stick at.

[andrewparker]

I just think credit should be given to them for trying something different. The Aiwa brand is associated with low-cost low-tech products. It has a bad image. Doing the "minimalist lifestyle" site wouldn't have worked. I agree that it might be too modern and trendy for it's own good but whose to say it isn't going to change with the times.

Don't get me wrong, if this rebrand doesn't coincide with a slew of new hip products then I'm not interested. As it is there's no consistency between the brand and it's products - it would be unfortunate to see them masquerade behind a young and vibrant identity but still sell dated products.

[andrewparker]

Originally Posted by lucidcreations

Aiwa aint cheap, they're just Sony's sister company that is supposed to be aimed at the youth market, a few years back their home cinema systems were the wasps nipples, more What Hifi awards than you can shake a stick at.

Well that just demonstrates how well their brand works doesn't it!

[tomson]

Originally Posted by lucidcreations

Aiwa aint cheap,

"Aggressive new products that are strengthened by network connectivity and an affordable price tag is something that will set the Aiwa brand apart,"

As said by the president of Aiwa, Hiro Takahashi

[lucidcreations]

yeah, true....

[chips]

I dunno about this..it seems contrived.
fair play to them for trying to do something different, but it seems a bit intentionally 'wacky' and 'off-the-wall'.

a cross between http://www.vectorpark.com/
and http://www.milkyelephant.com/

(I love milkyelephant's stuff BTW)

but yeah, I agree that it will look outdated pretty soon.

[andrewparker]

Originally Posted by chips

I dunno about this..it seems contrived.

Er, what's your understanding of the word "contrived"?

[chips]

"Obviously planned or calculated; not spontaneous or natural"

what's yours?

[Mr Fred]

Originally Posted by andrewparker

Er, what's your understanding of the word "contrived"?

the same as mine and everybody else's i hope.,

Andrew, a small question if i may., “Have you recently been employed by Aiwa”

[andrewparker]

It just seemed strange (at the time) to hear a massive rebranding campaign described as contrived because of course it is not going to happen naturally or spontaneously. I don't quite understand why you think it is contrived?

[chips]

actually, just noticed that it is "mumbleboy" who's behind the design of this (he's part of that 'milkyelephant' group)
http://www.milkyelephant.com/mumbleboy/milkymumble.html

I think the Aiwa thing is contrived because the attraction of mumbleboy/milkyelephant/vetorpark etc is partly the fact that it's so nonsensical random and creative.
this stuff has not been produced to sell stuff for a company, they've just done it for....well, I don't really know why!
I suppose thats part of the appeal.

but when I see this kind of style/approach behind a big corporation rebranding campaign it seems less authentic somehow.
I'm less likely to hang about, because I know that this stuff has been manufactured to look 'wacky' because it fits with their new image.

I would be equally unimpressed if Tescos paid the people behind http://www.superbad.com/ to produce a new campaign for them

[tomson]

But to be fair to Aiwa, this is just a mircosite and while the .co.uk and .com sites share some of the quirky qualities they are a lot more watered down and more mainstream; so looking at this mircosite and saying that Aiwas new brand direction is all trippy animals and acid wierdness is missing the point somewhat.