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Matsushita to rename itself as Panasonic from October

January 10, 2008
By Ken Worsley


Two days ago, when writing the headline for our “Google, YouTube to team up with Matsushita to deliver internet-enabled flat screen televisions” article, I wondered if it might not be better to refer to Matsushita as Panasonic, since most folks know their televisions by that brand name. In Japan, the parent company’s name tends to get used more often, so the decision was made to stick with that naming convention.

It’s too bad the news couldn’t have come a few days later, as the confusion is about to disappear. It was announced today that Matsushita will be officially renaming itself as Panasonic from October 1 of this year.

Matsushita Chairman Kunio Nakamura announced that the company has taken this step in order to remain globally competitive with rival electronics firms, and that the change of name would cost the company about 30 billion yen. Matsushita also announced plans to drop the domestic brand National from its lineup.

I guess some of that 30 billion yen will be spent on sending someone to my house to file down the brand name on the microwave and replace it with a new one.

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Comments

8 Responses to “Matsushita to rename itself as Panasonic from October”

  1. Ken Y-N on January 10th, 2008 11:39 pm

    One outcome they might change - Matsushita Denko becomes Panasonic Denko, which is rather clumsy.

  2. Ken Worsley on January 10th, 2008 11:49 pm

    That is a bit of a clumsy name. I suppose it could end up as Panasonic Denko in Japan and just Panasonic elsewhere. I don’t think the ads anywhere will say anything other than Panasonic though…

  3. Albrecht on January 11th, 2008 2:15 am

    It’s a good move if their aspirations are global, which they should be. Panasonic has much more brand equity outside Japan than Matsushita.

  4. Kraig on January 11th, 2008 3:09 am

    Definitely a good move for them, though I would have thought globally they were already known as Panasonic. It’s doubtful they faced as much trouble as Sony did when they changed their name.

  5. Ken Y-N on January 11th, 2008 9:18 am

    Matushita Denko is Matsushita Electrical Works in English, so becoming Pansonic Electrical Works is not a problem.

    I don’t know what the source of the data is, but looking at brand value, Panasonic is just a fraction ahead of LG and miles behind Canon, Sony and Samsung - Samsung was actually the strongest. Both Panasonic and LG’s brand growth was barely above zero, but the other three were growing strongly. This was on a graph shown as part of CEO Fumio Ohtsubo’s presentation.

  6. Ken Worsley on January 12th, 2008 12:20 am

    Ken, you might be thinking of the BusinessWeek/Interbrand survey.

    http://bwnt.businessweek.com/brand/2006/

    Toyota was the top Japanese brand at 7. Honda 19, Canon 35, Panasonic 77, Nissan 90.

    The others you mentioned: Samsung at 20 and LG at 94.

    They also had Levi’s at 100, Starbucks 91, and Cisco at 19, despite admitting Cisco is “not yet” a household name. Avon at 62?

  7. Kevin on January 13th, 2008 2:49 am

    Bummer, all these years my favorite pickup line in bars is, “Hey Baby, you know Panasonic is really just a brand name, the company is called Matsoooooshta.”

  8. Ken Worsley on January 13th, 2008 8:26 pm

    Kevin, I’m sure you can find a way to work “Denko” into the pickup line…

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