With a budget of just $25,000 New Zealand dollars, we were tasked with lifting Jan/Dec sales by 20% (on top of the typical 10% Christmas lift). Essentially we needed to create success where traditional advertising had failed, and get the product in front of swimmers.

To do this, we turned to a design solution, and flipped the electronics category on its head by placing the product in bottled water, to create a truly unique packaging innovation. The Bottled Walkman.

With the Sony waterproof Walkman swimmers can now experience the performance enhancing benefit of music while they swim. It’s a groundbreaking product yet after a traditional launch campaign, sales in New Zealand remained extremely disappointing.

The brief from Sony was to raise the profile of this little known product, in order to drive sales to a disparate audience of swimmers.

The benefit of this design solution was three-fold. The Bottled Walkman was a powerful product demonstration that instantly highlighted the key benefit of the product. Also by placing it in a drink bottle, it connected us with hydration, another swimming essential. And this also allowed us to stock them in vending machines, something swimmers will find in every fitness centre the world over. Removing the barriers to purchase, and placing the product right where they need it the most.

Because it was such a unique item, word of The Bottled Walkman spread across the globe. Reaching a potential audience of more than 672 million people across print, broadcast, online and social media. This exposure saw sales of The Bottled Walkman increase by 400%, taking it from being the 30th to the 3rd most purchased Sony product. Sony New Zealand completely sold out of all available stock in the country, and their next shipment has already sold out a month in advance.