Despite a strong showing at CES, the BDA still
sees a number of challenges ahead before the format is fully
integrated within the mainstream. “It’s definitely not job
done!” states Victor Matsuda (pictured right), the recently
re-elected chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s Global
Promotion Committee.
“While we had a break-out year in '08,
we definitely have to continue all efforts aimed at the continued
proliferation of the format, especially during this economic
environment. We also need special attention for the format's
"enhanced" features. Lastly, we need to continue to emphasise the
possible co-existence of Blu-ray Disc and digital downloads within
the same market ecosystem,” Matsuda adds.
The Blu-ray Disc
Association has also announced the appointment of its regional
Promotions teams chairs. Andy Parsons has been re-elected for the
U.S region; Yutaka Komai was re-elected for Japan/Asia Pacific
region. For Europe, Niels Leibbrandt from Sony Europe takes over
from Frank Simonis who stands down after completing his 2-year
mandate.
Leibbrandt (left) brings a wealth of
experience and modern marketing methods in the arena of introducing
new entertainment formats. As well as working with Sony Europe, he
was previously promoting technology standards within Philips
Electronics, based at the company’s Eindhoven
headquarters.
“Blu-ray must consolidate the strong growth it
experienced in the fourth quarter of 2008,” says Leibbrands. “Many
European consumers do not fully understand what Blu-ray is, nor do
they understand how to get true High Definition picture quality on
their HDTV. What is less known too is that Blu-ray Disc covers
applications areas such as loss-less 7.1 audio,” he continues, “or
that consumers can go online with their BD player to browse the
latest movie content. Or that there are Blu-ray computer drives and
editing software that offer the ideal solution to store HD Camcorder
footage safely.
“Although European Blu-ray Disc players and
movies sales achieved tremendous Q4 growth in 2008, we still have a
formidable promotional challenge remaining in Europe before the
format is self-propelling.”
“BDA Europe will continues to
drive European promotion initiatives by supporting local Blu-ray
task forces and independent industryorganisations,” sayd Leibbrandt.
“We will work on consumer messaging and promotional tools explaining
the benefits of Blu-ray in an easy way. We will drive Life-style PR
and online initiatives to reach tier 2 consumer segments and we will
co-operate to enhance visibility of Blu-ray Disc at the
shop-front.”
Story filed 9 February
2009
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