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January 1958 signaled a new departure for Totsuko as it adopted "Sony"
as its corporate name.
The question of whether to make the brand and company names the same had
long been debated. Three years had passed since the Sony label was first
applied on Totsuko products --- a time lapse suggesting that a great deal of
careful thought had been given to the change.
It was certainly an innovative step. At the time it was highly unusual
for a Japanese company to spell its name in Roman letters (or, as when
"Sony" is written in Japanese, in phonetic script rather than Chinese
characters). In those days IBM (International Business Machines), NCR
(National Cash Register), and RCA (Radio Corporation of America) existed,
but the initials IBM, NCR, and RCA had no status other than as
abbreviations.
Totsuko's principle bank, Mitsui, took immediate exception to the idea.
"It's taken you ten years since the company's foundation to make the name
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo widely known in the trade. After all this time, what is
your intention by proposing such a nonsensical change?" Many of the
company's own staff sympathized --- they could not accept the proposed
change either. This question of name recognition troubled Ibuka and Morita
more than anyone. They knew "Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo" was not readily
understood overseas. In the past they had tried translating the name as
Tokyo Teletech or Tokyo Telecommunications, but this did not solve the
problem of pronouncing "Totsuko," nor did the name indicate what the
company did. In Japan the existing name was working just fine. And the
company had made its mark as a leading manufacturer of tape recorders,
accounting for 90% of Japan's total production in terms of value.
And even after the brand name Sony came into use, the company was
commonly known as "Totsuko, makers of Sony." The company still felt a
certain pride and fondness for the name they had labored to build.
" It'll enable us to expand worldwide," Morita would say when asked by
both insiders and outsiders about the reason for the change. "That's why
we're going through the trouble of making ourselves the Sony Corporation."
This was the crux of the matter as far as Morita was concerned.
Some suggested "What about Sony Electronic Industries, or something
with 'electric' in it?" Morita was firm. They would stick with Sony
Corporation. He was against including any form of "electric" in the name.
Since its inception, Totsuko had developed a succession of different
products --- tape recorders, transistors, transistor radios --- and they
could very well branch out in some new direction again. It might not be
electric-related at all. It could be planes or cars. In fact, no one --- not
even Ibuka or Morita --- could define the company's sphere, or predict what
they might be making in a couple of years' time. In view of the company's
nature, Morita was no doubt correct in insisting on flexibility. Both
Chairman Bandai and President Ibuka gave their approval.
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| A selection of Soni-Tapes. |
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The domestic sales firm, Totsuko Shoji, had changed its name to Sony
Shoji the previous year and business was better than ever. And by that time,
the Sony trademark was more readily recognized than the company name had
ever been. Morita had taken the long view: "There'll be some confusion at
first, but only immediately before and immediately after the changeover.
Give it a while and we'll have nothing to worry about."
For the sake of the future, Totsuko cast off the name it had campaigned
so hard, and so successfully, to sell to clients over the past ten years.
This was more than a ploy to make the company better known. It represented a
commitment by Morita and the others, a resolve to show the world that they
could do it. And, as Morita had envisaged, Sony's reputation grew around the
world.
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