Sony in a Word: ‘Quality’, ‘PlayStation’, ‘Television’

The majority of Americans use positive words to describe Sony, which they view as a quality brand. When asked what one word comes to mind when thinking about Sony, the most frequent responses were quality, PlayStation, television and expensive.

In a national survey by Researchscape, conducted September 8 to 30, 2012, with 1,030 U.S. adults, 51% of respondents described the company with a positive term, 30% a neutral word and only 19% a negative term. Women were more likely to use positive terms to describe the brand, with 57% using a positive word or phrase, compared to only 45% of men.

Sony is definitely seen as a quality brand: 69 used the word quality, 26 good, 23 great, 22 reliable, 12 dependable and 12 innovative. It’s also seen as a hip brand: 17 called it entertaining, 16 fun, 12 cool, 10 sleek, 9 amazing and 7 awesome.

Of course, this is seen as making the brand expensive, which is the word 29 used to describe Sony. Another 10 said overpriced, compared to just 7 who labeled it cheap and 3 who labeled it affordable. Other negatives related to the age of the brand: 16 called it old, 5 said it was declining, 4 failing and 3 dying.

Count	Term	Sentiment
69	Quality	1
56	PlayStation	0
33	Television	0
29	Expensive	-1
28	Electronics	0
27	Music	0
26	Good	1
23	Great	1
22	Reliable	1
19	Japanese	0
17	Entertaining	1
16	Fun	1
16	Old	-1
13	Okay	0
12	Cool	1
12	Dependable	1
12	Innovative	1
10	Games	0
10	Overpriced	-1
10	Sleek	1
10	Technology	0
9	Amazing	1
9	Gaming	0
7	Advanced	1
7	Awesome	1
7	Cheap	0
7	Excellent	1
7	Nice	1
7	Trustworthy	1
7	Walkman	0

When it comes to subbrands, 56 mentioned PlayStation, 7 Walkman and 4 VAIO. (Note that Walkman, known originally as an iconic portable cassette player, has continued as a brand name for a series of digital audio players and, briefly, as a line of cellphones.) When it comes to product categories, 33 respondents said television or TV, 28 said electronics, 27 said music, 19 said games or gaming, 10 technology and 4 said radio. Only 2 respondents said computers and 1 respondent said laptops; only 2 referred to films (using the words pictures, as in Sony Pictures, and movies).