The ‘One Sony’ philosophy has been a key maxim of Sony President Kaz Hirai’s since he took over leadership of the company.

By buying into the world of Sony, consumers get more than just a smartphone; they get a CyberShot camera, Bravia screen, PlayStation gaming technology, as well as the entertainment arms of the business – Sony Music and Sony Pictures. Research told us our consumers were increasingly content hungry, especially around the passion point of music. By partnering with different parts of the Sony business we could deliver the content they were crying out for and deliver against the One Sony strategy

And so, we created Xperia Access: a four month campaign working hand in hand with over 40 of the UK’s leading recording artists to remind consumers what makes Sony so great – the best entertainment delivered on the best tech.

The campaign brought two parts of Sony – Mobile and Music – to work together for the first time ever, a partnership that delivered four months of exclusive content, experiences and access to the UK’s hottest talent.

The results: consumer awareness of Sony smartphones has increased by 50%. And we've moved from 5th to 3rd place in the UK market. Most importantly, we've given our fans an incredible year of music experiences that money can’t buy.

Xperia Access was all about giving fans a glimpse behind the scenes. Staying true to this we hosted our launch event inside Sony Music’s Derry Street offices – somewhere typically off limits to anyone but industry insiders. A performance from Rita Ora culminated in a stage invasion and gave us the launch pad we needed to begin our summer of content.

Over four months we worked with 40 Sony artists to deliver interviews, live performances, and once-in-a-lifetime competitions including chances to appear in music videos and on albums. All content was hosted on a dedicated and branded Vevo landing page and supported by a partnership with The Guardian.

We worked with V Festival to create the Xperia Access stage, which played host to Sony Music stars throughout the weekend including Paloma Faith, Katy B, and Laura Mvula. Again, this generated a wealth of content which we seeded editorially.

The Results – Outputs

503,325 Vevo video views across the whole campaign

49m editorial YouTube playlisting

292 pieces of coverage delivering an OTS of 3.5bn

Outcomes:

Awareness of Sony smartphones grew 50% in four months

Sony moved from 5th to 3rd player in the UK market