Sony's Underwater Xperia Aquatech Store Debuts Today, Only Open for Three Days

Starting today, select customers, VIPs, and members of the press can experience the Sony underwater Xperia Aquatech store. Located at The World Islands off the coast of Dubai, the store (sitting 4 meters underwater) is designed to drive home that Sony’s Xperia Z lineup of tablets and smartphones are waterproof. Sony hopes that, beyond wowing select customers, their underwater store also scores big with social media and has created the following hashtag (#XperiaAquatech) to help promote the event. Currently the price of the publicity stunt (which is what this really is) has yet to be and likely won’t be disclosed. Of course it’s not like Sony is creating this unique experience in what’s already a remote country with an small population and would severely limit the days its available versus just running a traditional marketing campaign on TV, like Apple, which has proven to be effective.

This just in; the Sony underwater Xperia Aquatech store will only be open for three days. Well ok…let’s ~~rant~~ talk after the jump.

Those of you who’ve read our previous coverage on the Xperia Aquatech stores may have picked up on the fact that I’m not quite onboard with this campaign. While it’s truly a unique marketing stunt and what’s shaping up to be a very attractive store if the concept art is anything to go by, the whole thing doesn’t simply make sense….for Sony. You see, Sony is hurting, especially in mobile where they will announce a $1.7 billion loss for the division in FY 2014. In fact, Sony Mobile is doing so badly that Sony has practically given up on ever being a major player and instead wants to focus on PlayStation, their last growth division (outside of imaging).

Now I don’t have any form of insider information on this stunt but, seeing how it involves creating a structure for underwater usage and needing to escort customers to it via trained divers, it’s likely not cheap. As with such things, there is a huge amount of money that goes into getting things set which is where the real cost is. Many directors (and especially David Fincher) will tell you that when shooting (digital), the cheapest part is when they yell action. Once you’ve paid for the talent there and all the lights and sets, each take doesn’t cost that much more.

In Sony’s case, the real cost for this marketing stunt is during planning and production. Once all that money has been spent on crafting the idea, creating the store, and getting the licenses required, the easy part comes which is to simply kick off and host the event. That’s why it’s especially absurd that the whole thing will only last three days. It’s not as if they’re in middle of Times Square where nearly 500,000 people walk there each day. In fact, I doubt if a thousand people will even be able to visit the store though I’m sure Sony will be fully promoting the event from the beach as well which should help drive some more buzz towards it.

All of this brings me to my real point. This venture, be it for three days or three weeks, isn’t cheap and Sony needs something more than a one off marketing blitz. Instead, Kaz and company need to figure out the roadmap of their different divisions, see which products can drive growth towards one another and create a consistent marketing campaign that pushes their key strengths home. Samsung thought they could forever ride Apple’s coattails by creating ad after ad bashing Apple instead of telling people why they should buy a Samsung device. Last quarter, Samsung’s mobile division, much like Sony, saw sales decline by nearly 60%.

Knowing this was coming, Samsung was hoping that Galaxy S5, their newest flagship would help the company rebound. Just last week, it was revealed that over 4 million Galaxy S5 units sit in warehouses unsold (a 40% decline) as sales continue to slide. This should be worrisome to Sony because Samsung is a company who already spends a ridiculous amount of marketing dollars on television, radio, and print ads and they’re faltering as consumers are beginning to discover a company who has no true identity.

So if I find this stunt problematic, it’s because it represents everything that Sony is doing wrong. Seriously Sony, while a neat idea, please take money like this and the $280 million you will save from your cancelled FIFA sponsorship and instead invest it in good and consistent marketing. While you’re at it, don’t worry too much on what Apple or Samsung are doing and instead focus on telling consumers what makes your products worthy of their purchase. While it’s true that a good product sells itself, consumers must first know it exists and currently, most consumers have no idea which products Sony makes.