LG Australia, believes that they are in better shape than ever, with the company set to launch several new products that will take them back to the heady days of when “Life Was Good”.Key to the resurrection of the brand has been the total restructure, of the management team claims Michael Doyle general manager of retail following last year’s appliance debacle, when the company was pulled up by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for misleading consumers.
Doyle says that the appointment of Nick Gibson as marketing director late last year had led to a “marketing transformation” at LG Australia and that this year LG will concentrate on resurrecting the brand.
“At both a retail and consumer lever our brand value has climbed and we now have the products and the structures in pace to deliver on our brand promises”.
Yesterday LG launched a brand new LG home entertainment collection of productions which includes a new Smart TV, which the Korean company claims delivers a better 3D TV experience than their arch rival Samsung.
LG who were the #1 TV brand last week in Australia, across LED, Plasma and LCD believe that they can give Samsung a “run for their money”.
A survey of six journalists who attended the recent Samsung launch and the recent LG launch saw 70% claiming that LG appears to have a superior 3D offering because of the introduction, of new low cost 3D glasses and the elimination of several problems that had plagued original 3D models.
Tim Barnes the senior marketing manager for LG home entertainment, admits that last year’s LG TVs had problems. During a presentation at today’s launch event he identified those problems as “crosstalk issues, viewing angle problems, poor 3D glasses which were also expensive” he said. He also identified their 2010 3D display as having black display problems which saw an image darken when consumer put on a pair of 3D glasses.
“What is important going forward is the LG brand and the product experience that consumers get from LG products. Our new Cinema 3D TV offering we believe is superior to our competitors and we will demonstrate this in-store” he said.
When asked whether all vendors including LG had sold consumer a dud 3D experience last year he said “Technology is evolutionary and with early adopters you can get both a good and bad experience” he said.
Doyle told ChannelNews that during the past 12 months he has made 4 trips to Korea and that Korean management were now working closer with the new local management and were committed to turning the LG brand around in Australia.
“We have the right team in place in Australia we have also put in place procedures and processes, that will ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again. We are also working closely with retailers who are today looking more to the major brands to help them. Retail is tough at the moment and we believe we have the products and the marketing to deliver for them”.
ChannelNews believes that LG is looking at a major second half marketing blitz to lift their brand awareness in Australia. The campaign will be linked with major in store education programs.
When asked whether the industry would see a return to promotions and giveaways similar to most major brands engaged in last year Barnes said “No”.
“The promotions we did in the past which was before my time, did not work the Xbox 360 giveaway failed to lift market share despite LG giving away a lot of value. The future is being able to deliver a good product experience, training and education at a retail level. Panasonic, Samsung and LG we all care about our brands however we have to do a better job of delivering a good experience”.
