A strange bird took flight on April 29 from Fujikawa runway in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The world's first manned, disposable-battery-powered aircraft--running on 160 AAs--flew for 90 seconds in a test run to display the capability of Panasonic's new Oxyride Extreme Power batteries, released last year. Panasonic, best known for its consumer electronics, is planning to blast its way into the U.S. battery market with a new technology and a ton of aggressive brand campaigning. The company, a division of Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., craves no less than the top spot in the $4.1 billion U.S. disposable-battery industry. "When we decide we want to be No. 1 in a category, we will be No. 1," says Brian Kimberlin, director of marketing for Panasonic's North American battery unit. The company says its Oxyride battery works better than competitors' in power-hogging devices such as digital cameras. Yet it takes lots of gumption--or arrogance--to make such a statement, given that Panasonic, while No. 1 in Japan, has less than 2% of the U.S. market.
To reach its goal, Panasonic has to make copper come a cropper--and beat the bunny. It is going to be one nasty encounter. Duracell and Energizer, which enjoy about 29% and 25% market share, respectively, are two of the best-marketed brands in the U.S. Duracell, a.k.a. "the CopperTop battery," now owned by Procter & Gamble, has won five Effie Awards since 1992 for most effective ad campaign. As for Energizer, part of Energizer Holdings, its roaming pink bunny is a marketing icon. The 17-year-old Energizer Bunny is part of the vernacular, used to describe anything that continues relentlessly--sports figures, campaigning politicians, your motormouthed cousin.
Panasonic figures the U.S. market is critical geography for Oxyride. "We understand that the U.S. is the toughest market in the world," says Thomas Taguchi, director of Panasonic's global battery business unit. "But it's also the biggest. If we can succeed there, we can improve our global market share."
Kimberlin says his strategy is to target people in their early 20s, who are tech savvy and the biggest users of the high-drain devices Oxyride is most suited to run: digital cameras, MP3 players and handheld games. So the company advertises heavily on youth-magnet media such as MySpace com Yahoo! Instant Messenger and MTV com Panasonic has also become the battery sponsor of Anheuser-Busch theme parks and the Dew Action Sports Tour, a competition featuring skateboarding, BMX biking and freestyle motocross.
Just to get right in the face of Energizer, the company has designated June 14 as "Neuter Your Bunny Day," with you-know-who as the obvious target. A van will cruise New York City plastered in ads for Oxyride and NeuterYour Bunny.com a website extolling the benefits of both Oxyride and rabbit neutering, culminating with the neutering of about a dozen bunnies at a local veterinary clinic.
Energizer and Duracell, having witnessed the inroads a determined Japanese competitor like Fuji could make in film--in retail channels similar to batteries--are on guard. Duracell is promoting the same Oxyride technology in its newly released, higher-priced PowerPix-brand batteries, which, ironically, it acquired from Panasonic in a hush-hush licensing agreement that neither company will comment on.