Major electronics maker Matsushita will scrap its National domestic brand name and start a marketing blitz called "Hello Panasonic" in an ambitious drive to boost market share, company officials said Tuesday.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is changing its company name to Panasonic Corp. next month, dropping the name of its founder, Konosuke Matsushita, one of the pioneering entrepreneurs credited with leading Japan's modernization after World War II.
The move symbolizes the company's growing international stature and ambitions. Panasonic has long been the firm's brand name abroad.
The end of the National name also highlights the company's break from its past, when it built its customer base in Japan through an army of electronics salesman-cum-repairman at small National stores around the country.
Under its new marketing campaign, Matsushita will push products that connect digitally — such as audiovisual products that link with each other and home security gadgets that link with car navigation equipment, it said.
Products will also become more green to respond to growing public concerns about global warming, it said. Sixty percent of electricity consumed in a household is from appliances, according to Matsushita.
Executive Vice President Shunzo Ushimaru said his company has boosted its domestic market share from 20 percent in 2001 to 28 percent this year, and hopes to lift that further.
Although cars tend to be viewed as one of the biggest household purchases, the combined value of electronics products bought by a family is about ¥2.9 million — more than the average price of a car, he said.
"We hope to have greater impact on homes with our products by unifying our brand into Panasonic," Ushimaru said.