And if they were going to invest in a neon sign, it had better be in a prominent place. Ibuka and the management were constantly aware of the need to make their name better known-in short, to advertise. This site was especially significant as it marked the hub of Tokyo's upscale Ginza district.įrom 1955, when Totsuko first began using the Sony name, brand recognition had been slowly gaining ground. The end of 1957 witnessed another event that boosted the visibility of the Totsuko brand name: a Sony neon sign in Sukiyabashi. Moreover, Totsuko was confident that it could achieve this. Totsuko took the bull by the horns and risked using its own brand name because it wanted to make Sony products known and admired around the world. On other goods, the label "Made in Japan" termed synonymous with cheap junk. In those days, the only Japanese products accepted in their own right as high-quality items were Nikon and Canon cameras. Most Japanese radio manufacturers at that time sold their products in the US under an American maker's brand name. This was something Morita had always insisted on, and it was to prove extremely significant. The agreement with Agrod naturally called for use of the Sony trademark. to serve as agent for several Totsuko products including a couple of Sony radios known as the "Baby-corder," and the "Transear." This steady expansion into the export market owed a great deal to Morita's August 1957 trip to the US, when he concluded a long-term agreement with Agrod Co. The November 16 Asahi Shimbun carried the following report: It was such a success that regular shipments could not keep up with year's-end demand, and a JAL plane had to be chartered to air-freight a large consignment. One other unforgettable aspect of the TR-63 was that it was the first transistor radio model to be exported. So intense was popular interest in the new pocketable radio that 50 of them were issued as "the first TR-63 off the line." Logically, of course, there can only be one "first off the line," but because Totsuko's fans were so enthusiastic to own "the first off the line" 50 of them ended up being supplied. He had shirts custom-made for his salesmen featuring a slightly larger pocket. The catch phrase would have lost its punch - except for a little ruse on Morita's part. Unfortunately though, the TR-63 was just barely larger than the pocket on a typical businessman's dress shirt. We now use it without a second thought, but who would ever guess that it originated as a Japanese-English term invented by Totsuko when it launched the TR-63? Today the word "pocketable" appears in English dictionaries. It seems that when the TR-63 came out, radios small enough to be slipped into a pocket were known in the US as "pocket" radios. The selling price of 13,800 yen equalled the monthly paycheck of the avarage Japanese salary earner. The TR-63 also consumed less than half the power. Compared to the 127x76x33mm dimensions of the TR-1 and its four transistors, the TR-63 measured 112x71x32mm and used six transistors for better recetion and output. It measured up favorably against the Regency TR-1 model, which had beaten Totsuko's transistor radio to become the world's first and, until the TR-63, had been the world's smallest. This was to be the world's smallest transistor radio, the TR-63 pocketable radio. Totsuko had another revolutionary product concept up its sleeve, one that would surely capture the public's imagination. As a result, Totsuko received orders through NHK from 200 schools all over the country. The TR-81, brought out at the end of 1956, was chosen by NHK for use by schools in remote areas. Around this time, Totsuko added a number of new models to its range of transistor radios.
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