Eco-friendly theme to boost Panasonic in China market

The high-end model, which costs about four times as much as ordinary machines, uses less water because of its distinctive design.

"We want to use the new washing machine to upgrade its corporate image," explained Mary Fan, director of client services for Grey, the agency behind the campaign. "The water-saving benefit says Panasonic is not just a white goods manufacturer, it is also a responsible citizen that cares about people and the environment."

One ad for Panasonic's new eco-friendly washing machine uses Chinese place names that contain the water symbol, with serrated lines around the relevant character, accompanied by the ecological warning: 'If we carry on using water, familiar places will become unfamiliar.' Another ad showing a newborn baby swimming underwater carries the line: 'Our design mission is to respect life and its source, water'.

Media planning and buying was handled by MediaCom. The ads will run until Chinese New Year.

All ads carry Panasonic's new slogan, 'Ideas for life', a banner for breakthroughs in design, technology or ease of use developed in-house last year after parent Matsushita grouped its home appliance products under the Panasonic brand and dropping its National brand outside Japan.

National products used to account for about a fifth of Matsushita sales in China.

Panasonic hired Grey following a competitive pitch in the summer, with a brief to supply new creative ideas to help the company stand out in China's increasingly homogenous market for white goods and audio-visual products. Panasonic is facing strong competition from high-end national brands such as Haier and TCL, European companies such as Siemens and Korean firms such as LG and Samsung.