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Akio Morita in his biography of the Sony Corporation: "Made in Japan" mostly attributed the creation of the Company logo (and the name) to a cultural trend. One spawned by the American occupation of Japan after World War II. In the major cities groups of young "Americanized" Japanese boys began to congregate in groups. The locals called them "Sonny Boys" because of their open adoption of American mannerisms, lingo and appearance. Their modern, hip style seemed to represent the young Morita's and, his cofounder, Masura Ibuka's vision of wanting Sony to be a progressive and forward thinking Company, so they dropped their original name and adopted a shortened spelling of the nickname SONY as their logo. As mentioned in the main text another contributing factor was the huge marketing success of their first portable transistor radio, which was named the Sony and bore that nameplate. Some of their early products sported a "Sony Boy" image etched in solder on one of its circuit boards. This hidden monogram paid lineage to their newly created name, that was growing along with the popularity of their products. This pictographic was only found inside their models for a very short time. It quickly disappeared because it was thought that if it were to become too openly adopted or too recognizable it might possibly cause confusion or dilute the impact of their new name. Above is pictured an early model TV-700U B&W television along with a picture of the corner of it's main circuit board showing where the icon was printed. Here is another interesting tidbit about Sony's name. As with most companies that expected to sell products in a global marketplace, they did an extensive amount of research into how it would translate into other languages. To their delight it was discovered that the word "Sony" had no meaning in most countries and therefor would make an excellent visual trademark for recognition around the world. To see Sony's first radio click the picture. Also take note that the Sony name had not yet taken its present shape and style. |