Hitachi Goes Global for 'War of the Worlds'

Hitachi Goes Global for 'War of the Worlds'

- Hitachi Campaign Brings 'The Ultimate Visual Experience' to World -

TOKYO, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitachi will partner with Paramount Pictures for a worldwide promotional campaign surrounding the upcoming motion picture "War of the Worlds," it was announced today by Kazuhiro Tachibana, general manager of Hitachi's Consumer Business Group. The most highly anticipated film of the summer, "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, hits theaters worldwide on June 29.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991206/PARLOGO)

Hitachi's ambitious promotional campaign, entitled "The Ultimate Visual Experience," marks the first step of Hitachi's new marketing strategy incorporating its keyword "Glocal" and will include global advertising and marketing activities. In Japan in particular, various campaign activities are planned targeting the summer bonus sales period.

"Our 'The Ultimate Visual Experience' campaign is a perfect match between Spielberg and Cruise's pursuit of the world's best in film entertainment and Hitachi's commitment to the highest picture quality through its digital consumer electronic products," said Kazuhiro Tachibana. "We are thrilled that our high-quality products will not only be seen in the film, but will also be leveraged for a global promotion."

"We are proud to have broken new ground by partnering with Hitachi. This is Hitachi's first foray into the branded entertainment space with a feature film," said Lisa DiMarzio, SVP Worldwide Marketing Partnerships, Paramount Pictures. "Hitachi's global promotion with 'War of the Worlds' is a multi-tiered campaign that spans television, print, and online, and also includes several innovative consumer activation tactics that will be unveiled throughout the campaign."

The "War of the Worlds" partnership, led by the Consumer Business Group established in October, 2004, is the first of its kind for Hitachi. Previously, Hitachi advertising or promotion activities had been performed individually in each region (North America, Europe, China, and Asia) and country. Hitachi's approach to the "War of the Worlds" campaign is based upon a new marketing strategy using the keyword "Glocal," a coined term combining "global" and "local," and is designed to improve Hitachi's consumer products business and strengthen its brand power on a global scale.

Paramount Pictures distributes the film in North America and UIP distributes in international markets, including Japan. "The Ultimate Visual Experience" campaign will launch on May 1, 2005 with a groundbreaking convergence of entertainment and technology and continue through August 31, 2005.

Hitachi's summer campaign with "War of the Worlds" occurs during a period lacking any other events with worldwide appeal, such as the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics, so Hitachi will aggressively utilize the timeliness of "The Ultimate Visual Experience" to increase sales of its plasma televisions.

The global partnership with "War of the Worlds" marks a new period for Hitachi regarding how they approach entertainment and marketing. Adopting a new method combining "Product Placement," whereby Hitachi contributes the company's products for use in films, and "Cross Promotion," which supports and advertises the company or its products by utilizing product images in films, Hitachi is aiming to not simply carry out conventional advertising activities for product exposure, but to provide news hooks, deliver messages to stakeholders, and improve its company image.

Hollywood films are said to be the world's largest contents business, totaling 1.5 billion in attendance at movie theaters worldwide per year. In addition to first-run films at theaters, films are distributed through secondary media, such as satellite channels, cable channels, DVD, videos, broadband, and in-flight entertainment. Hitachi thus expects a significant influence on its sales and brand image from tie-ins with epic films that have global appeal, such as "War of the Worlds."

The company will gather employees in charge of sales and marketing worldwide for a global marketing conference to be held from April 25 to 26, 2005, in order to implement its marketing campaign worldwide.

This summer, the earth goes to war. From Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures comes the motion picture event of the year: "War of the Worlds," directed by Steven Spielberg and starring international superstar Tom Cruise. A contemporary retelling of the H.G. Wells seminal classic, the sci-fi adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it.

Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures present an Amblin Entertainment/ Cruise|Wagner Production, a Steven Spielberg film, "War of the Worlds." Directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp based on the novel by H.G. Wells, the film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson. Paula Wager is executive producer.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 326,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2003 (ended March 31, 2004) consolidated sales totaled 8,632.4 billion yen ($81.4 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com/

Contacts:

Matt Takahashi Hitachi America, Ltd. (650) 244-7902, E-mail masahiro.takahashi@hal.hitachi.com

Nancy Kirkpatrick Executive Vice President, Worldwide Publicity Paramount Pictures (323) 956-5824

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991206/PARLOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Paramount Pictures

CONTACT: Matt Takahashi of Hitachi America, Ltd., +1-650-244-7902, masahiro.takahashi@hal.hitachi.com; or Nancy Kirkpatrick, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Publicity of Paramount Pictures, +1-323-956-5824

Web site: http://www.hitachi.com/

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