electronics

Panasonic App Lets Users Play With Facial Hair

Panasonic/app

 

Panasonic is going for a decidedly retro concept with its first iPhone application, a sort of digital update of the Wooly Willy game in which kids used a magnet to move metal shavings onto a cartoon face.

In Panasonic's new application, the Panasonic Beard Buster, people can use an iPhone camera to take a picture of their own face (or upload an existing one), draw facial hair on themselves and then use a virtual Panasonic shaver to remove and design the facial hair. "It's a great opportunity to get a new look for the new year," Walter Taffarello, group marketing manager for Panasonic Home and Health Company, tells Marketing Daily via email. "Aside from the fun utility there is an educational part with links to [our] web site and an educational video."

Developed by 360i, it is the company's first application of any type for Panasonic. While marketers are still sorting out how to best use the mobile technology "app" space, Panasonic felt it was important to reach out to people in "new and alternative ways," Taffarello says. "What we like is that this app is available 24/7, 365 days, and it's global," he says.

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Panasonic will promote the app through traditional public relations, digital word of mouth (through 360i) and online advertising, as well as through its Web site, Panasonic.com. Through the application, the company is hoping to raise awareness of its new product technology and "showcase that we indeed have the most advanced shaver in the market," Taffarello says. "The app is more geared toward young professionals -- early adopters that want something new and think differently about brand and are not afraid of trying something new."

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