• by Emily Burg , May 14, 2007

Japanese home electronics company Pioneer Corp., an innovator of plasma televisions, is marking its tenth anniversary of flat panel sales in the U.S. by introducing a new, advanced line of flat-screen TVs, and it has hired ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles to help rebrand them.

TBWA/Chiat/Day is a renowned image maker in the high-tech space, having created the iconic silhouette campaign for Apple's iPods, although it no longer works with the company.

Pioneer began redesigning its flat-screen TVs earlier this year with the launch of an engineering initiative dubbed Project KURO--a Japanese word meaning deep, black and penetrating. Last week, Pioneer unveiled eight new models that display deeper blacks, richer colors and harmonize each display element for greater performance that the company says tops any of its other flat display panels. They are due to ship this summer and fall.

TBWA/Chiat/Day will take its marketing lead from Project KURO, highlighting Pioneer's deep-black plasma expertise--and will promote the company's higher-end market message across all its home entertainment product lines.

Chairman and COO Lee Clow will oversee the project, which makes TBWA/Chiat/Day Pioneer's home entertainment agency of record, handling Pioneer's global flat-panel TV business, as well as additional audio and video assignments. The campaign will include brand strategy, creative, and in some markets, media buying through Omnicom Media group, and will launch this fall.

"I happen to have a Pioneer Elite at home now, but the next generation seems to take the theatrical intensity of film to a kind of rich, contrast-laden place that, as an art director, I love," Clow said in a statement. "I just happen to love the saturation and richness of the picture that we're trying to capture in the marketing and advertising initiatives."