Japanese electronics giant SONY’s brand name is taking a big hit in consumer perception, after hackers committed one of the largest internet breaches in history against the company.
Sony pulled the plug on the PlayStation network back on April 19 after finding nearly 77 million user accounts had been compromised; including names, addresses and possibly credit card details from user accounts of its video game online network. A second security breach compromised users of its Online Entertainment Portal, used by PC gamers to play online.
SONY was one of the top three perceived electronics brands by adults 18+ up for much of the last year – until the news about the security breach surfaced. They have now fallen several spots, according to YouGov BrandIndex’s daily tracking – and as of the last week now rank behind Apple, LG, HP, Kodak, Dell and Samsung
On April 25th, the SONY brand began its descent with adults 18+ from a 30.6 buzz score to its current 13.6 score. Mirroring this fall, the PlayStation 3 brand has tumbled from 12.6 down to 3.9 in the same time period.
At the same time, the Nintendo Wii’s perception has moved up. Its buzz score jumped from 19.6 on April 25th to 29.8 this past Tuesday.
YouGov BrandIndex's measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback. Sony, PS3 and Nintendo Wii were measured using YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?"
