i3 - November/December 2018 - 34

Consum

er

Techno

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SONY EXECUTIVE
(1949 - )

D

r
onsume

iversification is often
the key to a company's
long-term success
and John Briesch was the key
to Sony's. In the early 1980s, as
Sony's vice president of audio
marketing, Briesch headed
the company's full expansion
into audio components and
spearheaded the industry's
drive to successfully bring the
compact disc to market.
Born in Chicago to John and
Genevieve, Briesch earned
a B.S. from Northern Illinois
University in 1971. After two years
in the Army, Briesch looked for
a marketing/sales position in
a dynamic, growth-oriented
industry.
Briesch joined Sony in 1975
as a Midwest sales rep, rising to
national Hi-Fi sales manager in
1981. In 1982, he was promoted to
vice president of audio marketing
and created the marketing
and distribution strategy for
Sony Audio products, which
had been distributed and sold
by Superscope. Using Sony's
Walkman and the pending CD
as foundations, Briesch soon
established Sony Audio as a leader
in portable audio, component (HiFi) audio and car stereo.
Briesch understood
establishing a new music format

34

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018

Techno

Briesch established Sony Audio as a leader in
portable audio, component (Hi-Fi) audio and
car stereo.
would require a total change in
consumer habits and a redesign
of the music industry. Vinyl
records and compact cassette
tapes were cheap to produce,
had a high replacement demand
and retailers had established
packaging/racking displays
for LPs. Plus, there were no CD
manufacturing facilities in the
U.S. From 1982 through 1984,
Briesch and his team visited
almost every music company
in America, along with more
receptive artists and engineers,
to introduce not only CD
technology, but to explain the
business model and the potential
for future format expansion such
as CD-ROM and video. He signed
licenses with a variety of labels
to produce and sell limited CD
titles in the U.S., which lead to

Sony building the first U.S. CD
manufacturing plant in Indiana.
To ensure fast consumer
acceptance for CD, Briesch
created and co-chaired the
Compact Disc Industry Group,
working with record labels and
hardware competitors to market
the new technology. During
these CD promotions and selling
activities, Briesch also earned
a professional master's degree
from Harvard in 1984.
Frustrated by the lack of audio
options for children at Toys R Us,
Briesch, now a father of young
children with his wife, Cindy,
led the U.S. effort to design
and launch the My First Sony
products in fall of 1986.
In 1987, Briesch became
president of Sony's Consumer
Sales Company, and quickly

transformed Sony into a total
direct sales operation, eliminating
its distributors.
In April 1989, Briesch was
promoted to president of Sony's
Consumer Products Group.
Under his guidance, Sony's annual
consumer electronics sales
revenue surpassed $6 billion
- five times its previous totals -
and Sony became the leading
market shareholder in the U.S.
consumer technology industry
with leading shares in portable
audio, digital imaging, home audio
products and premium television
products. Briesch also led Sony's
introduction of DVD, satellite
receivers, HDTVs and telephones.
In July 1998, Briesch was tapped
to lead Sony's Business Systems
Group, and led the company's
efforts to market directly to end
users via a co-branded credit card
in partnership with Citibank: the
Sony Card, which would attract
more than 900,000 customers
and $2 billion in annual revenue.
Briesch also chaired Sony's first
e-commerce effort in the U.S.,
SonyStyle.com, which launched in
November 2000.
After retiring from Sony in
January 2010, Briesch became
an independent consumer
electronics, credit card and loyalty
marketing consultant. 

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I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
http://www.SonyStyle.com
i3 - November/December 2018

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