Panasonic aligns its name with its brand

One of the most impressive communications announcements at CES this year came from Yoshi Yamada, who is chairman and CEO of the America subsidiary of Matsushita Electric. What was such a big deal? It was the fact that as of January 1, Mr. Yamada is now Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America, not Matsushita Corporation of America. After being in the US market for 45 years, the company name will now be the same as the brand it markets its products under. This renaming just makes sense and eliminates consumer confusion.

That said, Panasonic's booth at the show is truly remarkable. The booth is longer than a football field and features over 100 flat panel displays of various kinds (no surprise there because Panasonic is one of the largest manufacturers of plasma panels in the world). I've attached a couple of pictures to give you a sense of the drama of this huge set of displays.