Sony Mobile global CMO departs

Sony Mobile’s corporate vice president and chief marketing officer Steve Walker is stepping down after 17 years at the company as it accelerates its strategy to integrate its mobile division more closely with the wider organisation.

Sony Xperia Z

Walker’s departure is part a wider restructure of the sales and marketing organisation, which the company says will support its “One Sony” model of working to bring consumers connected entertainment experiences across different devices. It means its range of products are more likely to be marketed together in the same campaigns to demonstrate Sony’s status as a lifestyle brand, rather than a series of separate activity for each type of device.

His responsibilities will be divided between the wider Sony marketing function and the newly formed product marketing organisation, which is headed up by Jacob Sten. The new sales development division, headed by Hiro Ishizuka will handle the commercial aspects of Walker’s responsibilities.

Sony Mobile’s corporate vice president of sales and marketing Dennis van Schie continues in his role.

Walker joined Ericsson 1996 and has worked in number of senior marketing roles as the company merged with Sony. He was credited with overseeing the global rebranding from Sony Ericsson to Sony Mobile last year and handling its €500m marketing budget.

Most recently, he has driven the launch of the global marketing campaign Sony’s flagship Xperia Z handset, which he says “marks the start of the next chapter in the company’s story”. The campaign has not yet aired in the UK.

It is not yet known whether Walker has a job to, although he says he is moving on to “new challenges”.

Sony reported a 6.9 per cent increase in revenue year on year to $22.4bn in the fourth quarter. The mobile products and communications business reported a 94 per cent increase in revenue year on year.

While the company still reported a $124m loss, it was an improvement on the $1.7bn loss reported in the same period in 2011.

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