Sony Walkman is Generation Y

According to CNET, the “first blue-and-silver Walkman–TPS-L2–debuted 26 years ago in Japan today.”

There was an especially cool viral marketing component to the entire initial phase of the Walkman:

“When the Walkman started shipping, there was no large-scale television advertising campaign, but thanks to various publicity stunts, buzz about the Walkman spread by word of mouth. The initial batch of 30,000 units sold out by the end of August.”

“Similar to Apple’s viral advertising campaigns that have made the iPod such a phenomenon, Sony handed out its Walkman to various celebrities and asked them to try it. Magazine photographs of young pop stars listening to a Walkman certainly helped to popularize the product.”