There are these brands that everyone knows and about which you don’t really know that much. JVC is one of them. Many people have certainly come into contact with the electronics from the Japanese manufacturer, but unlike Apple and Co., you don’t have a face or a specific image in your mind. So who is behind the JVC brand?
If JVC had had some sort of Steve Jobs, the brand’s glamor factor might be a little greater today. Because behind the three letters of the Japanese manufacturer of hi-fi devices, televisions, video devices and camcorders lies almost 100 years of history. Without the Japanese company there would be no VHS and therefore no worldwide standard for video devices. Samsung, Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony – today almost every child knows these Asian electronics giants. JVC should also play in this league, but remains a silent giant for very specific reasons.
The company’s elegant restraint cannot even be explained by its Asian roots. Because behind JVC is actually the US manufacturer of gramophones and shellac records Victor Talking Machine Company.
In the early 1920s, the name Victor made everyone’s eyes shine. At the time, the US company was one of the pioneers when it came to making sound recordings audible. To increase fame, Victor establishes locations around the world. This is how the Victor Company of Japan, Limited – or JVC for short – opened its doors in 1927.
As a Victor subsidiary based in Yokohama, JVC took care of improving records from the 1930s. The necessary playback device is also produced at the same time, the so-called phonograph.
However, the corporate marriage between the USA and Japan does not last very long due to historical developments. The Second World War ended the connection. JVC initially works independently during and after the war.
A takeover kickstarted JVC
From the early 1950s, JVC resumes production. In the meantime, the Japanese are producing not only phonographs and records, but also radios, loudspeakers and the first televisions.
In 1954, Japanese competitor Matsushita took over JVC’s business. The Panasonic brand also belongs to the Matsushita Group, and at the same time it is being established abroad as an export brand.
After acquiring JVC, Matsushita doesn’t make the mistake of squeezing all of JVC’s businesses into a pre-cut pattern. On the contrary: JVC remains as a brand name and retains all the freedom to make your own decisions.
The decision turns out to be advantageous for both companies. JVC has long toyed with the idea of not only making sound recordings reproducible, but also playing sound and image simultaneously. The first ideas for a video device mature.
Matsushita, on the other hand, will focus more on the audio area from now on, but will benefit from the experience of the new subsidiary brand. The first common device is in 1956 the first stereo record player to bear the JVC brand name.
JVC makes VHS a success
From the 1960s, the development team at JVC worked on a technical way of recording images and sound and playing the recording on a device on the television. At that time, many companies were working on a home video recorder. A real race begins.
In addition to JVC, Philips, Sony and Grundig are also in the running. In the so-called format war, the Dutch initially have the edge. In 1971, Philips presented the VCR format, which was the first commercially successful video format at the time. In 1975, Sony followed up with Betamax.
JVC observed the entire development and a year later, in 1976, delivered its own format: VHS. Although the Japanese are not the first, they have noticed what the competition has done wrong.
That’s why JVC had a plan from the start to market the VHS format as quickly and worldwide as possible. First of all, JVC presents the HR-3300, the first VHS video recorder for home use.
Much more important: JVC gives generous licenses to other manufacturers. As a result, many VHS devices soon flood the market, technical development progresses and device prices drop. With this approach, JVC manages to build VHS into a worldwide video standard in just a few years and push the competition with their formats out of the market.
In the next few years, JVC invests a lot of energy in the further development of the VHS format. At the same time, the Japanese electronics company is developing other video devices for ambitious hobby filmmakers.
Here, too, JVC secretly manages to quietly set a mark. In 1995, the company introduced the first pocket-sized digital camcorder. After that, however, it is noticeably quieter around JVC.
Resale and new chapter
With the beginning of the new millennium, the market for consumer electronics is craving new devices at ever shorter intervals. A company like JVC, which has always attached great importance to development, cannot or does not want to keep up with the pace.
The strict separation of domestic and foreign business is now proving to be a stumbling block. In Japan, JVC sells high-quality hi-fi equipment under the Victor brand, the original founding name.
Abroad, the company’s products carry the brand name JVC. These devices also meet the highest demands, but do not reach the high standard of domestic devices. This is now taking revenge in the form of severe sales slumps in foreign markets.
This development leads to the separation of Matsushita and JVC. The electronics company Kenwood takes over the company shares. In 2008, this became JVC Kenwood Holdings Inc., which three years later became JVCKENWOOD Corporation based in Yokohama.
Even if a US company provided midwifery services, JVC has never denied its Asian roots. Perhaps the company has stuck with its two-pronged sales model for too long. In a world that is turning faster and faster, this might be the wrong strategy.
However, JVC is still there. While other competitors have speculated on quick sales and failed, JVC has always put a lot of time into the quality of its products. The company has never served the masses with it, but has made a tech-savvy fan base happy. And for them, JVC is and will remain a silent giant.