Panasonic Issues Call-to-Action for Families to Spend More Quality Time Together.

Dr. Cindy Bunin-Nurik, Founder Of Mommy and Me Association, Shares Insights on Family Quality Time Index

NEW YORK, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic, a leader in High Definition flat panel TVs, today launched a call-to-action for families to pledge to spend more quality time together, as part of its recently launched Bring Back Family Time Campaign. This family time pledge is part of Panasonic's Living in High Definition program that explores how the latest High Definition television and video technologies can enrich the American lifestyle.

To pledge, family members of all ages can visit http://www.livinginhd.com/ where they can also discover tips on how families can leverage technology to spend more quality time with each other.

In conjunction with the pledge, Panasonic teamed up with Dr. Cindy, a nationally recognized family therapist and founder of the Mommy and Me Association, to look at insights from The Panasonic Family Time Index, a new survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation that explored adults' and teenagers' perceptions when it comes to spending quality time together with their family. The goal of the survey was to gauge insights on family time and provide practical tips for creating quality time as a family.

One of the key findings of the survey revealed that 91 percent of parents feel that spending quality time with their families is a meaningful experience and four out of five describe it as fun, educational and exciting, yet 57 percent, say they don't have a dedicated family night.

"Pick a night of the week for family time that works for everyone and stick to it ... no excuses," suggests Dr. Cindy. "Start planning these nights when the children are young to lay the foundation that family night is an important ritual. It is also important to allow communication to occur in a natural environment that revolves around an activity that is engaging to everyone."

The September 2007 Panasonic Family Time Index further probed activities and approaches adults and teenagers engage in as a family. Despite the generational gap, many of the family time activities that parents participated in when they were younger hold true today amongst teenagers. Eating a meal together, taking weekend trips, watching movies together and talking to each other all top the list as activities parents and teenagers would most want to participate in when spending quality time together.

"The good news unveiled from the Panasonic Family Time Index is that families don't have to stress over trying to plan meaningful new activities to spend quality time together," said Dr. Cindy. "The key is to find ways within everyday moments to reinvent traditional family time activities."

"The hectic pace of most people's lives has really impacted the amount of quality time they spend with their families," said Debra Bass, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company's Vice President of Consumer Marketing. "Through our Living in High Definition program, we're exploring how HD technologies can impact family quality time. Through our learnings from the various facets of this program, we plan to offer consumers creative ideas they can use to help reinvent family time using HD technology."

After reviewing the responses of parents and teenagers from The Panasonic Family Time Index, Dr. Cindy developed tips on how to help families reinvent family time, many of which utilize HD technology to keep it fresh and exciting. These tips, as well as other key learning from the survey can be found at http://www.panasonic.com/livinginhd/pdf/dr_cindy_tips.pdf.

Survey Methodology

These findings are from a survey conducted on the telephone September 20- 23, 2007 among a random national sample of 470 adults who have children at home and 250 teens aged 12-17. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percent among the total sample, 4.5 percent among adults and 6.2 percent among 12-17 year olds. CARVAN(R) Omnibus services from Opinion Research Corporation of Princeton, NJ, conducted the research.

About The Living In High Definition Program

Panasonic's integrated Living In High Definition program includes a nationwide multi-truck tour that is bringing consumers a hands-on experience with Panasonic's suite of High Definition products, and an experiential program, in association with researchers from the Center for Urban Research and Policy at Columbia University, that will explore and document how High Definition technologies can enrich the American lifestyle. As part of the program, as many as 30 families will be awarded a $20,000 suite of High Definition products including Plasma HDTVs, Blu-ray Players, HD Camcorders, Digital Still Cameras and other products and services.

About Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company

Based in Secaucus, N.J., Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company (PCEC), a market and technology leader in High Definition television, is a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic's exclusive Panasonic Plasma Concierge customer support program (888-972-6276) is administered through its Virginia-based Call Center, recognized as a Certified "Center of Excellence" by the Center for Customer-Driven Quality(TM) at Purdue University. Information about Panasonic products is available at http://www.panasonic.com/. Additional company information for journalists is available at http://www.panasonic.com/pressroom.

CONTACT: Chris De Maria, [phone], [e-mail], or Jeff Samuels, [phone], [e-mail], both of Panasonic; or Adam Paige of Cohn & Wolfe, [phone], [e-mail], for Panasonic

Web site: http://www.panasonic.com/ http://www.livinginhd.com/ http:/// http://www.panasonic.com/pressroom http://www.panasonic.com/livinginhd/pdf/dr_cindy_tips.pdf