Excellent Marketing Initiatives by Philips

Introduction

Companies sail through the waves of time and difficulties to sustain themselves in a competitive environment. It requires product innovation, customer relationship management, employee satisfaction, and effective communication to stay successful in this competitive business environment. Philips has a brand that has been doing it for decades, and hence it is crucial for us to learn from its journey.

Image − Philips logo

In this article, we will be diving deep into the birth and evolution of Philips and, along with these, the excellent marketing initiatives by Philips, to better understand Philips as a brand and its strategies.

Birth and Growth Trajectory of Philips

Philips was founded in 1891 as Royal Philips Electronics by Anton Philips and Gerard Philips. Philips is also known as Philips & Co. The brand originated in the Netherlands and today has a presence in more than 100 countries. Philips has more than 116,000 employees working to make Philips the most reliable and trustworthy brand.

The aim of Philips has been to provide its customers with technologically advanced products that will make their lives easier and that are also easy to use.

Philips started with the manufacturing of carbon filament lamps and has come up with innovative products like compact discs (CDs), video cassette recorders (VCRs), digital video discs (DVDs), radio cassettes, and others.

Philips is also a market leader in medical diagnostic imaging, patient monitoring systems, energy-efficient lighting solutions, lifestyle solutions for personal well-being and comfortable living, and others.

Excellent Marketing Initiatives By Philips

The branding of Philips started when Anton Philips started creating a logo for Philips using the initials of Philips and Co. In the next logo creation method, Anton used symbols like radio waves and night stars to convey what the brand stands for in simple and aesthetic terms. Philips as a brand has also used postcards, which were a great hit by the brand, to advertise and market the products. Some of the major marketing highlights for Philips are:

Localization of Advertising and Marketing

During the tenure of 1930 to 1995, Philips as a brand created, produced and launched local advertisements. This was the case because Philips wanted to be the household brand and wanted to connect with customers better. Though Philips' strategy was successful, there was a shortcoming: Philips was not recognized as a global brand. The localization of ads also meant more cost and effort for the company.

Standardization Of Brand And Global Image

Between 1995 and 1970, Philips faced huge competition from Japanese-oriented brands. The Japanese products were available at a lower cost and were flooded into the market, hence taking over the share of Philips. Japanese brands were able to sell similar products at a lower cost because of production efficiency and large manufacturing units. To combat these challenges, Philips took major steps. Many non-profitable factories were shut down, Philips started developing big and better production houses that would meet consumer demand, and many other lines of work were developed that were not related to the core workings of Philips, like defense and home appliances. Philips also joined hands with companies like AT & T and Siemens AG for research and development expenses.

Marketing campaign “Let’s make things better” by Philips

Philips as a way to combat the Japanese companies and the increasing competition started with the new marketing campaign Let’s make things better by Philips. This campaign helped Philips convey their core values of how they want to make the lives of their customers easy and the world a better place to live with their products. The campaign was rolled out by the company in all markets globally, and all the products were aligned with the marketing campaign. This helped in solving the catering problem at Philips. Earlier, with the localization strategy of Philips, Philips as a company was able to win the hearts of locals, but there wasn’t unity and a sense of purpose among the employees because they belonged to the same bigger umbrella of Philips. With the "Let's Make Things Better" campaign of Philips, Philips was able to create a sense of belonging among the employees and the customers.

“Sense and Sensibility” Marketing Campaign by Philips

The marketing campaign "Let’s Make Things Better" by Philips was a success, but the management team was concerned that the campaign was not conveying the pillars of Philips, which were design excellence and technical superiority of the product. Hence, Philips came up with the campaign Sense and Sensibility.

The three founding pillars of the campaign were −

• The products should be designed around the customer and their needs.

• The product and its benefits should be easy to experience.

• The product or innovations by Philips should be technologically advanced.

With these three parameters, Philips has now continued to develop products. This has been the core of the business ideology of Philips, hence why the Sense and Sensibility marketing campaign by Philips has been so successful and impactful for the company.

Research and Customer Survey by Philips

What do customers and clients think about Philips? Philips was stuck on how to move ahead. Though it had its deliverables and products in place, they were confused about how to communicate with the customers, and they were not sure how customers felt about the brand and its products.

Hence, Philips did a customer survey or market research. In this research, Philips took the views of 1650 customers and 180 business clients of Philips and also undertook research among 26000 respondents to measure brand equity. The results were favorable for Philips and provided them with much-needed guidance. The research provided Philips with knowledge of its target consumers (Adults between the age groups of 35 and 55), what do they want? (Products that were technologically advanced yet simple to use.) How do they want it? (Consumers did not want to look at complicated manuals to learn how the product functions; they want products with simple instructions) and the knowledge that customers find Philips to be a reliable brand.

Conclusion

Philips today is a household brand because of its customer-driven, technologically advanced products. Philips is present in more than 100 countries and has a revenue of $30.9 billion. Philips holds such a strong and impactful position today in almost every market because Philips has always believed in providing customers with products that they need, innovative products, and products that are good in quality.

Philips today is a brand in itself and holds a very remarkable position in the hearts and minds of its customers. Philips today is the world's largest electronic company and one of the most respectable and reliable companies. Philips always put its customers before its needs, and customers made sure to place Philips high above its competitors.