August 30, 2007
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen;
What you've just seen is something different: a different type of show to launch Aurea -- a product unlike anything that has gone before. We believe Philips is reinventing television viewing.
And to celebrate this, today's presentation includes a world premier movie screening AND a glamorous Paris fashion show on this catwalk – both of which you'll see shortly.
Aurea is still a television – that's true. But with Aurea, Philips brings you television as a true immersive viewing experience, seducing the senses. The Aurea experience is like stepping through a window into a different world, as scenes radiate an aura of light and colour beyond the frame.
So, when it becomes available across Europe from this September, buyers will discover fundamental needs our consumer electronics industry has tended to overlook.
Although CE is built around two words – Consumer and Electronics – our industry tends to emphasize the electronics part. What's different about Philips is our emphasis on the consumer. I'm talking about the wow factor of an all-absorbing, seductive experience that draws viewers right into the movie or show.
Why? We know today's consumers want their home relaxation time to be filled with rich intensity. TV viewing should be as good or better than the movie theatre – but within the intimate cocoon of the home.
And to get that effect we need to reinvent a familiar experience that's been around for more than 60 years, with the help of HD and our Philips Ambilight technology. This breaks the conventions of TV viewing by extending the on-screen colours to the sides of the set, using LED lighting. We know Ambilight works because we've sold over one million of them and we are expecting to sell another million just this year in Europe alone.
So Aurea isn't about gadgetry or showing off advanced technology – it's all about seducing the senses and feeding the emotions. For today's consumers it's not the technology that counts – it's the experience.
As the centrepiece of the Philips line up for 2007, Aurea isn't just a product …..it creates a lifestyle experience. And when it's switched off, Aurea's minimalist profile blends effortlessly into the environment.
So design takes precedence over features. You'll notice Aurea's visual language has moved away from a masculine technology box to a smoother, more feminine approach integrated into the home environment.
Of course, Aurea is also a very advanced TV with a wealth of hidden features – I don't want to disappoint the technical writers here. Aurea is exclusively available in 42 inch and contains a full High Definition 1080 p LCD panel. It's powered by our Perfect Pixel HD engine, delivering breathtaking visual quality in full HD.
It takes Philips' own Ambilight technology to the next level through the use of an Active Frame. This creates a vibrant lighting experience to immerse viewers more fully. The sound is fantastic too: there's an invisible speaker system built into the frame that features a total of 26 speakers.
With a TV that's so different and innovative -- and so dependent upon the magical effects of light to enhance our emotional responses – it was natural that Philips would create a very different campaign. We're partnering with masters of seduction by light from the fashion and the movie worlds.
So 'seduction by light' is the theme behind the Aurea campaign, rather than a narrow focus on the technology.
And what could be more seductive and glamorous than a spread in high-end fashion titles such as Vogue magazine? That's why Philips partnered with top fashion photographer Vincent Peters to produce stunning images for the Aurea campaign.
We are also seduced by mysterious and romantic experiences. Which is why Philips has partnered with a grand master in the use of colour and light to create a stunning short movie especially to showcase the magic of Aurea.
Today we promised you a world premiere movie event and here it is:
It sounds like a contradiction to shoot a Film Noir in colour – but Wong Kar Wai has done it. He's the famous Chinese director whose film My Blueberry Nights is coming to cinemas around the world in November. Wong Kar Wai's films are exercises in ‘seduction by light' – which makes him a natural partner for Philips.
Wong Kar Wai was president of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and the images you just saw were clips from a short film commissioned especially to celebrate the launch of Aurea. The title of the movie is “There is only one sun”. It is not advertising but a piece of art and bespoke cinema, especially commissioned by Philips.
The story
Love. Seduction. Light. Colour.
A story of a secret agent who has been given the mission to find a man, mysteriously known as ‘Light’. Her search for this elusive ‘Light’ ends up with her falling in love with him. In fact she falls in love the first moment she sets eyes on him on the Aurea screen. His probable betrayal forces her to eliminate him, but his memory lives on for her, glowing forever on the Aurea.
Wong Kar Wai's short film shows you what can be done with colour and light... while Aurea captures that mood and immerses you in it.
You'll want to know: “what are we going to do with this movie?” Well, along with the still photos, this will be the centrepiece of a campaign you'll see across Europe through to the end of Q4, in stores, at events, as well as online. Wherever you will see an Aurea, you are bound to experience it with the artistic imagery created by Wong Kar-Wai.
Aurea represents for us the reinvention of TV, by creating a great fusion of fashion and functionality. A new blend of interactive visual language and the emotions that connect with it.
Of course, there's another story behind all this. While we were busy reinventing television, we also reinvented Philips as a consumer electronics business.
Where shall I start?
Traditionally, the CE industry has been all about forcing new or updated technology platforms onto consumers. At Philips we focus on consumer experiences. What do consumers really want? What makes them feel safe, healthy, happy and fulfilled? Our research found that the desire for wellness, for pleasure and a healthy life balance, focuses on the home as a place where we can relax.
In a nutshell, Philips is now in the lifestyle game.
So the Philips concept of consumer electronics expands to embrace the health and wellbeing needs of consumers in their homes. This includes looking after our bodies, maintaining a well-groomed appearance, nurturing our home space... and refreshing or relaxing our minds.
Our brand promise of ‘sense and simplicity’ brings us to focus on consumer lifestyles rather than on technology for its own sake. This in turn forces us to focus on innovation, not just for its own sake but relevant innovation. It is no coincidence that Philips was voted 38th place in the Business Week ‘most innovative company’ ranking in 2007 – up from 67th place in 2006. We also rose six places to number 42 in the latest Interbrand rankings.
I'm going to very briefly showcase some of the other stars in our 2007 product line-up and update you on the further development of existing products.
We humans have five senses – so it makes sense to use them to the maximum. For those who aren't yet ready for Aurea, how about:
- Our 47 inch Full HD Flat TV, winner of the EISA Award for the best Full HD Flat TV of the year 2007.
- Another EISA Award winner: The ‘Ambisound’ soundbar with 5.1 surround sound from one single soundbar and subwoofer.
- The amBX gaming platform redefines PC gaming. Featuring light, color, sound, vibration and air flow enhancement during game play, the USB-connected amBX PC peripherals bring you one step closer to the action. Philips recent announcements on new games developers having licensed amBX technology further underline the success with fast growing catalogue of amBX-enabled games.
- Power4life is a true Sense & Simplicity proposition: simply power up all your portable electronics devices with one charger, doing away with all the different chargers in your traveling bag. This product is going to be available still this year in Europe.
- Philips celebrates having sold one million Digital PhotoFrames since we started. The success of Philips PhotoFrames show there is a growing consumer demand for easy viewing of digital photos. These photos are normally stored on computers and research shows that only 20% of them are printed. To celebrate the one millionth photoframe, Philips will showcase exclusive ArtDisplay content on the displays here at IFA.
- Blu-ray: This BluRay player is the latest addition to our Blu-ray family to be introduced in Europe later this year. This is in addition to our Blu-ray disc media and our triple writer. We believe that Blu-ray is the format of choice for the future of HD media including movies, music, games and data storage.
- Portable video: Philips is expanding its presence to cover a range of MP3 Video players, mobile TV tuners as well as DVD players. We're absolutely determined to be category leader in this fast emerging portable video space.
Appropriately enough for a lifestyle company, the starting point for everything is the consumer, the end user insight. In fact, one of the three pillars of the Philips brand promise of sense and simplicity is “designed around you.”
What you can see is that because we've become a different company, we speak a different language – the language of design.
With the Aurea being a true design statement, you can see how design has become the differentiator at Philips. Being people-centric means we've moved design right up the product development chain. Today Philips is a design-driven business, rather than a technology powerhouse.
Design isn't just about the styling or look of the hardware: it's the vehicle that creates an experience and a language, and which captures feelings. In fact design is more than an interactive brand language – it brings consumers into a whole new emotional space, where all their senses are stimulated.
For decades, Philips has been famous for its design innovation. We don't just have designers - our design teams include experts such as psychologists or anthropologists who really understand how people live.
And of course Philips has its Chief Creative Director: a visionary who clearly understands not only the shape of things to come, but also the way they will look, feel, sound, smell and even taste. He leads a design team that focuses on experiences in the home or daily life, and how to bring them to life by engaging all our senses.
I'm asking Philips Electronics Chief Designer and CEO of Philips Design, Stefano Marzano to step up and will you please join me in welcoming him onto the stage.
Business Week named Stefano as one of the world's top global leaders of innovation and he holds the World Technology Award for design. The Philips Design team has received hundreds international design awards (TK) and produced dozens of visionary concept exhibits. Of course it helps if – like Stefano – you come from Italy, the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci and many great designers since.
Rudy Provoost: Stefano, stating that design is a differentiator sounds good – but how does Philips actually deliver this?
Stefano Marzano: Well, Rudy, today design is not only about the product, it goes beyond the product, it is about designing the relationships between people, products and space. We trust that technology is providing performance to a certain level, and we are now looking for new attractive qualities, engaging all the senses and maximizing emotions. The essence is the experience.
Rudy Provoost: What will this then mean for the products? How will this then further permeate into our daily life?
Stefano Marzano: A consumer expects a product to have implicit and attractive qualities. As an implicit quality they expect for instance a good sound quality. However as an attractive quality, it needs to add emotion, so that the object becomes a statement of lifestyle and taste. There are many opportunities in our daily life to enrich experiences, stimulating and engaging all senses.
For instance the Aurea was designed to create a holistic viewing experience by blending images, light and sound. We wanted to reduce the barrier between the content and the viewing experience, so viewers feel immersed in the images. Only valuable design can do that. And when a TV is switched off, it should discreetly radiate value and taste, fully complimenting the context of the environment.
Rudy Provoost: We know that more and more consumer choices are based upon emotions rather than on technical specification. What are the reasons behind this changing consumer behaviour?
Stefano Marzano: People have grown tired of surrendering their homes to technology, with its wires and boxes. Several years ago Philips Design defined a vision of the home of the future actually looking more like the home of the past. I mean that technology becomes an enabler, and is less obstructive, and more integrated in our surrounding environment. At the same time people want their home environments to express their personality and taste – and that means moving away from masculine angular style objects to softer and more feminine forms.
Rudy Provoost: Philips has a specific design philosophy based on consumer insights. How will this shape future products coming down the pipe?
Stefano Marzano: When designing any new product we pose three questions: Is it advanced? Is it easy to experience? Is it designed around the user? As designers we can only answer yes to all three if we're being genuinely innovative. In the future you can expect to find CE devices in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and of course as personal aids to relaxation and wellness you can take anywhere. Are we going to tell the media what we've got planned for 2008? I don't think so... But our design will focus on helping people live truly rewarding and exciting lifestyles.
Rudy Provoost: In your view how do alliances with other brands strengthen our design philosophy?
Stefano Marzano: This certainly can strengthen our design leadership, as our partnership with Swarovski shows. By bringing 2 great brands and design teams together, new and desirable propositions, outside the traditional CE boundaries, can be created.
Rudy Provoost: Thank you Stefano... this leads me indeed to our next thing….It's not every day I get to present my own Paris fashion show, so let's make the most it!
This is something really special – a catwalk show highlighting the Active Crystal range of accessories produced by a design cooperation of Philips and Swarovski, the famous makers of precious crystal objects. I talked earlier about the fusion of fashion and function. Folks, this is it!
The Swarovski brand promises customers cutting-edge sophistication it calls “The Poetry of Precision.” While Philips – as you know – is all about ‘sense and simplicity'. What we both have in common is Light – the sparkle of crystal, the precision of digital media, the exact colours of LED illumination.
The models are going to show us what happens when women's lifestyle needs and technology meet.
These fashion items were developed in Paris and Hong Kong by women designers. They rely on that infallible recipe for every girl with attitude: “If you've got it, then flaunt it.”
Rudy Provoost: First comes our range of wearable memory sticks – USB storage devices dressed as heart shaped pendants. Girls…. this isn't just about making a fashion statement... it's about giving some soul to your data.
...These days everyone needs to carry around data files, or photos. So why not make a statement about yourself while you're at it?
And if you're listening to beautiful sounds, why not look beautiful at the same time? That's the idea behind the range of fashion accessories for MP3 players... ...and iPods.
These special crystal headphones won't clash with your earrings... ...in fact you could wear them to an evening reception and steal the show...
There's also an Active Crystal special ear-hook faceted with crystals... And a neck strap to carry your personal sounds with style and glamour... ...Not quite ‘diamonds are forever’ ... ...but crystal is the next best thing!
Not every product needs to be so luxurious – but for each consumer group the products that we deliver must truly be designed around their needs and desires. What you have just seen represents an important shift in the focus of consumer electronics.
Philips is advancing into the lifestyle space.
Products like Aurea show Philips responds to changing customer needs. We're developing innovative user experiences to put us at the forefront of our industry... .
We believe Aurea is a genuine category leader and that Philips is leading the CE industry into new and fertile territory.
Thanks you.
To watch a full version of the Wong Kar Wai film, There is Only One Sun, please visit: www.philips.com/Aurea
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