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In an interview with The Guardian, Philips Electronics chief executive Rudy Provoost has stated that with so much technological innovation currently flooding the market, he intends his company to distinguish itself through ‘lifestyle branding’.
Philips itself is known as an innovator, having bought the likes of the cassette tape and compact disc to market. But after three years in charge of the company, Provoost says it’s time for a change.
“This is no longer the age of technological innovation. Philips is now a lifestyle business,” he stated. “The top 1,000 companies spent £300 billion on innovation in 2006, and 97% of them said they had too many projects where the return on investment wasn’t that good.
“Technological invention doesn’t mean that something creates value in the marketplace, and that’s what I want to do. Over the past few years, we’ve been able to transform Philips Electronics into more of a design-driven business rather than the technological powerhouse it was in the past.
“There’s only one answer to commoditisation, and that’s innovation, but not in adding more features. Consumer electronics has been too much electronics and not enough consumer. I’m in the consumer experience business. It’s all about offering consumers great experiences, rather than the ‘tech & spec’ game. Philips is now a very different company in that sense.”
Provoost cites its amBX sensory TV equipment as an example of his company’s forward thinking approach, and also points to amBX’s one million plus sales as a sign of its success.
