Philips felt that this marketing effort gave the company an opportunity to create vibrant new packaging that told a better story to the consumer. It wanted to create packaging that would help sell the product off of the shelf without confusing the consumer. Philips felt that with its old packaging, and with the packaging of [...]
Monthly Archive for June, 2009
During the development stages of this marketing plan, Philips discovered that the design of a lightbulb (the shape of the bulb) is very important to consumers. Research was done with different shapes, and consumers said that they wanted their lightbulbs to have a traditional shape, except when they were using them for decorative purposes. This [...]
Marathon would be the ‘‘best’’ lightbulbs. They would have a minimum life of five to seven years, depending on the particular lightbulb selected. These lightbulbs are based on a technology that is very different from that of an incandescent lightbulb. They use fluorescent technology, where most of the energy is captured as light and not [...]
Halogena was the line of ‘‘better’’ light bulbs, with at least a two-year life. Halogena was a product line that had been made by Philips in Europe for several years, but had never been introduced into the United States. It was added to the mix to fill in the good, better, best strategy. Halogen technology [...]
The consumer focus groups revealed that a typical consumer perception was that lightbulbs burn out too soon. Consumers wanted long-life lightbulbs, but they thought that current claims of long life were not believable. They felt that a better lightbulb would be one that lasted longer, and that this was the only benefit that would be [...]
In 1998 Philips conducted a series of market research projects to determine consumer perceptions of the most important benefits related to lightbulbs. This research began with a series of consumer focus groups held in various parts of the United States. Psychographic screening questionnaires were used to bring in males and females who demonstrated the ability [...]
As part of the overall strategy development process conducted in 1998, Philips completed a thorough review of the overall lightbulb market. By this time the company had become very fact-based and had an excellent market research department. The research department provided a review of all of the available data on the lightbulb market, as well [...]
DuraMax was the line of ‘‘good’’ light bulbs, which would have a minimum life of one year. These were incandescent lightbulbs that were comparable to GE incandescent lightbulbs, which typically had a life of six months. Depending on the particular lightbulb, this longer life was achieved through the use of a larger coil, a different [...]
Over the past thirty years, long life has come up several times as the number one attribute that consumers look for when buying a lightbulb. In 1983, Philips substantially expanded its lightbulb business in the United States by purchasing all of the lamp divisions of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. One of the things that came [...]
It is the coil and some of the chemicals inside that make one lightbulb last longer than another. There is a mix of inert gases, such as carbon, krypton, argon, and neon, inside of a lightbulb. The coil that is used in an incandescent lightbulb is made of tungsten, and if the coil were stretched [...]
Philips Marathon was the name used for the longest-lasting or ‘‘best’’ lightbulbs (guaranteed for five to seven years), Philips Halogena was the name used for the second-longest-lasting or ‘‘better’’ line of lightbulbs (guaranteed for two years), and Philips DuraMax was used for the entry-level or ‘‘good’’ line of lightbulbs (guaranteed for one year). Marathon and [...]
Based on these assumptions, the new marketing plan had two primary objectives. First, Philips would introduce a series of lines of long-life lightbulbs that would be significantly different from the lightbulbs offered by the competition. Second, because they were superior, these new product lines would be sold at premium prices, which would generate higher margins [...]
The results of Philips’s market research clearly indicated that long life was the most important feature that consumers would like to have in a lightbulb. Many consumers indicated that they simply did not want to have to climb up a ladder every two months to change a lightbulb. The management at Philips found this believable [...]
Except for gifts, people will rarely buy a new product or service unless they feel that it has some specific benefits that are important to them. Many business ventures have succeeded because they provided meaningful benefits that were clearly recognized by their customers. This chapter provides an example of how Philips identified its product’s most [...]
The Jumbo-Koter venture is a good example of the development of a successful new product by solving a consumer problem. The Wooster Brush Company identified the difficulty that painters were having because their minirollers were sticking after a few uses. The new Jumbo-Koter mini-rollers solved that problem by using a smooth-turning cage frame. Wooster Brush [...]
The engineering department prepared an estimate of the expenses that were anticipated for the Jumbo-Koter venture. These included the up-front investment in new equipment. The marketing department then prepared an initial and multiyear sales forecast, as well as forecasted profit and loss statements. The purpose of these financial projections was to show that the Jumbo-Koter [...]
The marketing of the Jumbo-Koter product line was implemented through the normal Wooster Brush Company organization. The management of the company believes that one of the keys to its success and longevity (the company is 151 years old) is its ability to operate with a lean organization. The company has no product managers and does [...]
There was no formal warranty on the Jumbo-Koter product line. TheWooster Brush Company does not have a formal warranty on any of its products. The company will, however, replace any returns involving normal and proper use. If a consumer has a problem with any product from theWooster Brush Company, he or she can bring it [...]
Jumbo-Koter advertising was designed to be run in trade publications such as Do-It-Yourself Retailing and other magazines targeted to paint and hardware stores. There was no consumer advertising of Jumbo-Koter. One- and twopage spreads were placed in these magazines at the time of the product launch. The advertising was not actually placed until Wooster Brush [...]
The objective of the Jumbo-Koter advertising was to communicate to paint and hardware stores that a new improved mini-roller was coming on the market and that this mini-roller would be available only from the Wooster Brush Company. The magazine advertising described the professional grip on the frame, which is important to the professional painter because [...]