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Philips launches Eye-fi; allocates Rs 6-7 crore for colour TVs
The consumer durables company is banking a lot on its latest offering to improve its market share position
‘Sustainable profitable growth'. This is the new mantra of consumer durables major Philips. With this objective, Philips India, subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, is set to storm the colour TV market with its latest innovation Eye-fi (Eye-Fidelity). Philips will roll out five colour televisions with the Eye-fi technology in two sizes - 21 inches (four models) and 29 inches (one model). The 21 inches models are priced between Rs 14,990 and Rs 19,990 while the 29 inches real flat model is priced at Rs 39,900.
These five models will be available in the major metros to begin with, and by September, across the country. Three more models of the Eye-fi TV will be launched soon. Supporting the launch will be a print campaign that will break in September. With regard to the ad spends, Philips has allocated Rs 6-7 crore for the colour television category, including the Eye-fi TV series.
Philips' aggressive intent in the colour television market is understandable. As per the latest ORG-GFK report, Philips is steadily consolidating its market share position, and is among the Top 5 colour television brands in the value-wise brand listing. For the month of June 2002, its value share stood at 7 per cent. The company hopes to close the calendar year with market share of 8 per cent. "Philips is anyway the leader in audio systems (with 45 per cent marker share), DVDs (33-34 per cent), accessories and projector system (17-18 per cent), plasma TVs and projector TVs. In the real flat 29 inches colour TV category, we are among the Top 2 (Sony is the leader) and in the overall colour television market we are now among the Top 5 (with the pecking order as BPL, LG, Onida, Samsung and Philips)," says Rajeev Karwal, senior vice-president, consumer electronics division, Philips, India.
That's quite an achievement for the company, which was in a pretty bad shape between 1994 and 2000. It was only in the 2001 that things started looking up when Philips became profitable. The company is obviously banking a lot on its latest offering to improve its market share position. "The Eye-fi technology ensures perfect viewing. It is an intelligent TV which has the ability to rectify the anomalies of incoming signals," says Karwal.
The Eye-fi feature was introduced as result of in-house research. "We understand the importance of good audio-visual experience, and have therefore developed an intelligent television set that will improve picture performance from a weak picture source," says Suresh Sukumaran, senior general manager, marketing (television), consumer electronics division, Philips India. The Eye-fi feature adjusts picture parameters such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, DigiContrast, DigiPicture automatically.
DigiSignal meter is another unique feature available in the Eye-fi range of Philips colour televisions. This feature measures the signal strength of the antenna input through a complex digital algorithm patented by Philips. The unique benefit of the DigiSignal meter is to enable the roof top aerial to be perfectly aligned for maximum signal reception strength.
The features are a mouthful. It remains to be seen if the advertising can successfully drives home the message and give the product top of mind recall. © 2002 agencyfaqs!