In a new light

As hard as it is to imagine life without electricity, lighting languishes as a category that doesn’t spark much excitement. Facing up to this challenge of dressing up a low-involvement product as one of high engagement, Philips Lighting has of late intensified its efforts on tactical marketing.

With its new ad campaign, celebrating ‘ Zindagi ki raunak ’, Philips has moved beyond the plain vanilla functionality of the products to understanding the cultural underpinnings of what light means to Indians and its overarching emotional connotations.

Says Sumit Joshi, Senior Director, Philips Lighting, “Names like Deepak, Suraj and Roshni are rooted in Indian ethos and in our new ad campaign we are eliciting these connects to celebrate the joy of brightness.”

Initially positioned on the energy efficiency plank, Philips has taken the next step in differentiating its offering. “Initially our focus was on spreading awareness of energy efficiency but soon everyone caught on, playing the same card. Today we want to integrate Philips more culturally with the consumers. Light can mean so much more than mere functionality. We have products offering 20 per cent more brightness and with that we celebrate ‘ Zindagi ki Raunak ’,” he says.

Philips India has set aside Rs 10-12 crore for the new marketing campaign, its total marketing expenditure for the fiscal being Rs75-80 crore.

The new television commercial hits the small screen at the onset of the festival season. “We have another campaign on consumer luminaires that will hit this Diwali. Television being the mass media, it is our leverage point of communication,” adds Joshi. The firm typically sees a 20 per cent spike in sales during the season, which is between September and December.

Moving closer to the customers, Philips has a range of 80 Light Lounges, exclusively experience zones, across 43 cities. “These lounges cover mostly metros and mini-metros. But we are also pushing for semi-urban distribution reach,” says Joshi. The company has a super-stockist in place for the semi-urban areas, who in turn has stockists who distribute in more remote places. The company has a total of 1,000 distributors pan India.

“Even today, traditional methods of reaching the rural population such as wall paintings and tin boards remains. We have rural vans that reach the masses directly, and rural fairs (weekly and monthly bazaars) where we aggregate the masses,” says Joshi, adding that almost 20 per cent of their marketing expenditure is spent on out-of-home activations including rural markets.

Philips Lighting, which is 55 per cent of Philips India in terms of turnover, has 35 per cent market share and claims to have been growing in double digits in the last eight consecutive years.

“Even today 28 per cent of the rural population does not have electricity. The first thing a village does on getting electricity is put a bulb. So the footfalls are increasing every year,” says Joshi.

Hinting at higher price points in the near future in an industry that has considerable consumer surplus, he says, “A tubelight is only Rs 50, but the value attached to it is definitely more than a cup of coffee. Consumers would be ready to pay if they see value and brands they trust.”

Trying to develop the industry from within, Philips Lighting has tied up with the Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID) to integrate itself more firmly with the interior decorators community. The company runs certification courses on lighting with the institute. This partnership will span a three-year period covering four sessions every year for students, teachers and young practising designers.

“This particular initiative kicked off two months ago. We want budding interior designers to start thinking about light. This will go a long way in expanding the industry,” asserts Joshi. And get people to see lighting in an all new light!

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