Philips’ brand positioning statement is Sense & Simplicity. We know that consumers suffer from overly complicated lives and our insight was that Philips could embody their brand values by simplifying complex areas of their audience’s lives.

We focused on aligning our media placement strategy with the brand positioning. Wherever media ran, we simplified the experience. We built the ‘Simplicity Platform’ to deliver Philips’ brand message. This ensured that Philips was never complicated and embodied simplicity in every media placement. Our programs were designed to combat complexity, such as ad clutter on TV, accessing paid content online and holiday shopping.

Awareness of simplicity initiatives more than doubled from June to Sept 06, from 12% to 25%. Of those consumers aware of our simplicity initiatives, 22% agree that Philips stands for simplicity as opposed to only 9% of those not aware. Association reached a high of 37% in Nov.

Every media placement became a demonstration of simplicity. We moved the table of contents in magazines to page one, making it simpler to find. We reduced TV time outs in a football game, gave viewers more stories in a news program and sent out teams to perform random acts of simplicity. In addition, we offered free access to premium content online, simplified a Health Channel and removed blow-in cards from magazines.

Every media activity addressed the issue of time-stress for our target audience. We received an immediate, enthusiastic response with the NBC program generating 5,100 emails. Comments included: 'I simply want to express my pleasure at the participation of Philips as the sole sponsor of the NBC Nightly News...I have a much more positive impression of Philips as a company, and am absolutely more likely to buy Philips products and tell all my friends...'