Beat regeneration

Express yourself – didn’t Madonna once sing about it? It’s all about defining one’s individuality for the members of Generation Y – in terms of mod clothes, music, activities and gadgets. One brand that has focused on this sector is Philips Consumer Electronics (PCE).

Winston Phua – Philips marketing director-Region Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa – says that the youth are always looking for ways to express themselves. "They are constantly personalizing their phones by changing the wallpapers and ring tones, as well as creatively using SMS and MMS," he adds.

Phua is responsible for the overall development and execution and marketing goals, strategies and plans for Philip’s "Personal Expression" campaign across the region, a category that is closely associated with cutting-edge technology to complement youthful lifestyles. "Philips is all about freestyle messaging," he shared.

Young Star had a nice chat with Phua in Singapore about one of the brand’s most successful initiatives – the Philips-MTV Whatever Things show.

YOUNG STAR: Why did you decide to tie up with MTV?

Philips would like to empower today’s youth to do what matters most to them – spontaneous "whatever things." And since MTV is the leading entertainment network, we share the same mindset in wanting to reach out to the young trendsetters of today.

What is the concept behind Philips-MTV Whatever Things in line with your company’s "Personal Expression" campaign?

Philips-MTV Whatever Things was drawn from Philip’s tagline "Things to do your thing." This is a fun way of expressing oneself through wacky stunts. The great thing about this campaign is that consumers can participate by voting online for their favorite stunts or even for their country.

What makes Whatever Things different from Jackass?

In Jackass, stuntmen with high thresholds of pain like Steve-O perform jackass stunts with a disclaimer not to do it at home. Whatever Things is often described as the "Asian Jackass" where the Aiya Gang performs crazy stunts and hilarious pranks submitted by different contestants in Asia. This show keeps you glued to the edge of your seats.

How was the response to last year’s contest?

Oh, it was fantastic. There were at least 20,000 entries last year with a large viewer-ship as well. Now, we are looking at how to improve the contest and at the same time build from the success.

Are you doing anything different this year?

We wanted people to give their own fun ideas. And then we had professionals like the Aiya Gang perform the stunts at a higher level to make it more exciting.

What is the image that Philips is striving for?

There are two markets for Philips. For the youth group from 15 to 24 years old, we focus on freestyle messaging. For the slightly more mature group of 25 to 49 years old, we focus on premium products. Philips as a company delivers the brand promise of "Sense and Simplicity" – products are developed through research, and are the easiest, most intuitive to use.

What can we expect from Philips?

There will be more phones that will come out in the market. If you look at global studies, battery life is one of the top three concerns of consumers. Battery life is one of the company’s key strengths. With our products, we want consumers to create and share their audio and visual experiences with whomever they want, anytime, anywhere.

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For more information about Philips, call 816-2617 or visit www.philips.com.