Philips and Magazine TOILETPAPER Reframe Innovation with Refurb Editions
Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, today announced the launch of its ‘Better Than New’ campaign to create awareness and traction for Philips’ refurbished products. The creative thinking behind the campaign focuses on the tension between ‘new equals better’ and ‘better than new’. Responding to the needs of an increasing number of consumers and building on the company’s commitment to sustainability and driving a more circular economy, Philips’ goal is to make products that can be refurbished and reused. The Philips Refurb Editions ‘Better Than New’ campaign, which has been co-created with creative agency LePub (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and co-founders of the Italian image-only magazine TOILETPAPER (artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari), uses the creativity engendered by a seeming conflict of ideas – new equals better versus better than new – to turn the stereotypical idea of innovation on its head.
Philips has always been at the forefront of innovation, the company’s purpose being to improve people’s health and well being through meaningful innovation. As part of Philips’ response to today’s consumers’ needs and through its commitment to sustainability and driving a more circular economy, it is the goal to make products that can be refurbished and reused. The environmental impact of using refurbished products is less than buying a new product because the need for raw materials and new parts is reduced. Today’s consumers are more informed and aware of the need for sustainability than ever before and keen on finding innovative ways to live more sustainable lifestyles. And as consumer behaviour shifts and changes, how people buy products and services and how brands sell them continues to evolve. Consumer surveys suggest that sustainability is playing an increasing role in how people buy – for example, 38% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for a durable product and 40% buy second-hand products. Philips believes that as well as a brand-new product there should be a brand new choice: the option of new or refurbished. Philips Refurb Editions – products that are given a second life with guaranteed Philips quality and the same two-year guarantee as a new product – offer consumers that exciting and simple alternative. It also means less waste. With more than 39,000 refurbished products finding a new home, Philips already avoided 139 tons of e-waste in 2022.
“At Philips, we believe that innovation should be about making quality products that you can enjoy for a long time,” said Josefien Olij, global sr. director marketing communications at Philips. “We are proud to launch our latest innovation – Refurb Edition products that are not just as good as new, but better than new. The ‘Better Than New’ campaign is about creating greater awareness of the benefits of re-using perfectly good products, so consumers can use less and re-use more in a fun, easy, accessible way.”
The ‘Better Than New’ campaign revolves around the need to use less and reuse more. The campaign uses the principles of innovation that Philips has consistently used in the past, reframing them to illustrate the new paradigm of reuse. The new message it conveys is that improving people’s lives does not have to rely on new products, it can also be achieved with products that are not new.
“Philips has a great heritage in innovation,” said Milos Obradovic – chief creative officer’ LePub. “To launch this new initiative and show how a technology company can lead us into the future in a new way, we revisited the company’s rich past with a fresh take on what innovation can mean for the future.”
To bring the idea to life, LePub searched the archives of Philips advertising and, in collaboration with creative art collective TOILETPAPER, refreshed Philips’ tradition of iconic print ads. TOILETPAPER’s art director Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari revisited Philips’ vintage posters illustrating past innovations, injecting great wit and a powerful visual aesthetic. The result is a campaign true to Philips’ past but refreshed to illustrate Philips’ portfolio of refurbished products, with the disruptive and unconventional look of one of TOILETPAPER’s visual signatures – the retro-future.
‘’Creativity never gets old’’, said Maurizio Cattelan - Photographer Toiletpaper magazine. ‘’The new campaign for Philips has a retro-future perspective, where Philips vintage posters and past innovations are becoming new’’ added Pierpaolo Ferrari - photographer Toiletpaper magazine.
The ‘Better Than New’ campaign is currently being rolled out in Germany and was launched in outdoor, print, and social media on June 15th, 2023. In the heart of Hamburg, Germany, a Pop Up store used the retro-future visual identity of the campaign to promote the proposition that refurb is the future, with products that people were able to buy virtually but experience live. It offered a compelling experience of how reusing products may be a better future for all of us.
