Philips Shavers today signed an agreement to increase their 2007 sponsorship commitment with the WilliamsF1 Team, to include on-car branding. Following a successful trial year in 2006, Philips Shavers has seen a global turnover increase of 15%1 for its shaving line of business since the sponsorship became active and in 2007 will increase its team sponsorship by over 50% and become an on-car sponsor.

Bringing innovation to the category:

Andrea Ragnetti CEO Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care and Chief Marketing Officer Royal Philips Electronics commented, “Our primary objective in 2006 was to bring innovation to the category, we did this via two strong electric shaver launches, the Smart-TouchXL and SpeedXL and by investing in the WilliamsF1 Team sponsorship. We want consumers to know that Philips leads the way in terms of technical and product innovation for this category”. In 2006, the Williams F1 team sponsorship platform underpinned all our activities for the shaving business and has created great results”, concluded Andrea Ragnetti.

Producing a shaving range to support the sponsorship:

Producing a WilliamsF1 Team shaver range to support the sponsorship was a key element of the sponsorship activation programme. Nico Engelsman, Business Manager Shaving and Senior Vice President Philips DAP said, “It was a calculated risk to develop a formula one specific shaver, but our consumer research tells us our target consumers are focussed on product design as much as other considerable's such as brand name and price when choosing an electric shaver”. Philips Shavers designed a joint range with the WilliamsF1 engineering and design team and the 7200 shaver has been presented to all key retail partners globally and initial distribution commitment has been consistently positive with sales up by 30% versus initial forecasts.

Business rationale for increased sponsorship:

The WilliamsF1 Team and Philips Shavers partnership is a strategic alliance that brings together two companies with similar values and culture. WilliamsF1 is one of the world’s leading Formula One teams and has secured 16 FIA Formula One World Championship titles, whilst Philips Shavers holds the number one position in the electrical shaving market. Today, Formula One is the world’s single most popular annual televised sporting event with an average of 162 million TV viewers across the globe per Grand Prix. Philips’ continuing partnership with the WilliamsF1 Team, has been and will be extremely important for global exposure and marketing of the Philips Shavers brand.

Looking towards 2007:

In addition to Official Sponsor branding, Philips will be given increased advertising rights including Official Sponsor Designation, use of logo and team imagery, and endorsement rights via both team drivers, Nico Rosberg and Alex Wurz. WilliamsF1’s Team Principal Frank Williams said, “We’re delighted that our partnership has been sufficiently successful to grow, extend and increase the programme. Both Philips Shavers and the WilliamsF1 Team share a philosophy of advances in innovation, design and technology”.