Today in our AMN Executive Interview series, we hear from Russell Stebbins, who was recently appointed director – Automotive Aftermarket Sales, for Philips Automotive North America. In this exclusive interview, Stebbins talks about his new role with the company, big plans for celebrating Philips’ 100th anniversary this year and new products and innovations that will be featured at this week’s AAPEX show in Las Vegas.
First off, congratulations on your new appointment. We realize it’s probably too soon to talk about your goals for the Philips Aftermarket Sales organization. So, instead tell us, what are you most excited about in this new role?
Thank you. First of all, I am very excited by the talent and the passion of the team here at Philips. Relentless enthusiasm is one of the key tenets of success and that, coupled with the knowledge of the product and industry that are both in abundance within the entire Philips organization, makes me very excited about our opportunities for growth.
Second is the strength of our program and the power of the Philips brand. Together, these two factors allow us to have conversations with our distribution partners at a higher level. Also, as you may know, the automotive lighting industry is going through a transformation to LED technology. This is great for us because Philips is the OE leader in LED and we are bringing this technology to the aftermarket and can offer our distribution partners true differentiation and superior technology. These are the things that attracted me to Philips and make me very optimistic about our future potential.
I was eager to join Philips because of its history, heritage and the strength of its brand. But, I am most excited about the fact that Philips serves both the OEMs and the aftermarket. This gives us a formidable advantage when we go to market. Because our OE side is always at the leading edge of lighting innovation and technology, it puts us on the forefront of new products and ideas that we can use to create new and exciting opportunities for our aftermarket partners.
2014 is a very significant milestone year for Philips, as the company marks its 100th anniversary. What is the company doing to celebrate and commemorate this special occasion?
As you know Philips is a global company with numerous offices and facilities in many countries, so there has already been a lot of celebrating all around the world since the beginning of the year. To recognize this exciting milestone, Philips has created a commemorative logo and launched a special theme, “Lighting up passion – since 1914.” We are promoting this theme in all of our corporate communications worldwide. We have also been conducting special events and activities at all of the major trade shows such as Automechanika Shanghai and Frankfurt. And this week, we will celebrate with our friends at AAPEX in Las Vegas. We have a special anniversary party planned prior to the show and will be conducting various activities throughout the week at our AAPEX booth No. 2826.
Tell us about the new Vision LED lights that the company recently introduced. What are the benefits for consumers both from performance and safety perspectives?
Our new Vision LED line is a dramatic breakthrough in replacement lighting that uses our leading edge LED technology to create lighting that is both brilliant and durable. The line features an advanced design that gives the Vision LEDs a high resistance to extreme heat and vibration, which makes them durable enough to last as long as the unprecedented, 12-year limited warranty we’ve put behind them.
Philips Vision LEDs are direct replacement for a broad range of interior and exterior incandescent applications. We are also the first to market with proven, street legal exterior LEDs as a direct replacement for exterior incandescent bulb applications. And the term, street legal, is very important when it comes to safety. While some aftermarket LEDs appear to be bright, they do not produce a well-focused beam of light. As a result, their light output is poor and even potentially dangerous – definitely not street legal. Philips Vision LEDs are not only bright, but they also create a well-focused light beam on the road. It is that well-focused beam that makes Vision LED legal for exterior applications.
Our new Vision LEDs will help create some excellent sales opportunities for our retail partners. We offer a full range of SKUs to replace brake and taillights, back up, dome and glove compartment lights, side markers, trunk and license plate lights. We’ve also launched a dedicated website atwww.philips.com/visionled to support the line and make it easier for customers to know more about our Vision LEDs and find the right lights for their specific vehicle.
The company also recently unveiled new packaging. What are some of the changes that were made, and why?
Our new range of premium upgrade headlight bulbs give drivers a great way to enhance their safety and style, and we wanted to make sure that we could successfully convey this message. In our packaging scheme, we incorporated a design that would not only help consumers to clearly and easily understand our features and benefits, but also encourage them to make the choice to purchase our premium upgrade headlights.
We wanted to help consumers to quickly find the bulb that best fits their needs and make the buying decision easier. As a result, we created an eye-catching design look that provided a clear and unobstructed view of the product, while delivering simplified information on the bulb’s performance level and application.
Our packaging approach was based on a global study of consumer lighting needs and packaging. That study revealed a confusion at point of purchase caused by the proliferation of lighting products, brand names and complicated packaging designs offered by major lighting manufacturers. We used this information to guide the creation of our packaging, so it would eliminate the confusion and best appeal to the consumer’s interest and needs.
Anti-counterfeiting measures also are incorporated into your packaging design. How do you educate consumers about the risks involved and why it’s important to ensure they are getting an authentic Philips product?
Counterfeiting is a big issue for every manufacturer, and we see a lot of it with our Philips Xenon HID lighting line, especially online. That is why we undertook the initiative. We developed special packaging to prevent piracy and protect customers from buying counterfeit Philips Xenon HID lighting. We are using advertising, public relations and a special section on our website to warn our customers about potential counterfeiting and how to avoid it.
This packaging design employs a unique, state-of-the-art anti-counterfeit technology to ensure that customers are getting a genuine Philips product. The package incorporates the Philips ‘Certificate of Authenticity,’ which features a security code and other special security elements that can be used to verify authenticity. If a retailer or customer wants to make sure they have a legitimate Philips Xenon HID lighting product, they can either scan the QR code or go to www.philips.com/original and check the security code.
It is very important for us to take this action because we need to protect our customers and our end-consumers, as well as our Xenon HID lighting brand. Philips is the inventor and world leader in Xenon HID lighting. We employ innovative technology, advanced materials, high-quality production and rigorous testing to ensure the performance and the quality of our Xenon HID products. These counterfeits are inferior to the true Philips design in both quality and performance. Furthermore, they are illegal to sell, purchase or possess.
What other kinds of materials do you offer your commercial customers, to help drive sales? Let’s talk about the cabinets, countertop displays, point of sale materials to help with upgrade selling.
Commercial lighting is a very important part of our overall business because of the DIFM market. Lighting maintenance ranks very high on the list of underperformed automotive services, because there are many drivers out there who are not able to properly maintain the lighting on their vehicles. So it’s incumbent on us to give our professional customers the products and tools they need to not only educate and help drivers who are not able to maintain the lighting on their vehicles, but also to capture more sales for lighting products.
We offer a complete commercial lighting portfolio that includes a full range of standard OE replacement lighting for headlight bulbs, halogen and incandescent sealed beam headlamps and miniature bulbs for both interior and exterior vehicle applications. We also include our highly profitable line of Philips upgrade headlighting, along with sales tools designed to help up-sell consumers to better lighting performance.
Philips backs up the lighting portfolio with point of sale tools that include commercial cabinets and headlight upgrade cabinets that shops can use to stock and sell standard replacement and upgrade lighting to their DIFM customers. The commercial program also includes a countertop headlighting display that retailers and service locations can customize with their own mix of upgrade headlight bulbs.
We also heavily promote lighting maintenance and safety with a strong message to the trade media using paid advertising, lighting editorials and tech tips. Our public relations campaign reaches out to trade and consumer media, both in print and online, to make drivers aware of the value and need for proper lighting maintenance.
