Group 2:

Chiara Cozzolino 1596758

Lavinia Gerini

1777259

Anastasia Yarkina 1578533

Anna Marsanasco 1604107

Pierandrea Miglietta 1590553

Mario Natale

1801331

2

Who is buying headphones?

About the 55% of headphones buyers is aged under 34 years old.

3

HEADPHONES: CONSUMER SEGMENTATIONActionFit is the Philips brand designed specifically for sportive people who needs sportive headphones which satisfy different criteria.

4

ActionFitFo

cusSince the majority of

headphones buyers is aged between 18 and 34 years

old, we decided to focus on young people (aged between

18-25). Targ

etSportive “Urbanities”: regularly practising sport, fashion and technology

conscious, already owning headphones. Ai

m

Up to now ActionFit is the Number 1 brand for sports headphones in Europe. Our

aim is to accelerate its expansion and make the

“Urbanities” proud to wear Philips headphones.

ActionFit

This brand produces headphones to be used while training, thanks to

specific characteristic such as resistance to water.

The product-mix is made-up by three different types of headphones, available

in two main colours: orange and grey. The price range differs

according to the type of headphones, from 20€ to

80€.

Our strategy aims to make Philips relevant to the target.

5

ActionFit Product Mix

*http://www.philips.it/c-m-so/cuffie/cuffie-bluetooth/latest#filters=SPORTS_HEADPHONES_SU&sliders=&support=&price=&priceBoxes=&page=&layout=12.subcategory.p-grid

6

Competitive ArenaThe following competitors were selected according to the output of the conducted interviews: we asked participants which were the first brands that came up to their mind talking about sportive headphones. At the same time, we also made a market research in order to better understand the current situation in the sportive headphones industry.

• Bose (https://www.bose.it/IT/it/index.jsp)– SoundSport™ (Three colours; 149,95€)

• Beats by Dre (http://it.beatsbydre.com)– Two lines: Powerbeats (149,95€); Powerbeats^2 (Five colours; 199,95€)

• AKG (http://it.akg.com/homepage-akg-it.html)– K 316 (Two colours; 79,95$)

• Sennheiser (http://en-de.sennheiser.com)– Four lines: PMX 685i (Two colours, 49€); PMX 685i (69€); OCX 685i (Two colours; 69€); CX865 (59€)

• Sony (http://www.sony.it)– Three main categories: water-proof; Bluetooth; Earphones.– Price range from 7,91€ to 299€

• Apple (https://www.apple.com)– Two lines: EarPods (29€) In-Ear Headphones (79€)

• Monster (http://www.monsterproducts.com/collections/headphones)– Two categories: In-ear/On-Ear – Two lines: iSport Wireless; Monster® iSport. Five colours and price range from 59,95$ to 269,95$

• Polk (http://www.polkaudio.com)– Ultrafit Line with five models. Five colours, price range from 39,95$ to 99,95$

7

CAGR ≈ 20%

Accelerate expansion

Revenues goal $148M

Leading position

Where ActionFit is now…and where it wants to be in 2015

Four main 2015 goals:

ActionFit 2014:№1 Sports Headphones in

Europe №2 in Value

Time

Perf

orm

ance

“Work It Harder Make It Better

Do It FasterMakes Us Stronger”

ActionFit 2015:№1 Sports Headphones

Europe(Value & Volume)

Secondary data

Sporting events and celebrity endorsers are similar on two levels. First, consumers associate both sporting events and celebrities with particular meanings. While celebrities derive their meanings from consumer perceptions of their various public activities, the meanings associated with sporting events are derived from the type of event, and individual consumer factors such as one’s past experiences with the event. Second, events may act in a manner analogous to celebrity endorsers in the transfer of image to sponsoring brands. Thus when organizing a sporting event, the sponsor should take into consideration the brand's awareness and the image/positioning goals for its brand.

BRIEF LITERATURE OVERVIEW• The Economic Worth of Celebrity Endorsers: An

Event Study Analysis, Jagdish Agrawal & Wagner A. Kamakura, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 59 N°3, 1995

• Building Brand Image Through Event Sponsorship: The Role of Image Transfer, Kevin P. Gwinner and John Eaton, The Journal of Advertisement, Vol. 28, Issue 4, 1999

• Brand Endorsement, Popularity, and Event Sponsorship as Advertising Cues Affecting Consumer Pre-Purchase Attitudes, Dwane Hal Dean, The Journal of Advertisement , Vol. 28, Number 3, 1999

In order to support the suggested strategies, academic papers have been consulted. As regard with the first managerial implication, the general opinion is that investing in celebrities endorsement is worthwhile not only because the brand image will benefit but also from an economic point of view. Results indicate that, on average, the impact of these announcements on stock returns is positive. A second research has underlined that endorsements affect both the perceived quality and uniqueness of the product whereas events sponsorship is able to enhance the corporate image rather than the single product.

9

Research Goal 1 and Related Questions

Which relation do sportive people have

with music while training?

Fashion in sports: do sportive people care about fashion while

training?

General understanding of

the world of sportive people:

their relationship with music and

fashion.

10

Research Goal 2 and Related Questions

Contextualization of Philips Brand in

consumers’ mind, exploration of Philips

already existing communication tools

and proposed improvements.

Testimonials and Sport Events: Pros & Cons?

What do sportive people think of

their image transmitted by

different media?

What do sportive people think

about the Philips brand?

11

Focus GroupFocus Group: 1Participants: 8 (4 males and 4 females)Period: 15 October 2014 Location: Via Plinio 59, Milano (Private Apartment of one of the interviewers’)Length: ≈ 2 hours (with 15 mins break)Technical Support: GoPro, camera, sound register and laptop.

Proj

ectiv

e Te

chni

ques

Sentence completition

Thematic Apperception Test (Imagines & Video)

Role simulation

Word association test

Transformation test

12

Why: The first ten minutes were dedicated to a brief introduction of the topic of the research, and the

participant were asked to introduce themselves in order to get rid of the initial embarrass.

Who: There were eight participants aged from 21 to 24 years old. The percentage of females was equal

to the one of males.

When: We chose to meet at 6 pm so that the participants didn’t have any other commitment.

Furthermore we created a relaxed environment and placed some food and beverages on the table so that they could eat whenever they wanted.

Where: We decided to settle the focus group in one of the interviewers’ house in order to make all the

participants feel confortable and to avoid any external influencing factor.

Schedule

Table of InformantsN° Name Age Job Hometown Characteristics

1 Delia 21 Student Milano Sport lover, studies Art and History, not very talkative

2 Giovanni 24 Student Jelsi Loves football&music, shy

3 Eleonora 21 Student Milano Fisioteraphist, practice sport and dancing, serious, strong opinion

4 Mattia 21 Student MilanoStudies in Conservatory, professional

musician, professional comments, practices sport

5 Francesca 22 Student Plays tennis and football, loves walking, modest

6 Piero 21 Student Palermo Goes regularly to gym, plays music, really talkative

7 Manuela 22 Student VarsaviaGoes to gym with her boyfriend (2-3 times

per week),highly -involved participation

8 Giuseppe 24 Student JelsiStudies sound and music engineering,

plays football,practice boxing

13

14

Main CharacteristicsAll the respondents were selected in order to satisfy some specific criteria:

In order to avoid one gender to dominate on the other, the number of male and female participants was chosen to be the same. Moreover, among the interviewees there was a music expert and a student specialized in sport physiotherapy. They gave us useful insights from a professional point of view.

All the above mentioned facts helped us to obtain a “purposive sample”.

Young people (between 18-

25)

Active in terms of

sport

Need music while

training

15

The moderator, after having showed an image, asked each participant to express his/her emotional connection with it.

Section 1: Relationship with Music

Results:

“Music is a source of power and energy”.

“Music as a way to relax and to concentrate”.

Two participants out of eight said that “music generate isolation”.

Six out of eight said that “isolation is a negative consequence of a passive way to listen to music”.

We showed a video of an athlete doing sport while listening to music and asked how they feel about it and the role of music for their training.

We asked to explain the reasons for which they listen to music, what type of music they listen to, whether music helps them to achieve their goals and how.

Participants were asked to project themselves in the situation where they had left headphones at home before going out for training, in order to understand

the importance of music for them.

We showed another video, a clip from the movie “What Women Want” asking them if they agreed with the statement “Appearance is not important when

you train”.

We showed four pictures and asked our participants to tell us in which one they could identify themselves. Two pictures showed a person doing sport in a

very relaxed way, while the others showed a real athlete.

In order to understand participants’ thoughts, we used different tools:

Sections 2&3: the Effect of Music

and Fashion on Sport/Training

16

Mai

n Re

sults

“Music helps not to feel the strain.”

“Music helps you to focus on yourself and find more energy.”

“It makes you achieve your goals”. Almost all of them agreed that music is an essential part of the training, without which they would not feel as much motivated.

Fashion as a way to tell the others who you are: “Clothing is a way to express who you are, so even if you go to the gym you dress coherently.”

Fashion as a way to underclass the importance of sport: “I don’t care about my look and about others’ people look.”, “Lately doing sport has become a trendy activity rather than a

real commitment; and this makes sport lose its real value.”

Three out of the four girls felt represented by the athlete because they all do sport in order to achieve their goals, so they put a lot of effort.

Only one participant felt represented by the relaxed girl, shown in an image, with a fancy outfit, because she does sport as a leisure activity.

All the boys felt more represented by the athlete because they do sport mainly to improve their body.

SECTIONS 2&3: HIGHLIGHTS

17

18

The main aim of this section was to investigate the most important features customers are looking for in headphones. Therefore, the moderator showed some pictures of ActionFit headphones and asked the participants to discuss which one is more appropriate for practising sport. In general, they all agreed that:

Section 4: Headphones and Sport

1Best for listening to music in normal situation

2 3Best for sportive activities

Best for home-listening

The most appreciated headphones were the ones shown in picture 2: “They are cool because they are very technical”.

Participants were also asked what are the key elements they take into account while making a purchase decision:

1 out of 8 believes that the quality of the music is essential: “Using headphones of picture 1 is like going to the cinema with the lights on”.

7 out of 8 give more importance to the the comfort and the resistance of headphones (while doing sports), not to the sound quality.

1) Colours

2)Brand3)Price (about 20€)

Colour Uniqueness Shape Adaptability to the ears’ shape

Section 5: Perception of Philips & the Role of Communication

What do they think about Philips in terms of trust, quality, etc?

Despite they did not know that Philips is a headphones producer, they demonstrated to be willing to try the product because they associate the

brand to high quality/performance and they really trust it.

They believe that the electronics market is brand-driven.

Philips is mainly associated to TVs and phones.

The moderator asked which are the factors that make a brand “cool”. The participants talked about products’ features rather than the brand itself:

19

20

In-depth InterviewProjective Techniques

Mapping

Thematic Apperception Test

Shopping List

Sentence Completion

Sensorial Grid

Notness

Mood Board

In-depth Interviews: 18Participants: 18 (13 males and 5 females)Period: 12 – 30 NovemberLocation: Milan (bar/interviewers’ houses/ university)Length: ≈ 47 minutes 34 secondsTotal amount of time: ≈ 14 hours Technical Support: sound register and laptop.

Our interviews were partially-structured.

N° Name Age Job Home town Charateristics

1 Alberto 24 Student Milano Background both humanistic art and science, practices sport

2 Federica 22 Student Milano Studies architecture, loves what she studies, talkative3 Flaminia 22 Student Ostia Loves music, cares about fashion, active person4 Cludia 23 Journalist part-time Milano Loves writing and is graduated in philosophy5 Pietro 21 Student Milano Loves training at the gym and riding his motorbike

6 Chiara 21 Student Milano Is graduated in phsicology and wants to go abroad for studying

7 Stefania 22 Student Milano Loves fashion, makes lots of jokes, studies at Bocconi

8 Alexander 25 Entrepreneur New York Loves skiing and running, plans to become an entrepreneur

9 Mauro 26 Employee Milano Works in the IT sector and loves travelling10 Davide 19 Student Palermo Talkative, hates Philips because of bad experiences11 Marten 20 Student Parigi Extremely sportive, extroverse12 Fabrizio 18 Student Bari Loves music, wants to become a doctor13 Marco 24 Employee Lecco Loves football, wants to manage start-up

14 Cesare 22 Student Milano Wants to become a diplomate, loves running and working out

15 Benjamin 24 Employee Parigi Loves music and sport, sociable, active

16 Alessandro 24 Employee Pescara Studies finance and banking, working as a personal finance consultant

17 Madison 21 Student Toronto Fashion addicted, sportive and music lover and trend follower

18 Yuri 22 Student Lecce Active person, music addicted and not caring about trends

TABLE OF INFORMANTS

21

22

CODES“General understanding of the world of sportive people: their

relationship with music and fashion” Music as a

way to escape

Music as a way to

enhance motivation

Music as a performance booster

Music as a “must” for

sport

Headphones as part

of the sportive

outfit

Main criteria for choosing

the sportive outfit

In order to deeply investigate our research goals, we used different codes.

“Contextualization of Philips Brand in consumers’ mind and exploration of Philips already existing communication tools and proposed ones”Five main

adjectives for describing

Philips headphones

Two main characteristics for Philips as

an headphones producer

Philips is not…

Philips credibility

Philips typical

consumer

Self identification

(with pictures)

Identification & aspiration

Testimonial factor

Philips Run “factors of success”

…a way to enhance motivation:

Music fuels people up and encourages them while

training.

Music as…

…a way to boost performance:

Thanks to music, people achieve higher focus and

motivation, but their ultimate goal is to achieve

greater results.23

The goals in music consumption address both the utilitarian level (music as a performance booster) and the hedonic one (music as a way to escape and as a way to enhance motivation). In both cases the direction of

the consumption is towards the self and not the others.

…a way to escape: Music helps people

escape their day-to-day activities and and free

their minds.

“Music is a natural adrenaline, it gives you the strength to keep training. If I had to run 15 km, with music I would make it

quite easily. Without music, I would probably stop much earlier”.

“Music helps me to perform better. If you run with the song that you already know it just

comes easier automatically. It also helps you reaching goals, for instance I know that song

last just 30 seconds, so I will be pushing myself for this last seconds as hard as I just can.”

“I could not work-out without listening to music. I would feel so

tired and unmotivated!”

“First of all, I listen to music to free my mind from all the negative

thoughts of the day and relax”.

Way to enhance

motivation

Way to escape

They say…“The primary reason I listen to music during training is to distract myself”.

“(...) sometimes I just have a run in order to listen to some music and liberate myself from thoughts”.

“Sometimes when I am a little tired, I increase the volume or choose a more fast paced music and this motivates

me a lot.”Way to

boost your performanc

e

24

Music as…a MUST for Sport

people to classify themselves through actions in different categories. In order to investigate this topic deeper, we asked our interviewees to talk about how they would feel if they forgot headphones at home before the training session.

The response was quite unanimous: “I think I would go back to pick my headphones up because my training will be less powerful. At the end of the day you feel like you worked correctly but not enough. It

will definitely be a problem to train without music”.

One respondent went even beyond this and told us: “When I forget headphones at home, I start watching at reality in a completely

different manner, everything is so monotonous. And this really kills my training, I think music is crucial”.

One respondents stated: “I will be a little upset, but I will not come back, but continue running.

<…> However, I guess it could have an effect on my results.”

Up to this point, we found out that music plays an absolutely crucial role in training. Listening to music while training is a kind of “Ritual”: it’s a consumption practise that allows

25

Fashion in Sportspeople LivesThe main common driver of the choice of the sportive outfit is comfort, although people are influenced also by others factors according to their needs. For instance, “fashion addicted” do care also about the brand and the aesthetic characteristics of their outfit. On the contrary, those who are not affected by trends are more influenced by price. Almost every respondent seemed to care about his/her appearance, but reluctant to admit it: a real athlete doesn’t care about his appearance (trade-off situation). However, headphones are just considered as a mean to listen to music: even “fashion addicted” appear not be influenced by the “fashion factor” in the purchase decision.“Except for

the shoes, running doesn’t require

technical outfit so I use price as first criteria while choosing. So I

go to Decathlon because there’s a

broad choice and it’s cheap.”

“Headphones are

not part of my outfit. They are an accessory. I just look for the usability and

price.”“First is functionality: for running shoes, I

don’t really care if they are fashionable, but the most important factor is

that they are comfortable. For the

rest of the outfit, I like it to be fashionable.”

“I think headphones are part of my outfit! It does make a difference, for

your overall image.”

26

27

What about Philips as a Headphones Producer?

Some of the interviewees did not know that Philips is a headphones producer. However, thanks to the strong image of the brand, the adjectives used to describe it as an headphones producer were pretty positive. Some among the most mentioned represent functional meanings of the brand:

Just a few interviewees expressed a negative opinion about the brand, apparently because of previous negative experiences.According to the respondents, Philips has a good reputation in terms of quality and reliability thanks to its products portfolio. However, some of the interviewees would still prefer a more specialized brand for buying headphones.

High quality Innovative Clean Affordable Comfortable

People were asked to choose the two most representative features of Philips sportive headphones out of six: brand, design, quality of the sound, resistance, price and “fashionability”. Price and resistance turned out to be the most significant ones.

28

…using their words…“I link Philips to a high

standard quality of products and I think that, if Philips wants to do something, it would be not less than the best. There is no reason I

would think about Philips as a bad headphones producer.” “And even if Philips is

known for many things, and it is perceived as a

high quality brand, I still prefer something

that is more specialized into the music production.”

Perceptual Map: What to Improve

29

Brand

Design

Quality

of the s

ound

Resista

ncyPric

e

Fashionab

ility

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

The analysis presents how the four brands (Philips, Sony, Beats and Apple) are perceived in terms of two parameters: “fashionability” and quality of the sound. The interviewees were asked to position these brands in a perceptual map, ranking “fashionability” from high to low and the quality of sound from excellent to poor. A table has been built up through the calculation of the mathematical average of the obtained results. Following this, the data has been used in order to create a perceptual map (see following slide). As it appears from the map, Philips and Sony have received poor rankings. Philips’s quality of sound is average while its “fashionability” is perceived to be the lowest. As it was already presented in class by Giordano Cino (17/09/14), Philips’ main competitor is Sony, which is perceived to have the same level of quality of the sound, but a higher “fashionability”. Finally, Beats is the brand that stands out the most in terms of “fashionability” and the qualityof sound. At the same time, Apple demonstrate a high level of performance in both parameters. When we asked to choose the two most representative features of Philips sportive headphones out of these six (brand, design, quality of the sound, resistance, price and “fashionability”), price and resistance turned out to be the most significant ones.

30Fashionability

Quality of the sound

Perceptual Map: “Fashionability”-Quality of

Sound“Fashionability”

Quality of the sound

1.25 3.12

1.87 3.12

4.6 3.96

3.81 3.12

31

Philips is not…The purpose of this technique was to understand the overall opinion of the interviewees

about Philips.

SEXY

TRENDY

LEADER

SPECIALIZEDFASHIONABLE

….?!??

LOW QUALITY

HEADPHONES PRODUCER

CHEAP

COOL

The majority of the interviewees does notperceive Philips as a “cool”, “trendy” or “cheap” brand.

32

Who shops @ Philips?What emerged is that, according to the interviewees, Philips’ buyer is a MAN. In general, most of them agreed that it is a brand for mid-aged people but also young, with a focus on good value for money, not really focused on trends. Even if each interviewee had its own way to describe this customer profile, they all agreed that Philips is not associated with “coolness”.

“A guy who doesn’t want to show off with his headphones and who probably doesn’t want to be

noticed when he runs.”

“I would imagine someone who is 50, who decided he is too fat and finally to get back in shape, he is

wealthy, probably a manager. I would say a wealthy adult.”

50 years old 25-30 years old

ManagerStudent/

Intern

“Fatty”Sportive

Rich

Simple

“Casual”“Price-quality compromiser”

“Not trendy”

“This is really powerful. I guess

that’s the way. I like the way he stares in

front of him, like he is determinate to do that thing and not

undo it until it is done. That is the way I

behave when I’m at the gym.”

“It gives you an idea that you are doing

something that ...“will not kill you”. I don’t

dream about becoming a professional

sportsman, so I see myself the most in this

picture.”

“I love this photo. They even socialize

and you see the competition. Cause if somebody goes faster

than you, you get angry and want to

reach him. I feel really attracted by it, also

cause I like competition.”

“You can see from the look of her face that she is really focused on her exercise. If I have to say how it

effects me, I definitely relate this to

achievement as succeeding in doing

something. I feel empowered!”

33

Doing sport in group vs. alone (with & without music)Some people prefer to practice sport in company, others like to run alone in order to achieve their goals while a few others run just as a way to relax and escape. This has different implications on the way music is perceived: for instance whoever likes to run with someone else does not usually listen to music in this type of situation. On the contrary, who runs to achieve goals uses music to get more power. Who does sport just to relax, uses music as a background in order to distract themselves. Our respondents identified themselves through social comparison. In a certain sense, they felt secured and reassured by “finding” themselves in the pictures.

We showed two different picture sets to analyze our respondents’ emotional connections and personal identification, as well as the reasons behind.

Emotional Involvement: Identification

Emotional Involvement: Aspiration

34

Celebrities vs. regular peopleWith the second set of images we decided to investigate whether respondents feel more

inspired by commercials with sport celebrities or common people. In this way, we could see if sportive people look for identification or aspiration. In general, the advertisement with Bolt seems to be the most appreciated and involving because the interviewees perceive him as an aspiration.

“Bolt is a legend, so he alone gives 95% of the effectiveness of the message. It is related well

to the sport, success and competitiveness.”

“The guy (Philips) is the only one who is doing something, really concentrated and I want to be like him.”

“I like both the Bolt and the Phelps images because they are really

focused. Anyway I prefer the picture with Bolt since he his athletic image is

really emphatic. Then comes the Phelps image.”

Testimonials

35

BENEFITSThe use of testimonials is very important because

they help you remember the brand during the “decision making process” including that brand in

your consideration set.

The brand is more credible: if testimonial promote it, it means that he/she believes in it.

“I really believe that putting a famous testimonial in an advertisement is a great strategy! There are

more chances to remember the product! I would be affected.”

“For sure I’ d remember more ads with celebrities. So you probably don’t even realize it (testimonials in

the ads), but you are affected.”

RISKSThe perception of testimonials affect the perception of the brand. So, a negative opinion about the testimonial may have a unfavourable consequence on the brands’

products.

Somebody feels more involved with regular people because they are closer.

“If I know a famous testimonial and the greatness of his achievements it affects me a lot, but if I’m not really interested in the sport he is doing, it affects me less.”

“I think it is effective to use a famous testimonial, but you should not focus only on him/her. The rest of the ad

should be on the same level.”

36

RUN THIS TOWN…will you join us?We analyzed the degree of involvement of our target in different sportive events. We also investigated the possibility of having a Philips Run with a format similar to the one of the “Colour Run”. The great majority of the interviewees appeared to love the idea!

Do something unique &

differentiate from already existing

“runs”

Find a suggestive location

Bring in a lot of music

Target mainly young people

Use the idea of “silent disco”. Provide gadgets

Involve also other sports

Make it more a “social moment”

and not just a sport day

So…which could be the success factors?

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONSTWO

LEVERAGESInfluence the influencers:

Use of Testimonial

s

Make the brand relevant for the

Urbanities: Organize a Philips Run

Cristiano Ronaldo…why not?

INSIGHTAccording to our interviewees, music plays an absolutely crucial role in training. Customers see music as a way to increase motivation and perform better (research goal

1).

SOLUTION

Philips has to change the tone of voice of its communication in order to convince customers that

ActionFit headphones are the best for sportive people and can boost their performance.

HOWCreate advertisements with famous sportive

testimonials coherent with the brand, spreading a message of “power”.

The exploitation of the Digital channels is an essential part of the strategy, especially because the target is

composed by young.

PROBLEM

Philips is not able to express these values through its ActionFit advertisements and customers do not

perceive the brand as “cool”.

Run Your CityINSIGHT

Philips is perceived as an high – quality excellent brand because of its product portfolio, but still consumers do not associate it to the audio industry (research goal

2).

SOLUTION

Philips has to interact more with its customers in order to reassure them, increase the brand awareness, improve the brand image and make ActionFit more relevant for

the Urbanities.

HOW Creation of a sportive event called “Philips Run”, with one single mission: make Philips closer to the “Urbanities”. The event should be held in a suggestive location, target young people and bring in a lot of music and fun.

PROBLEM

Philips is not able to create a credible image in the mind of young consumers and involve them: they

prefer to buy their headphones produced by specialized companies.

40

Conclusions &Limitations

• The strategies we proposed are coherent with our research goals and questions and are supported both by our respondents answers and the previously mentioned papers.

• According to our research, even if ActionFit is the brand leader in sportive headphones in Europe, young people aged between 18 and 25 years old don’t use Philips headphones while training.

• We tried to understand the reasons behind that and we discovered that the brand is not perceived as “cool” and that young people are not interested in using Philips headphones. Nevertheless, the majority of our respondents believe that Philips products quality should be medium-high.

• Fashion turned out to be the wrong factor to focus on in order to make Philips “cool”, since sportive people seem to minimize its importance.

• We decided to focus on two factors to make the brand “appealing”: testimonials and sport events. During our researches, testimonials turned out to be a key factor in advertisement for making customers remember the product and be more willing to buy it. This is due to the fact that young sportive people feel inspired and involved by testimonials (that should be coherent with the brand image). Sport events are an important factor as well, since they have the power to make people feel closer to the brand. People feel both engaged and challenged by this kind of events and are interested in taking part in it.

• We are aware that our strategy will be expensive, but we think that Philips will benefit from this kind of investments.