Campaign for refurbished products highlights Philips’ increasing focus on circular solutions

On June 20, a unique Pop-Up Store appeared in Rindermarkthalle St Pauli, a vibrant market in the center of Hamburg, Germany, inviting passers-by to ‘come in and discover the future’. Instead of selling products, the store was selling something more intriguing: an idea. Specifically, the idea that new doesn’t always mean better. By choosing to buy refurbished products, such as Philips Refurb Editions, consumers can reduce their impact on the environment with high-quality products and in many cases save money as well. In the case of Philips Refurb Editions, they also come with the same two-year Philips warranty.

(credits: Sven Brandt)

Refurb! Part of our circular future

As part of its commitment to doing business sustainably and responsibly, Philips focuses on deploying circular business models that use fewer raw materials and generate less waste. Philips Refurb Editions are an excellent example, creating awareness around refurbishment and re-use so that commercially returned items retain their usefulness for as long as possible. The ‘Better Than New’ campaign launched in Philips’ Hamburg Pop-Up Store aims to raise awareness of the benefits. With more than 39,000 refurbished Philips products finding a new home in 2022, Philips avoided 139 tons of e-waste[1]. In the same year, 18% of the company’s revenue was generated from circular propositions.

“With the ‘Better Than New’ campaign we are challenging people to think differently about purchasing new goods. Reused products offer a good alternative to new, with a considerably lower environmental impact. Our ambition is to generate 25% of Philips’ revenue from circular products and solutions by 2025, with 100% of our products designed using Philips’ EcoDesign principles. Through sustainable innovation, and the roll out of new business models such as the Philips Refurb collection, we are embedding sustainability ever deeper in the way we do business, ensuring long-term impact while contributing to Philips’ purpose of improving the lives of 2.5 billion people per year by 2030,” said Robert Metzke, Philips Global Head of Sustainability.

How it works

The majority of Philips Refurb Editions are products that have been sold online and returned within 30 days, and to a lesser extent products returned under Philips subscription programs. After checking they are suitable for refurbishment, all hygiene-related components such as shaver blades and electrical safety components such as chargers are replaced. Each product is then tested to ensure it meets Philips’ rigorous quality standards before being repacked in original or recycled packaging. And just like its new product equivalent, each product receives an identical two-year warranty.

'Better Than New' or 'Besser als Neu' in German, the tagline of the innovative campaign from Philips, LePub and TOILETPAPER.

If you do it, do it with style

To bring about meaningful change you need to capture the imagination, which is why Philips turned to Amsterdam-based creative agency LePub and the co-founders of Italian image-only lifestyle magazine TOILETPAPER to create the visuals for the Philips Refurb Editions ‘Better than New’ campaign. One of TOILETPAPER’s most successful signature-image styles is its challenging, often provocative, ‘retro-future’ imagery, which playfully mimics mid-twentieth century commercial advertising. And since Philips was one of the companies that produced some of that period’s most iconic advertising, TOILETPAPER’s artistic director Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari revisited vintage posters illustrating Philips’ past innovations, giving them a modern twist with Philips’ latest beauty and male grooming products.

Philips believes that embedding sustainability in the way it does business is critical to ensuring long-term impact and achieving the company’s mission to improve the lives of 2.5 billion people per year by 2030 through meaningful innovation. By 2025, it aims to generate 25% of the company’s total revenue from circular propositions, with 100% of its products designed using Philips’ whole lifecycle EcoDesign principles.

Philips Refurb Editions include products in the company’s beauty product portfolio (Lumea IPL 9000 Series, Lumea Prestige, DryCare Prestige, Stylecare Prestige, and Drycare and StyleCare Essential), male grooming products (Shaver Series 5000, 7000 and 9000) as well as domestic appliances from licensee partner Versuni such as automatic coffee machines, coffee pod machines, kitchen appliances, home-care products, garment care, and Airfryer products. They are currently available in selected European countries only.

[1] Philips is conducting an overhaul of opened returns from customers and retailers (including subscription plans). When calculating waste generation, Philips takes into account the weight of these returned products excluding accessories and packaging materials.