Philips Halogena Light Bulbs Tied Into Times Square Publicity

In addition to advertising, the Philips long-life lightbulb strategy was the basis of a highly successful public relations campaign. The campaign centered around Philips Halogena lightbulbs. When Philips heard that a new ball was being created for the Times Square New Years Eve celebration in New York City, it called the organization responsible and offered to work with that organization on including Halogena bulbs. The result was that Halogena became the official Times Square lightbulb for five years , including the huge millennium celebration. This formed the basis of the public relations campaign.

Philips began the campaign with a press conference, then implemented a broad national publicity tour. The most watched event of the millennium New Years celebration was the dropping of the ball in Times Square. Because of its use for this, Halogena lightbulbs were broadly publicized in print and on television, including the Today show. The end result was a three-inch book full of press clippings. Retailers also participated in the event. Home Depot, for example, provided an end aisle display of Halogena lightbulbs for the six weeks surrounding New Years Eve. All of this resulted in the sale of a lot of Halogena lightbulbs.