NEWS Connected Iron
NEWS Connected Iron Attracts Rave Reviews Laurastar heralds successful IFA appearance Olaf Nedorn Head of Marketing and Communication at Siemens Home Appliances Michael Monney Global Commercial Director, Laurastar The Connectivity Family Siemens presented full range of connected appliances at IFA Michael Monney, Global Commercial Director at Laurastar, said IFA had been “great” for the Switzerland-based business, which previewed the world’s first connected iron on its stand. The connected iron has had a massive impact at IFA; we have never had so many journalists on our stand, from all over the world; and buyers are happy with our launch. For us, this is a sign that connectivity with a meaning is something that people can relate to and are buying into. How has your experience of IFA been? We love IFA. I attend fairs all over the world, in Chicago, Shanghai, Las Vegas and Berlin – and, qualitatively, IFA is the best fair in the world. There is a good mix between consumer electronics and appliances, which you never see anywhere. Has IFA met your expectations? We have smashed our expectations, not in terms of sales, as it will not be on the market until March 2017, but on the feedback. I had no idea that buyers would be so positive. When you launch a product, it’s like a baby, you nurture it for a while, you unveil it to the world and you never know what people will say about it. What’s great is that they love the product and its connectivity and it’s been really positive. The product will launch in European markets in March 2017 and in Q4 2017 for international markets. How will the connected iron help consumers? What consumers always tell us that thanks to Laurastar they cut their time spent ironing by 50%. We think that with the connected iron, plus the ironing coach app, it will also consumers to save even more time. This will enable people who have never known how to iron to be better and iron faster Olaf Nedorn, Head of Marketing and Communication at Siemens Home Appliances, says the company has put its focus on connectivity and has reached the stage where it can say that the kitchen is now connected. The overall feedback is that IFA has been a success for Siemens. We have a brand new booth – everything buyers saw was new. The products that are connected were well received, but we also had innovations in every aspect of our product range, for example, our washing machines with the new SensoFresh programme, allowing to eliminate odours without washing thanks to the use of active oxygen. We also have new ventilation products for the kitchen and we presented our robot concept product, Mykie. Three years ago we introduced connected products, Mykie is the next step of connectivity. Why is IFA so important for Siemens? IFA is an essential platform to introduce new products and we have all the people of the industry here. We have increased the number of retailers that we have met at IFA this year and we are very satisfied. Everything is working well and business is good. We have innovations to show and overall, the feedback is very positive. What does the future hold for appliances? Home appliances have become innovative products – it is not just a washing machine anymore – but part of the connectivity family. People are not just coming on to the stand as we have a famous German chef here cooking, but they are really interested in our products and they have accepted connectivity as a part of their life. We are also building a portfolio of brands around Siemens, an ecosystem, where we are creating partnerships with brands like Amazon 14
NEWS Soccer Helps Hisense Achieve its Goals Sports sponsorship has long been part of Hisense’s marketing strategy SONY PICTURES AND INTEL ANNOUNCE 4K PARTNERSHIP Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) and Intel Corporation have announced that ULTRA, SPHE’s 4K movie streaming service, will debut on computers powered by 7 th Gen Intel Core processors beginning in Q1 2017. Candy Pang General Manager, Hisense Germany Around the world, Hisense has production bases in South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, and sales offices in USA, Europe, Australia, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Hisense products are exported to over 130 countries and regions around the world. Recently it has turned its attention to Europe, seeking to raise its profile there, not least with its sponsorship of the UEFA Euro 2016 soccer tournament. Candy Pang, general manager, Hisense Germany, explained how the European strategy is working In the long run, we are aiming at becoming one of the topthree TV providers in Europe. During and after UEFA Euro 2016, we already observed a significant boost in TV sales in all of our European markets, including Germany. In the German market in particular, we will continue to establish and maintain close co-operation with specialised retailers. These partnerships have already enabled us to have our products available throughout all regions of the country. We are always considering expansion into other European markets as well, wherever it makes strategic sense to us. You have presented new ULED TVs here at IFA. What are the key USPs of these sets? The ULED TVs use the Hisensedeveloped Hi-View image processing chip, advanced LED backlight control and a wide colour gamut to produce highly detailed and naturallooking images. The result is brilliant images with ultra- HD resolution, a wide colour gamut, high contrast and high frame frequency. What are the key goals of your presence at IFA and how important is the show as part of your marketing plan? At IFA, we engage in valuable exchanges with trade partners and key journalists from all over the world. This way, we continue to build close relationships which are essential on our way to further establishing Hisense as an internationally renowned brand. But we also offered an exciting entertainment programme to thousands of end consumers visiting our booth. So they didn’t just experience our latest products, but also connected to our brand on an emotional level – as millions of sports fans have already thanks to our various premium sport sponsoring partnerships, including the UEFA Euro 2016 and the [Bundesliga team] FC Schalke 04 Coinciding with the expanded availability of the service, ULTRA will add new features like 48-hour rentals and free 10 minute previews, allowing customers to experience a sample of any film on the service in full 4K resolution before buying. With its new 7th Gen Intel Core processor, Intel said it is bringing 4K content to mainstream PC users. More than 100 new devices powered by 7 th Gen Intel Core will be available by the end of 2016. As a result of the deal, Intel Core-powered PCs will be the first to provide secure access to premium 4K movies and television content through SPHE’s ULTRA 4K service. Navin Shenoy, General Manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group, said: “More and more people are turning to their PC as their main movie viewing device. At the same time, studios like Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are leading the way in producing beautiful 4K content.” Shenoy said the combination of the amazing technology in the 7 th Gen Intel Core processors and the 4K titles on ULTRA means that anyone with these new computers will be “immersed in a 4K viewing world”. Pete Wood, SPHE’s Senior Vice President, Digital Distribution, added: “Audiences have shown a strong and growing appetite for premium 4K content, and ULTRA takes advantage of the latest industry innovations – high dynamic range, digital movie extras, and now the 7th Gen Intel Core with Intel hardware security technologies – so viewers get the most out of their movie collections.” New releases on the ULTRA service are priced at .99 to own in 4K with HDR, and will be .99 for 48-hour rental www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 16 th September 2016 15
