We had the opportunity to have a nice chat with Franck Racapé, Head of Global Commercial & Vice President EMEA at PPDS, who talked about the recent rebranding of the Philips display area and future plans.
Franck Racapé, Head of Global Commercial & Vice President EMEA, PPDS Philips Professional Displays, is certainly the right man to explore various topics with, from the rebranding strategy, on the first anniversary of this ambitious project, to market perspectives. We offer you, in two “episodes”, this interview that touches on many topics of interest to professionals, end users and the entire AV Pro world.
C – How would you describe the response to the rebrand?
FR – We were delighted with the response across the industry to the launch of our new brand identity. It was something we had been discussing and developing for more than a year prior. We’d actually been setting the scene, as a natural progression of our business, during that period through our external communications to help the transition from a brand perspective. As a part of this brand transition, we moved from referring to ourselves as Philips Professional Display Solutions to Philips PDS, paving the way for our new name – PPDS.
The switch to PPDS was far from just a new name and logo on our business cards, though. It marked an evolution of the business and a fundamental shift in our strategy and our position in the marketplace in terms of what we stand for and the value we bring. Our company is built on incredibly strong foundations, bringing together the strength of TPV – the biggest supplier of displays globally – and the rich heritage of Philips, proven for quality-assured products. And from a value point of view, we wanted to emphasise on three main directions. First, our Global approach, to facilitate global project roll out. Second is Sustainability – to become a leader in ESG and sustainability commitment. And third is Total Solutions, to move to offering our partners support that goes well beyond just a display. To do that, we implemented our ‘total solutions’ strategy, inspiring and enabling our customers with a more joined-up approach. We also launched a brand-new website – ppds.com – a platform bringing our Philips professional displays together with our partner solutions.
C – Why a ‘Total Solutions’ strategy? What does it actually mean?FR – We are and will always remain a hardware manufacturer, this is what customers know us for and we will continue leveraging our manufacturing strengths to become a global leader. But due to our unique position in terms of technology (Android, Open standard, High performance engine), we aim to bring Total Solutions developed around our hardware with our ecosystem of partners. We are here to provide complete digital signage, interactive, direct view LED display and professional TV solutions, together with our partners, bringing more value around our displays, including hardware and software. This allows us to support our partners and their customers – whatever vertical they operate in – in a way that meets their creative needs and unique requirements.
C – Can you give us some examples of solutions formed as part of this strategy?
FR – The strategy includes developing solutions in-house – such as Guest Connect, CMND & Reception, Interact, Air Quality Sensor and our upcoming Cloud-based platform – and through strategic partnerships with selected third-party companies. Partners can come to us for a display and build their own solution around it, or they can count on us for a ready-to-roll out, proven total solution. That’s a fundamental difference. It helps our partners reduce time and expense sourcing the right solutions, knowing that everything has been tested, is already compatible and can be fully calibrated to meet the needs of the end customer before leaving our warehouses.
C – And after the rebrand?
FR – It’s a short question with a long answer. Since the unveiling of our new identity, we’ve really accelerated that strategy and put the pedal to the metal – a phrase that has even more meaning with our new partnership as Team Supplier with Red Bull Racing! We have formed and announced partnerships with some of the world’s biggest and most successful hardware and software providers to bring ground-breaking, innovative and, importantly, dedicated solutions to market in order support all major verticals. Examples include Logitech, bringing world class camera technology to our displays for greater collaboration and opportunities for our education and corporate solutions.
We’re a strategic and certified partner of Crestron, offering one of the deepest joined-up relationships in the industry for its products and solutions, such as XiO Cloud for display management, with its technology now built into our displays. And of course, we are currently out with them on the Crestron Next Road Trip. We also introduced our AI driven ‘Intelligent Signage Solution for Retail’, bringing once unimaginable insights and targeted marketing opportunities inside stores, through a partnership with Intel, Advantech and Admira.
These are just a handful of joined up, deeply integrated partnerships for specific products and verticals. What we have achieved in a year is nothing short of incredible and we’re only just getting started.
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