TP Vision, the company that operates the Philips TV brand in Europe, has said it’s planning to forge ahead with its virtual announcements format with a new online event starting August 31. At the event, the company is promising to announce an “exciting” new range of Philips TV & Sound products that will go on sale later in the year. 

Although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the release, the announcement suggests that TP Vision may once again be planning to snub the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin consumer technology show, or IFA, where it has traditionally announced its autumn and winter product ranges. 

The organisers of that show recently said they plan to revert to a normal, in-person event for IFA 2021, following last year’s mixed event that saw a limited number of company representatives and journalists physically attend. TP Vision pulled out of last year’s IFA, saying at the time it had no choice to do so due to the risks posed to its employees, partners and visitors by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TP Vision said its online product launches in September 2020 and January 2021, the second of which coincided with the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, were in any case a big success with “huge international audiences” and “well attended, online technical Q&A and retail trade sessions”. 

For this year’s event for European media and trade, TP Vision said it’s planning to adopt a hybrid format, similar to last year’s IFA 2020, with some invitation-based technical Q&A sessions that will be held in person in “key countries”. 

The plan is for the online event to open on August 31, with Philips TV & Sound Europe Chief Executive Kostas Vouzas and Chief Marketing Officer Martijn Smelt holding a joint press conference to outline the company’s recent product launches and business highlights. The executives will also present details of Philip’s future plans and announce its new OLED TVs and Fidelio audio products. 

“The TP Vision team has already proven that we can create strong, impactful and enjoyable digital launch events that can communicate the excitement of our new product introductions to the media and our trade partners,” Vouzas said. “I’m very confident that we can continue that trend when we reveal our next generation of Philips TV & Sound products while continuing to develop our online style so that our Autumn 2021 online event will be even bigger, better and more fun.”

The online event will also see a number of live technical seminars for invited journalists that will be broadcast over the web. 

The extended Q&A sessions will cover developments in Philip’s TV technology, hosted by TP Vision’s P.Q. guru Danny tack, as well as the latest innovations from Philips Fidelio Premium Sound, led by Benoit Burette, the head of Philips Sound Strategy at TP Vision. There will also be another session on the Bowers & Wilkins OLED+ sound system, led by Andy Kerr, the director of product communication at Bowers & Wilkins.