Norelco
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Norelco is the American
brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
for
electric shaver An electric shaver (also known as the dry razor, electric razor, or simply shaver) is a razor with an electrically powered rotating or oscillating blade. The electric shaver usually does not require the use of shaving cream, soap, or water. Th ...
s and other
personal care products Personal care or toiletries are consumer products used in personal hygiene, personal grooming or for beautification. Products Personal care includes products as diverse as cleansing pads, colognes, cotton swabs, cotton pads, deodorant, eye line ...
made by the Consumer Lifestyle division of
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
. For personal care products marketed outside the United States, Philips used the
Philishave Philishave is the brand name for electric shavers, their spare parts and accessories manufactured by the Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care unit of Philips (in the U.S., the Norelco name is used instead). In recent years, Philips had e ...
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
until 2006. Philips then dropped that name and began using the Philips name.


History of the name

From the early 1940s,
Philco Philco (an acronym for Philadelphia Battery Company) is an American electronics industry, electronics manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia. Philco was a pioneer in battery, radio, and television production. In 1961, the company was purchased ...
was legally able to prevent Philips from using the name "Philips" on any products marketed in the United States, because the two names were judged to sound similar enough to cause consumer confusion and potentially lead to claims of trademark infringement. This was made official and legally binding on January 19, 1943 when the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the corresponding case of ''Philco Corporation v. Phillips Mfg. Co.'', that allowed Philco to prevent Philips from using their name on their products sold in the US. As a result, Philips instead used the name Norelco, an acronym for "North American Philips ''electricalCompany". Philips continued to use that name for all their U.S. products until 1974, when Philips purchased The
Magnavox Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics company that since 1974 has been a subsidiary of the Dutch electronics corporation Philips. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham and ...
Company. Philips then relabeled their U.S.
consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...
products as Magnavox, but retained the Norelco name for their other U.S. products. When Philips bought Philco in 1981, Philips was able to freely use the Philips name for all of their U.S. products, but they chose to retain the Norelco name for personal care appliances, and the Magnavox name for economy-priced consumer electronics. One reason for retaining the Norelco name for personal care appliances was that a shift to the Philips name could have alienated those American buyers who were reluctant to purchase foreign brands. The
market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
of Philips, a European company, was very low in the U.S. compared to other countries, but with their Norelco and Magnavox brands, they were able to get a larger market share. Philips began co-branding their shavers "Philips Norelco" in 2005 to improve Philips' brand recognition in the United States, a first step towards an intended phase out of the Norelco name.


Norelco shavers

Philips began making electric shavers in 1939.
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
delayed their introduction in the United States until 1948. The product was not successful until a two-headed model was introduced in 1951. Philips introduced the Philips Norelco Bodygroom shaver for shaving male body hair in 2006. An online website as well as a demonstration on
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
's show garnered attention. It was advertised in a science fiction series of adverts and shorts directed by
Bruno Aveillan Bruno Aveillan (born 1968) is a French filmmaker, photographer, and contemporary artist. Communication art After graduating from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Toulouse, he joined Quad Productions in Paris in 1995. Since then, he has direc ...
called ''Robotskin'' in 2007.


Norelco tape recorders

Norelco introduced the Philips 3 inch open reel portable tape player/recorder, being the EL 3586/25 in the United States under the Norelco brand name in November 1963. It was called the Continental 101.


Norelco video cameras

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
made and marketed a line of Norelco
professional video camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...
s in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
was a notable customer, using models PC-60, PC-70, PC-72, PCP-90, the LDH series, and later the LDK series. The PC-60 was notable as one of the first major color television cameras, competing with the
RCA TK-40/41 The RCA TK-40 is considered to be the first practical color television camera, initially used for special broadcasts in late 1953, and with the follow-on TK-40A actually becoming the first to be produced in quantity in March 1954. The TK-40 was ...
line but eventually winning out as industry standard (so much so that
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, which was owned by RCA, bought Norelco PC cameras for sports and outside broadcasts) due to its light weight, servo-operated zoom lens, and advanced color reproduction. By the 1980s, the Norelco name was dropped in favor of Philips. Later marketed using the BTS— Broadcast Television Systems Inc.—brand name in a joint venture with Bosch, the division was subsequently sold to
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
's
Grass Valley A grass valley (also vega and valle) is a meadow located within a forested and relatively small drainage basin such as a headwater. Grass valleys are common in North America, where they are created and maintained principally by the work of b ...
, then to Belden.


References


External links

* Shavers: *
Official Philips Norelco website
*
Second Puberty
Philips' humorous introduction to their Bodygroom system * Television commercials *
classic Santa riding a razor "Noelco" ad from the 1960s
{{Philips Cameras Electronics companies of the United States Philips products Shaving