Philips, the venerable Dutch maker of lightbulbs, razors and X-ray machines, has chosen Britain for its most daring product launch in more than 100 years of technological innovation.

The electronics company is poised to leap into the bedroom with a product that it hopes will electrify our relationships.

In a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign to begin next week, Britain will be introduced to the Warm Intimate Massager, an ergonomically crafted and gently vibrating device to help couples get in the mood.

Shrouded in secrecy, the product has been in development for two years but within ten days it will be available in Boots and Selfridges as well as on Amazon.com, the online retailer.

The new product emerged from a Philips Incubator, a technology innovation unit of five researchers in Amsterdam. If it is successful, it will bring marital aids off the top shelf and into the aisle of your local chemist. The thing buried in the knicker drawer could end up on the coffee table.

Hugely controversial, the proposal to launch a marital aid under the Philips brand navigated a minefield of internal scrutiny by executives nervous of its impact on a world-renowned household appliance brand. The stakes are high – the massager is clearly intended to lift the flagging sales performance of Philips’s consumer business. The screening even included an exceptional presentation at a very early stage to the top board of directors of the company.

Before the Incubator team overcame the hurdles, they launched a blitz of research into attitudes and behaviour. Mountains of evidence revealed keen interest in a new massager but also reluctance. According to a Philips survey of committed couples aged between 35 and 55, openness to the idea was high at 35 per cent and among those, usage levels reached 42 per cent.

Nevertheless, Philips is convinced there is a huge potential market. Sales in the UK of similar products total £75 million and are expected to rise to £115 million by 2011 but Philips believes that its device could expand that market segment by £60 million.

Sheila Struyck, the head of market-driven innovation at Philips, reckons there is no satisfactory product available. “We found a lot of couples telling us they wanted it but what they were seeing in the market didn’t appeal.”

Philips decided to aim its device at established couples who are put off by smutty presentation of the existing range of massage devices. More importantly, men can be intimidated by products sold in sex shops and lingerie retailers. “We were looking for products that wouldn’t replace one or the other partner. With more targeted products one partner feels left out.”

Philips hopes it has created a Christmas gift for couples and that is why the device is nonpenetrative, unlike traditional vibrating massagers. Presentation and visual appearance is key, explains Ms Struyck. Philips wanted a product that would never be an embarrassment to the customers, explained Deneice Clark, a member of the product’s PR team.

Britain is key to a successful launch into a global market that could be worth more than £1 billion, says Justine Guest, the head of consumer life-style marketing for Philips UK. Britain was the guinea pig for two previous and somewhat controversial launches: the bikini trimmer and an all-over body shaver for men. Britain is more open than other markets tested by Philips researchers, including Germany, the US and the Netherlands and a popular TV series has paved the way. “Our research says that UK consumers are open to this story. Sex and the City changed the way people talk about it,” said Ms Guest.

Philips is keeping the device under wraps but a private presentation in the Business Section of The Times this week revealed a product that comes in single and double versions, offered in subtle packaging that emphasises the Philips brand. The couples version is sold with three cordless rechargeable candle lights, to “enhance the mood”.

The Philips Dual Intimate Massager isn’t cheap at £89.99 but that is intentional, the company says. The product is aimed at middle-class couples who would be put off by something that appeared down-market. “We want it to be seen as respectable,” Ms Guest said.

Good vibrations

— The Vibratile, the first consumer vibrator, was advertised in an American literary magazine in 1899 as a medical device to relieve wrinkles and neuralgia

— The medical application for such devices, which were marketed as cures for “hysteria”, was a cover. Advertising ended in 1930 when pornography showed women using them for erotic purposes

— Advertising for vibrators recommenced in magazines in the late 1970s

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