Up close relationships over traditional marketing

How Chinese brands are taking a more personal approach to establish brand awareness in selling smartphones.

Image: @huaweiZA

A large structure sits at the centre of a stadium in South Africa. The dome stands out to be seen even a mile away, with huge logos on display and very much visible. As the evening drew closer, people began flocking to the structure as they slowly populated the area — all kinds of people from journalists, local celebrities, staff and the ilk.

Huawei was set to launch their flagship smartphone for the year. The Huawei P8.

This event was taking place a few months after the Chinese company had announced the same smartphone to a global press in London. This was an event that was covered extensively by the media and this launch in South Africa wasn’t a mistake, just a part of establishing its local presence.

The event was filed with lots of flashy colors and light performances. This was complemented by the glowing dome which gave off a warm, lighthearted sense to the event. For a first-timer, this would unequivocally give you a sense of awe, and an appearance from well known public figures would take it even further. One notable celebrity was the current Miss South Africa, musicians and television personalities.

On social media, the event was going by the #igniteP8 hashtag. The hashtag quickly shot up the trending charts and social media was abuzz with news of the launch. It became apparent to its audience that Huawei was up to something and this all shone the company in good light, with praises being sung hither and yon without any mention of how good the smartphone actually was. One good example: “Huawei has finally made a smartphone for us, better than a Samsung.”

This wasn’t that much of a surprise. Huawei’s brand was now more visible to a large number of locals because of this sort of thing and this is also shown by how much the company is now ranked the most popular brand on most parts of Africa, amongst other regions.

Brands before specs