Huawei launches smartphone ad campaign targeting youth market

Stuart Corner
Friday, 15 July 2011 16:37

IT Industry - Strategy

Huawei has launched its first above the line advertising campaign in Australia, with the aim of "positioning Huawei as the smartphone brand of choice for the youth market."

The company said: "the digitally-led campaign comes as a response to Huawei's increased presence and growth in the Australian market since launching as a consumer mobile brand in December last year."  It also represents part of the local subsidiary's contributions to Huawei's global goal of being a major player in the smartphone market. (see below)

Mark Treadwell, head of marketing for Huawei Devices Australia, said: "With a heavyweight rich media online campaign supported by targeted outdoor at launch, combined with the creative direction, the campaign will talk directly to our core target market."

The campaign is a collaborative effort between Huawei and its agencies Arnold Furnace, OMD and Burson-Marsteller and kicked off with the launch of social media treasure-hunt style contest, 'Found Phones' in which consumers are invited to solve clues posted on the Huawei Mobile Facebook page in order to find, and keep, a Huawei Ideos X1 Android smartphone.

Huawei says at least one phone will be given away in Sydney and Melbourne every working day throughout July as well as in a daily prize draw on the Facebook page. "Found Phones will be supported by an integrated PR strategy, as well as a three month digital and out-of-home advertising campaign that will roll out from July 25," it said. Targeted outdoor advertising "will position Huawei within key youth and retail environments to allow for greater impact and incremental reach and frequency."

Huawei Devices also recently launched its Australian website, huaweimobile.com.au. It has been produced using parallax background animation, HTML5 and CSS3 animation, and provides access to the Android market for app downloads and Facebook integration.

The push into the device market in Australia reflects the growing importance of devices in Huawei's global strategy. According to a Reuters report earlier this month, Huawei is aiming to ship up to 20 million smartphones this year, an increase on earlier sales targets of 12-15 million units in 2011 and a six fold increase on the 2010 total of 3.3 million smartphones.

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