Sky Li, Global VP, Oppo & MD of International Mobile Business & President of Oppo India talks about Oppo’s impressive growth story in India and why India is a key market for the brand
BY NEETA NAIR
Q] OPPO is one of the world’s fastest growing brands; how different is the market for the company in India vis-àvis the rest of the world?
India is a key growth and potential market for OPPO. As compared to other global markets, India has a diverse set of consumers with demands that vary from region to region, which can be challenging at times. But we are gradually progressing on the basis of our understanding of the market to fulfil the consumer demands.
Q] Do you feel there is a change in perception in India about Chinese phone manufacturers ever since Vivo and OPPO entered the market?
The innovative nature of the smartphone industry has been steadily gaining ground in recent years. India is a developing market with significant growth still to be found in the sector. It is no doubt a price sensitive market, but there is a certain section of consumers who are extremely technologysavvy and looking for innovative and power-packed devices, thus creating a lot of opportunity for Chinese brands which are taken more seriously in the Indian market today. The way consumers choose and buy smartphones is continuously evolving and you need to have a diverse portfolio of products and price points to appeal to a wide range of consumers. Oppo has received amazing response from consumers here. We are constantly developing products based on customer feedback in both hardware and software user experience.
Q] You have recently launched a new phone, Oppo F1s, in the market. What is the insight behind the ad campaign for it and what is the target audience?
The newly launched TVC introduced the latest handset, OPPO Selfie Expert F1s. OPPO always aims to offer an excellent selfie experience with every click to customers. In our new TVC, we have continued the romantic stories between Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor portraying how much delight a great selfie experience can bring you. With this TVC, we are targeting the middle and high-end market, and commit to offer high quality products to its stakeholders, just like we put our heart to set up the delicate and elegant scene in the TVC.
Q] What are the fundamental principles of OPPO’s marketing strategy in India?
The OPPO marketing strategy – Global Resources, Local Service - focuses on a 360-degree approach to connect with our consumers across all platforms. So we are leveraging the best and most influential personalities and properties across three platforms – Bollywood, Cricket and Television. OPPO is a camera phone known to take the perfect selfies and this is what we wanted to communicate via our celebrity users and influencers. We started out with Bollywood heartthrobs Hrithik Roshan and Sonam Kapoor as our South Asia Region brand ambassadors, and then associated with ace photographer Dabboo Ratnani for a nationwide selfie campaign. By leveraging our partnership with these influencers, we have been able to get closer to the Indian customer and spread the love of taking selfies. We have also associated with several popular television shows such as Big Boss, 24 and Comedy Nights Bachao as sponsors to reach out to the masses.
Q] You recently added another brand ambassador to the OPPO family. Why did you pick Yuvraj Singh for the role?
As cricket is one of the most important platforms for us to reach out to our consumers, we wanted to associate with an influencer who is not just known within the cricket fraternity, but has mass appeal with the Indian audience. Yuvraj Singh completely fits the role. Cricket is a religion in India, and Yuvraj is one of most followed personalities amongst our target audience. He understands our philosophy and appreciates the sophisticated and advanced camera technology that OPPO is bringing into India.
Q] OPPO was the biggest advertiser on TV during IPL 2016. What is the contribution of IPL in building OPPO as a brand in India?
Cricket and IPL have been a big opportunity for OPPO, which helped us generate increased brand awareness, putting us ahead among ‘top of the mind recall’ brands. We also leveraged the great platform to interact with on-site fans leading them to understand OPPO, its services and the Selfie Expert series even better. Similarly, for cricket we have also associated with the International Cricket Council (ICC) as their official global partners for four years. The ICC T20 World Cup 2016, witnessed the launch of a 360-degree ‘Cheer for India’ marketing campaign by OPPO to bring fans closer to all the excitement and action on ground.
Q] Does OPPO believe more visibility is directly proportional to sales?
As a brand, we believe in being present across all channels and reaching out to our consumers. We also believe that our products speak for themselves and sales as a number represents how well our product has done in the market.
Q] What kind of year on year growth has OPPO achieved in India?
We have been doing extremely well in the market, both globally as well as in India. As per an International Data Corporation (IDC) report, OPPO now ranks No. 4 globally in the top smartphone vendors list. We are also the best performing brand in the second quarter with sales growth of 135.4% as per market research experts GFK. In 2015, OPPO sold over 50 million smartphones with 67.7% YOY growth globally. We are aiming to provide Indian customers with the best products and camera experience as always.
Q] You are a little over two years old in the Indian market. What are the challenges you have faced so far?
We are still understanding the Indian market. We have done market research but there is a lot to know about this country. With each product launch, we are understanding the consumer behaviour and widening our reach.
Q] What is OPPO’s strategy for the rural audiences?
The Indian rural market is catching up fast and we will give our best to the budget smartphone segment, and provide the best service and quality to the people. We have always focused on being present across all touch-points to offer best services to our customers. This majorly contributes to our growth and thus this year our target is to establish 13,500 points of sale and 180 after-sales OPPO service centres across India. In future, we plan to come up with more mid-segment smartphones in the budget category, that deliver the best in class experience to our customers.
Q] You have always highlighted the selfie quality as OPPO’s USP, but what are the other areas where OPPO has an advantage over competition?
The way consumers choose and buy smartphones is continuously evolving and that means you need to have a diverse portfolio of products and price points to appeal to a wide range of consumers. The current trend indicates that increasingly, smartphones are doubling up as cameras. The other major feature that influences a buying decision is battery life and strength, with users spending hours and hours on their smartphones. Battery life is one area that is seeing and is likely to see more innovation. OPPO is at the forefront of rapid smartphone charging with its VOOC rapid charging technology. It has been designed specifically for the customer of today who is increasingly using the smartphone for a number of functions like work, e-mails, entertainment, social media, etc. The OPPO VOOC Flash Charge is capable of charging the phone’s battery from zero to 75% in only 30 minutes, giving consumers two hours talk time. Coupled with useful accessories such as VOOC car charger and VOOC power bank, it makes the smartphone ready and charged at all times of the day.
@ FEEDBACK
neeta.nair@exchange4media.com
