Chinese smartphone brand Oppo, which entered India in 2014, has picked up pace in a short time, and today, is among the top four brands in the country with a market share of around 8 per cent (as per the Q1 report of IDC). The company is investing a lot in the country as part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative and is setting up a new facility in Greater Noida at an investment of ₹3,500 crore. It already has a plant in Noida and an R&D centre in Hyderabad. The company has also tied up with sporting events , the latest being the ICC World Cup. As the company gears up for the launch of its new flagship smartphone ‘Reno’ (scheduled for Tuesday) and the unveiling of a new logo, BusinessLine caught up with Charles Wong, CEO, Oppo India and President, Oppo South Asia. Excerpts:

Tell us about the tie-ups with the ICC and the BCCI...

The ICC World Cup is starting in London ,and at the same time, we are about to announce our new product Reno. Reno is combined with our latest technology 10X Hybrid Zoom, the first in the industry. With the cooperation from the ICC and the BCCI, we will be doing a lot of campaigns to engage with our consumers for Reno. Based on our in-depth research with consumers, we figured that a lot of Indian consumers are focussed on cricket, irrespective of age and gender a,nd on this basis, we are going to launch a “heartbeat song” during the ICC campaign. With this campaign, we are trying to reach out to the masses. Hence, for India especially, we can safely say that ‘cricket is its heartbeat’. Therefore, our decision is to bring our audience closer with the sport they love by encouraging them to capture their heartbeat and create the anthem for our men in blue.

In India, apart from cricket, other sports such as football, basketball, and kabbaddi are also catching up. Does Oppo invest in such sports in terms of marketing?

Based on our research on consumer preferences, we learnt that most people treat cricket as a religion, rather than just a sport. Besides cricket, people also follow Bollywood and entertainment. Hence, we will keep our focus in these two areas in the future.

How much OPPO is spending/will spend in such activities and branding in the near future?

Oppo is the official global partner of the ICC, which means that we will be associated with council not just for the tournament, but will also give a platform to reach out to audiences worldwide. We won’t be able to share the numbers.

Can you give some figures on how this kind of engagement helped in product sales?

We aim to bring the innovation through our products for people between 18-35 and focus more on these verticals to bring the best for our consumers. As per the latest Counterpoint Research report, we have achieved a 28 per cent year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2019.

Looking at the current scenario, wherein sales are down , what kind of expectations do you have?

During the Reno launch, we are also announcing our new brand positioning and logo. The new brand identity marks an exciting phase in our journey.

This is also one of the most important endeavours to deliver our brand message about our focus on quality, craftsmanship, and uniqueness in every detail. With the new logo and launch, we are positioning ourselves as a premium brand.

What are your expansion plans in India?

Last year, we opened our R&D Centre in Hyderabad. Our focus on R&D is the key part for our plans to expand our smartphone market in India.

This facility is our largest R&D centre outside China and aims to delve deeper into consumer insights. Innovations such as VOOC fast charging was possible due to the work put in at the centre in Hyderabad. We are making heavy investments to create an ecosystem and strengthen our commitment towards India. We also have EMC in Noida and have over 60,000 sales points and 600+ service centres in India.

How about hiring in these locations?

We now have 100 employees, but in the future, we are trying to expand it to 300-500. For manufacturing, we have 5,000 people, and we plan to expand it to 6,000 in the Greater Noida factory by this year-end.

There is an ongoing conflict with Chinese companies as far as security is concerned... What is your take on this?

It has always been our stance to not comment on matters regarding politics or peers. Oppo complies with local laws and regulations in all markets where we operate. Oppo is focussed on continuously improving our technology and design innovation capabilities, and using outstanding products and services to meet the core needs of our consumers.

Oppo has a business worldwide and we think there are a lot of consumers who trust our brand and believe in us.

The Modi government has won the Lok Sabha Elections again. How do you see it will benefit you?

During the last few years, the government has already launched a lot of great campaigns like ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. We have also aligned our efforts to contribute to these campaigns.

In the future, we hope the smartphone industry will be leading in a great and better way so that Chinese smartphone companies get a better position here. We are also hoping to get opportunities that will come with the cooperation from our government.

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