Oppo looks to ramp up its brand in Malaysia

Chinese smartphone brand Oppo is on a massive marketing push globally.It recently entered into a new three-year partnership with FC Barcelona in a move to drive public awareness and interest of the Oppo brand as a serious contender in the global market.The partnership, announced on 31 May 2015, will see Oppo serve as Barcelona’s official partner for the mobile phone device category starting from the current season until 2018.The agreement covers a wide range of activities, including soccer events, fan activities, TV advertisements and accessories. Oppo’s logo will also be prominently displayed at the Spanish football club’s home stadium, Camp Nou. The deal with Barcelona signals a new dawn for the brand in its global expansion strategy. As of April 2015, the brand has been registered in 116 countries worldwide.“Oppo has been focusing heavily on overseas expansion in recent years,” said Oppo CEO Tony Chen. “From the very beginning, we have positioned ourselves as a global company and our dynamic expansion strategy fully demonstrates this commitment.”Meanwhile, it has set its sights on conquering the Malaysia market.In 2015, the smartphone brand achieved registered market share of 10% in Malaysia.Moving forward, Oppo aims to implant stronger brand awareness and impression among Malaysians. According to the latest branding research by Nielsen, the brand has achieved 88% brand awareness in Malaysia.Chen Lu, brand manager of Oppo Malaysia, told A+M: “This year we hope to narrow the gap between our products and our consumers which is why we are bringing in more variants into the market to expand our range of product offerings.”The company aims to be among the top three brands in Malaysia.“This year we will work closely with other brands or delve into more online marketing targeted at the young and urban market.”Oppo is working with E-Plus Entertainment Productions as its PR agency for Malaysia, beginning mid-2015. Other than that, the company relies on its in-house teams for advertising and digital marketing efforts.At present, the core campaign for Oppo revolves around the newly launched Oppo R7 Series. This includes pre-order campaigns with special giveaways for its customers. The company also recently launched the “R7 Series Place Race” digital game to engage its customers.Oppo is also in the midst of planning for a line-up of CSR programmes customised for the Malaysia market, Chen said.To engage consumers of the youth demographic, Oppo is looking into sponsoring TV shows such as Voice of China which will run on 8TV.Chen added: “We are also working with L’Oréal Paris on their New Revitalift Magic Blur project. We are looking into more cross-branding partnerships in the future.”While the company is still on the hunt for local ambassadors, it has been working with celebrities such as Virus Ngu, Peace Teo and Dato AC Mizal for its campaigns.Founded in 2004, Oppo started its business journey as a global electronics and technology service provider. It started its foray into the mobile phone market in 2008 and made its first step overseas – in Thailand – the following year.