Motorola's Shivam Ranjan shares the consumer insights that drove the comeback for foldable smartphones, thoughts on using the right mediums to appeal to GenZ and their festive marketing game plan.
Flip phones are making a comeback, only this time they are being marketed to Gen Z. This is especially the case for smartphone brand Motorola, which was one of the first brands to become a rage for their innovative flip phone Razr V3 back in 2004.
This year, as the brand makes a comeback into the foldable devices segment with Motorola Razr 40 ultra and Razr 40, the aim is to appeal to the youth through its key tenet of marketing, which is product innovation.
This return has been born out of the insights that consumers love large external displays because it gives them the flexibility to choose how they want to operate, a creaseless design when the devices are folded and want a flagship experience when it came to performance, as per Shivam Ranjan, Head of Marketing - APAC, Motorola.
“One of the core things for us at Motorola is to create meaningful consumer innovation. Hence, it was important for us to take feedback from consumers and build upon that.”
Ranjan mentions that the brand is marketing to the Gen Z consumer base because they are looking for a balanced smartphone experience with a fusion between trending style and cutting-edge technology. In line with this, the brand has partnered with Pantone to launch the phone in Pantone Color of the Year 2023, Viva Magenta.
Their latest campaign proposition ‘Flip The Script’ aims to resonate with the cohorts that like to go beyond the ordinary, change what they are doing and challenge the status quo.
Marketing to Different Cohorts
According to Techarch research, foldable (including flip) smartphones will contribute over 1.8% of the total smartphone revenues for 2023. With this, the marketing initiatives taken by brands have to address various pain points.
As per Ranjan, the consumer cohorts in India are divided into four broader segments - mass segment, mid-segment, premium segment and flagship segment. The brand tailors their communication to these distinct target audiences using various series of phones and marketing initiatives.
For example, Motorola’s Moto E Series franchise caters to the mass segment of consumers who are looking for features with primary needs like accessibility, calling, video calling and watching content for entertainment. It has also been observed that the demographic in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra tend to experience slow performance or lag.
With the thought of addressing this pain point, the brand came up with a localized campaign called ‘Atke Nahi Hatke’.
Similarly, the brand’s mid, premium and flagship demographic targets consumers who want the best tech-centric features. The brand has chosen to go the influencer route to attract the Gen Z demographic for the Razr series.
“We are a digital-heavy platform when it comes to media investments but we are also investing in traditional platforms now,” comments Ranjan as he shares the brand’s media mix.
On social media, the brand has opted to partner with influencers who are into fitness, fashion and more. The collaborations aim to display the phone’s features and appeal to the consumers who choose to go for design innovations.
Highlighting the features is combined with sharing stories of individuals who have ‘flipped the script’ in their lives. Personalities like Sakshma Srivastav, Ahmed Ashfaq and more have participated and walked down memory lane of what made them change their lives.
Tech products are also known to have unboxing reviews and Motorola does the same with every product launch and generally uses Instagram and YouTube to share information on the features.
The new campaign is visible on television and out of home (OOH) as well. They are also seeing the expansion of CTV, OTT and Cinema advertising which is eating into the share of traditional TV.
“Within OOH, we prefer targeted locations from a digital perspective because it allows us more flexibility to target better, that's broadly how we're approaching Indians.”
Ranjan elaborates that they will continue to complement through traditional media but the lead medium will continue to be digital.
Festive Marketing
As the festive season takes off this August, brands are beginning to evaluate the festive marketing game plan. For Motorola, what’s important is to be present and visible on the right platforms and the right channels during the festive season, says Ranjan.
He continues, “We will be investing in co-marketing with our key channel partners like Flipkart and Amazon from an online perspective with 360-degree communication. When we look at offline channels, we have a partnership with Reliance Digital. These are large channels and chains in which we will significantly invest instead of trying to go out and do it alone.”
This is to ensure that Motorola’s presence can be felt across the overall campaign by Amazon, Flipkart and retail touchpoints. Ranjan mentions that it's very important to be visible on those platforms where the actual consumer is coming to build consideration and purchase intent.
This follows the brand’s vision of being visible and increasing their share of voice amongst the plethora of options available in the smartphone category.
While the brand seems confident in terms of building recall, whether it is at an awareness level or a preference level, Ranjan shares, “We need consistent marketing across channels over a sustained period of time versus just being present at the time of launches.”
/socialsamosa/media/agency_attachments/PrjL49L3c0mVA7YcMDHB.png)
/socialsamosa/media/member_avatars/tGM0fl0K47y1OCxVBAF6.jpg )
Follow Us/socialsamosa/media/post_banners/PimGr2EZLM6aSUN0spAF.png)
/socialsamosa/media/media_files/AG8iH343qr4x8RglYaqz.jpg)