The Campaign

In China, few domestic APP download centers have dared to compete with the likes of APP Center giants such as iStore and Android APP Center. In 2010 Huawei launched the Huawei APP Download Center which was tailor made for Chinese, easy to use and had been imbedded in millions of Huawei phones throughout China, but counterproductively, the Huawei APP Download Center received a low brand awareness and the market continued to be dominated by the iStore and Android. As a result, Huawei was eager to increase brand awareness significantly and boost downloads of the Huawei APP Download Center and APP downloads from the platform. Based on the insights showing that the target audience are active on either Weibo or WeChat, we designed a quirky digital campaign with an idea twisted on the hot social topic of year-end bonus, edgy content and interactive games to engage millions of APP users and show them that using the Huawei APP Download Center was the “smart” choice. Our multi-platform approach led to a significant success - more than 5 million APP downloads and a 50% increase in APP Center downloads on the campaign launch day.

The Brief

To help the Huawei APP Center become more competitive, we had to think outside of the box and initiate an engaging campaign to not only increase brand awareness significantly, but also to ensure that users proactively use and download the Huawei APP Center. We knew that once consumers tried the Huawei APP Download Center they would be hooked, but we needed something to lure them in.

Results

The “12.21 On the Verge” Campaign is Huawei APP Download Center’s most successful campaign to date! Brand Awareness and Downloads: 1) More than 5 million APP downloads in one day 2) APP Center downloads were up more than 50% 3) Baidu Index grew by more than 2300% Campaign Results: 1) More than 1 million people participated in the campaign Communication Results: 1) Total of 664.372 thousand people joined the online discussion about the campaign 2) Total Weibo repost 126.438 thousand articles and received 32.072 thousand comments, generated 31.42 million Weibo impressions. 3) 239 online media articles generated 55 million impressions. 4) 360 articles were posted on 150 forum and SNS, resulting in 450 thousand hits, 3,211 comments, 450 thousand engagements, generating a total of 50 million impressions. 5) Ranking top 7 trending Weibo topics on the-technology list. 6) 27.78 million WeChat impressions. 7) More than 7 levels of engagement.

Execution

The campaign started with a single post dubbed “A Sad Conversation about Bonuses” and announced Huawei’s “year-end bonus” give-away plan. The hype generated from this post drove an overwhelming response, which led to a conversation about Huawei and the official announcement of the 12.21 campaign. To increase WOM and ensure consumer participation in the 12.21 event, we created lots of interesting content and games. We created 5 online ads that included hidden codes with prizes for the first 6 lucky enough to decode the puzzle. We also created a series of hilarious comics fans adored that demonstrated the APP Center’s strengths, followed by a call for fans to post pictures of themselves waiting for 12.21 on their Weibos or WeChats. Those who received at least 10 “likes” would win a prize. On 12.21 it was a race for “bonuses”. Updates and downloads exploded making the event a trending topic on Weibo.

The Situation

Huawei had developed its own APP Center based on the free resource sharing platform utilized by Android systems. Although the Huawei APP Download Center ranked in the top three on the first-line manufacturer channel’s list, brand awareness was nearly nonexistent. Almost no one knew the product existed, nor were they trying to learn more about it, let alone using it. The Huawei APP Download Center had been installed in millions of phones, but due to its lack of brand awareness, it had failed to become a true competitor of the iStore and Android APP Center.

The Strategy

Research showed that almost all of the Huawei phone users use Weibo or WeChat. We believed that an entirely digital campaign featuring engaging content would resound with our target audience. In the face of an economic downturn, whether or not people would receive the year-end bonus in 2013 was a heated topic for discussion and a major concern for many of our target consumers. Thus we created an idea of “12.21 On the Verge” campaign. If the annual bonus didn't satisfy you, then you were in luck with Huawei APP Center on December 21. Everyone who downloaded Huawei APP Center on December 21 would receive an extra “bonus” from Huawei as an extra gift. With interesting content that people would want to share, games people would want to play, and “bonuses” for everyone, we ensured the resonation among target audience and a big splash in the market.