The Campaign

We made the Honor 6X part of India’s cultural fabric. In a first-of-its-kind showcase of dramatic imagery, we created Project XCAVATE, an Instagram-based competition to unearth 26 next-generation visual creators one in each of the country’s 25 states. We then challenged these visual storytellers to push the boundaries of mobile photography and create unique, untold, stories from across unseen India. These visual stories were shared across India and created a groundswell of interest in the brand and the phone.

Execution

Using Instagram as the core social media platform, we invited visual story submissions from consumers across the country as part of a competition to win a free Huawei Honor 6x smartphone. The week-long contest culminated in a special bumper day final competition. From the 729 submissions received we selected one winner in each of the 25 states across the country to receive a free Huawei Honor 6X smartphone and use it to become a visual storyteller on behalf of Huawei. We then challenged these young photographers to use their Honor 6X to create a showcase of unique, previously untold visual stories of unseen India, taking one photograph every day for 25 days. The images captured were incredible. A microsite was launched to showcase the images and

Our ‘XCAVATION’ across India’s 25 states to unearth the visual storytellers and capture their stories through the smartphone, created a community wide engagement with average reach of 85,000 per post. The competition and amplification of the winning images resulted in organic reach to 1,065,182 Instagrammers. Earned Coverage amounted to US$450K in value. The consistent quality of the visual content gradually increased the social conversations around the brand, with several requests flooding the Huawei page for details on the Honor 6x. There was a visible shift in perceptions around the brand as Huawei, successfully distanced itself from other Chinese smartphone manufactures owing to its technological prowess and started being viewed as such. The Huawei 6X enjoyed record post-launch sales including a specific promotion on Amazon.com which sold-out of the product in less than a minute.

The Situation

This campaign demonstrates the power of an innovative content development idea, directly connected to the product features, amplified through both social platforms and PR media outreach, to differentiate a product in its category and build brand resonance with the consumer. By aligning the product with India’s cultural fabric the campaign not only showcased the user experience but also positioned the product as the smartphone for young people across the entire country.

The Strategy

Selling on price or features alone was not going to differentiate the product from others. Our strategy was to position the phone as a smartphone for the whole of India by going beyond just the technology to showcase the user experience and the incredible photographic capabilities of the product, through the lens of ‘Incredible India’. Project XCAVATE created direct brand resonance with a young target audience who want to push their boundaries and positioned Honor 6X as the best dual camera smartphone in its category.