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Redefining its brand value of ‘questing for more’, iQOO, the smartphone brand of the Vivo group, has launched #MyQuestStory campaign film, directed by filmmaker Shoojit Sircar.
Sricar brings his storytelling magic to this short yet powerful 3-minute film, which features an inspiring message by content creator and actor Bhuvan Bam. The film features Babla Kochar (as the father), Anubha Fatehpuria (as the mother), Yogendra Singh (as Rohan, the elder brother), Aditya (as the younger brother), and Ebong Ipsita (as the house help). It promises to be both entertaining and inspiring, bringing to life a story of passion, resilience, and unwavering determination. The film embodies iQOO’s core brand value of ‘I Quest On and On’ encouraging viewers to embrace their quest for greatness despite the obstacles they face. Additionally, iQOO also released a The Quest Report with insights from 7 countries including India, UK, and USA and 6,700 Questers respondents (age 20-24).
In a conversation with e4m, Nipun Marya, Chief Executive Officer of iQOO, shared that while researching about the Gen-Z consumer of today, they found that this generation is very different from the youth of the past.
“We spoke to a lot of people and one common thing emerged: This generation really wants to dream big. They dream big, they have clarity about their dreams and they are hustling to achieve these dreams,” he said.
This characteristic also emerged very strongly in The Quest Report, which states that nearly 94% of Indian youth are very clear about what they want to achieve. Secondly, the Indian youth are hustling two times more than their global peers. Another finding was that nearly two out of every three youth face societal pressure in pursuit of their dreams.
Marya explained, “While on one side we want people to grow, we also don't want them to take risks. Each one of them is on their quest. To achieve that quest, they will have to take some risks and they will require support from the society at large.”
Talking about the marketing mix for the campaign, Marya shared it is about the four Ps for iQOO, especially for online business.
“It starts with the product. The most important thing for us is to get the product right; it should appeal to the Gen-Z. After the product comes promotion. We know the youth spends six to eight hours on their mobile phone, hence, our approach also has been online first,” added Marya.
The brand believes if the Gen-Z likes a particular product or a particular brand, then they will buy it.
Another important aspect for a smartphone brand is community building. As far as community building goes, iQOO started its community less than two years ago. It has now reached nearly one million members.
Marya shared, “We call our community iQOO Connect. And, when we talk about community, we don't think it is our marketing strategy. Community is as essential to us as the product is. In the community, the most important thing is co-creation.”
When it comes to influencer marketing, Marya is of the opinion that “these are tactics and required to reach the right audience. "We have engaged with influencers in the past. However, we should not think of it as a purely tactical initiative, but look at it from a more strategic angle.”
Therefore, the brand has focused on building IPs, rather than doing one-off engagements with influencers only. With Tanmay Bhatt, we created iQOO Raid Nights nearly three years back, and then iQOO Meme Nights a couple of months back, he shared.
As of now, for any young brand, the main focus is about spreading awareness and confidence amongst consumers so that they consider buying the brand, especially when it's not a seldom used category.
Smartphones are a very high frequency, intensive usage category because one can't imagine living without their phone for even a day. Hence, building the confidence that people can trust your brand for something as important as their smartphone is a challenge.
"Fortunately for us, the kind of products we have launched, the kind of promise we have made to our consumers and with the backing of Vivo, Vivo's manufacturing, Vivo's after-sales service, have instilled a lot of confidence in anybody who is considering iQOO," said Marya.
With the upcoming festive season, Marya highlighted that for mobile phone business, H2 is very exciting. He further said, “Because we have sales and offers and it's a very exciting time both for brands like us and also consumers. Hence, we're also looking forward to it. The best part is we have a very strong product portfolio. We have products starting from ?10,000 and going up to nearly ?50,000. The pricing, combined with some exciting offers, should be a good one this time for iQOO.”
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