TECNO India, a global premium smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings. TECNO’s segment-first philosophy and a unique focus in the under 10K smartphone segment, has enabled the brand to adopt an innovative marketing & retail approach to connect with the passion points of its consumers across India.
Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of Transsion India, talks about the company’s contribution to PM Cares Fund, Tecno India Virtual Run initiative, and tying up with Zomatoto feed the underprivileged, and much more…
Last year at the height of the Pandemic you contributed to the PMCares Fund, how was that experience?
Last year during the lockdown in lieu of pandemic, as a socially responsible brand, our priority and focus were to use our core competence and know-how to find ways and means to support our people, users, and the government to fight against Covid-19. As a first step, the brand TECNO pledged to #StayAtHome to ensure the safety of its employees and encourage them to work from home, alongside we launched TECNO RAKSHAKS’, which was a WAP-based game, with the slogan ‘Kheloge Tum, Jeetega India’. This initiative helped to keep consumers engaged and entertained, simultaneously gave them the opportunity to contribute to the PM Cares Fund, to combat the COVID-19. For every ten points scored, TECNO contributed Re.1 on their behalf, to the PM Cares Fund.
Furthermore, the brand TECNO has also collaborated with key government institutions like Yatharth Hospital & Noida police to supply masks and thermometers to healthcare and administrative workers who are at the frontline and helping India combat the pandemic.
We are grateful and have gratitude for India’s frontline workers in their efforts against the spread of the virus.
What were your other unique marketing initiatives during the pandemic?
We as a brand have always strived to provide consumers with different experiences across varied associations and innovations that resonate the most with their passion points. With the launch of highly engaging digital initiatives as well as catering to the well-being and safety of consumers during the pandemic, TECNO launched various unique initiatives to not only creatively connect, engage, entertain and motivate customers, employees during the pandemic at one end; but to also ensure business continuity for our retailers & channel partners with safety at a paramount focus. Initiatives such as the #FINDTHENEWYOU campaign comprised of multiple activities such as Hack-exploring, #FindTheNewYou contest, and TECNO RAKSHAKS to keep our consumers engaged and support India’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic at the same time.
Additional Marketing Initiative includes:
To ‘Feed the daily wager project’ TECNO parented with ZOMATO and 100+ channel partners to distribute ration kits in the low-income sections of society across 140 cities during the lockdown period.
TECNO Warranty extension: TECNO also extended the warranty period on TECNO smartphones whose warranty was going to expire during the lockdown, for a period of two months.
‘Doorstep Delivery Initiative’, services were available across the country with a network of over 35,000+ retailers.
TECNO also launched the unique ‘Moving Retail Store’ to reach out to remote parts of the country by operating out of a moving van, in our priority markets.
You also initiated the campaign “TECNO India Virtual Run”, the strategy behind this initiative?
TECNO has always strived to provide consumers with the most meaningful experiences. We recently announced the first virtual edition of the TECNO India Virtual Run on 13th-14th March 2021. The brand connect initiative will enable consumers to engage in what’s important to the – health, fitness, and wellness. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown resulted in people spending months cooped up at home and a lifestyle that became suddenly sedentary—with no commuting, no travel, and working from home and remote-learning. The pandemic has pushed people to think about health more holistically and fitness has become a priority while juggling of various day-to-day activities. People are getting a head-start on strengthening their overall health thanks to virtual workouts, which will pave the way for a blend of both digital & physical in the future.
The TECNO India Virtual Run encourages consumers to stay focused of a healthy lifestyle & fitness. The virtual run will feature three categories – 2Km Performance Walk, 5Km Speed Run, and 10Km Power Run. Over 8000 participants are expected to take part in the run, making it one of the most sought-after initiatives in recent times. Participants will receive a jersey, neckwear & an e-certificate.
As a brand tied up with smartphones, what are the things and marketing initiatives that interest the smartphone users?
TECNO is a consumer-centric brand with a strong presence across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, this year we hope to further strengthen our presence across metro cities as well. TECNO’s success strategy is built on its five key pillars –strong product portfolio, innovation through introducing ‘Segment-first’ features, the wide distribution network of 1000+ partners & 50000+ retail partners, channel relationship & engagement and customer-centricity with 900+ service centres. With the goal of empowering and encouraging more consumers to embrace self-expression through our smartphones, we implement a 360-degree marketing approach to be present across print, digital, social, OOH and also actively associated with sports and entertainment-based events.
The youth today is more receptive to fitness & entertainment-related activities. TECNO associated with CyberMedia Research (CMR), last year to conduct a Mobile Industry Consumer Insights (MICI) Survey that suggested that there was a 54% increase in smartphone usage during the lockdown, for Health & Fitness related activities. The pandemic has seen consumers focus on health, fitness, and wellness, and the latest initiative furthers TECNO’s belief to bring relevant, responsible, and engaging programs for its consumers in India. Producing experiential campaigns with a series of touchpoints helps to grab the attention of the target audience and help us to build a strong brand resonance and connect with our core consumers. We try to give our consumers different experiences with different associations and innovations that resonate the most with their passion points. Our recent initiatives such as Zumba Innovative Employee Engagement activity, Door Step Delivery, TecnoRakshak mobile gaming, etc., and current Tecno India Virtual Run are the game-changing move that secures trust and brand value with customers.
What are TECNO’s mission and vision for the Indian Market?
With over 560 million internet users, India is the second-largest online market in the world today that has witnessed a surge across its Tier II & III markets. Thus, playing a crucial role for affordable smartphones to connect people to newer opportunities & experiences. TECNO’s consistency in pushing the boundary to democratize cutting-edge mobile technology for the people of Aspirational Bharat, with customer centricity and product reliability, enabled the brand to become one of the most valuable smartphone brands in the sub 10K budget segment in India. The brand aims to make smartphones ‘In India and for India’- a promise, a commitment, a relationship – which is not limited to ‘Make in India’ only.
In 2021, what would be your focus for the company in the Indian market?
India is a priority market for TECNO and the recent achievement of 8Mn+ TECNO customers is the testimony of the love and trust consumers have reposed in the brand. This milestone further inspires TECNO to provide them with innovative, new-age smartphones at aggressive price-points.
This year, the brand aims to prioritize the sustenance of TECNO’s strength of Industry-first features – Glocalization: Reflect Indian local value into products and service offerings and differential pricing advantage over the competition by providing better specs at most competitive price-points. We are focusing on building the entire ecosystem of manufacturing in India. So as to ensure that we serve the consumers well. We are already strong in less than Rs. 10,000. This year we want to establish our product portfolio in the above 10K category as well so we continue to better ourselves in that direction.
