Alcatel switches China focus for mobile debut

SHANGHAI: Alcatel is positioning its new OT511 mobile phone in China as a combined entertainment centre and communications tool in a television-led campaign, which launches in early October. The company, which is hoping to capture up to 10 per cent of the China market within five years, will highlight its strengths by showcasing lifestyle features in addition to technological and business applications. These include the fact that the OT511 model has enhanced messaging services (EMS) for audio and visual-enabled short messaging capabilities and games. The TVC views life through the eyes of a young man who observes that injecting creativity into an ever-changing life can make those inevitable changes fun. In the campaign, the talent morphs into different roles to escape the more mundane aspects of life. He finally finds creativity, enlightenment and satisfaction with his OT511 phone. The campaign was developed by Arnold Worldwide Partners. The agency's Shanghai office built the advertising strategy around the tagline, "Everything is changing. Why not? Alcatel. It's time." Emilia Wong, marketing director of Alcatel for China and Hong Kong, said: "The agency's proposal strategy focuses on change.The campaign aims to attract the youth market up to and including 30-year olds and stresses the creation of an individual personality and style. "The OT511 is an affordable rather than a high-end product and our advertising concentrates on image and brand consciousness rather than just presenting another technical development." This is the first time that Alcatel has focused on the lifestyle aspirations of its target market; past campaigns focused on functionality. This shift, however, required a new executional strategy. "We are talking about communicating to the so-called Generation Yellow group of people - the young, the mobile and the stylish. That's why we went for a more mysterious style with MTV-type imagery," said Kitty Lun, director of brand architecture at Arnold Asia-Pacific. An MTV director was called in to oversee the production of the TVC. The campaign, Lun said, was targeted at the Generation Yellow markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. - Additional reporting by Alfred Hille.

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