Amoi changes tack with image ad

Although Amoi currently ranks third among local brands in China's mobile phone market, it has in the past been perceived as a relatively 'functional' brand, with mainly product-driven advertising campaigns. Amoi's latest campaign, developed by Dentsu Shanghai, features up-and-coming youth idol Liyuchun to attract what Amoi sees as a vitally important segment in an over-crowded and increasingly competitive mainland market. In China, Nokia leads with a market share over 20 per cent, while Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson rank second, third and fifth respectively. Liyuchun was the winner of the highly popular TV programme Super Girls, an American Idol-type contest organised by Hunan Satellite Television, in 2005. She outgunned about 150,000 competitors to win the contest. According to Dentsu executive creative director Wendy Cheung, Liyuchun was chosen as the spokesperon of Amoi as her attitude and image perfectly matched Amoi's positioning. In the TVC, Liyuchun encourages youngsters to follow suit -- to dare to dream and work to make these dreams come true. According to Cheung, Amoi faces fierce competition not just from international brands such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung, but also from local brands such as TCL and Bird.