The push, which is China Unicom’s most significant drive since appointing AOR TBWA to handle the mobile operators GSM business in April, eschews the predictable use of celebrity endorsers in favour of a more down-to-earth creative strategy which draws parallels with Chinese dramas.
Unicom’s 156 brand, which sits beneath the operator’s premium Whirlwind, is targeted at China’s high-end consumers. According to TBWA\China head of planning Jeremy Sy, China Unicom is hoping the campaign will attract five million subscribers by year-end.
“With this launch campaign, we want to get as many people into the franchise and get them enrolled in the brand as quickly as possible,” he said. “China Unicom is the classic challenger brand. People are questioning its ability to compete with China Mobile on the high-end platform, so it really wanted to break away and do its own thing.”
Launching nationally via print, outdoor, online and events, the initiative is spearheaded by TV, with two spots launching last week, and two further executions slated for November. The spots show actors using clichéd lines consumers would expect to see in a Chinese movie, noted Sy, but the twist shows that they’re actually talking to their phones. “We deliberately steered away from using an endorser, because with almost every mobile brand using them, it’s difficult to stand out.”
Tequila handled the below-the-line activation surrounding the launch, supported by Agency.com.
