Our new campaign aims at bridging the emotional and physical distances between families and spread happiness: Nipun Marya, vivo India

• Smartphone brand vivo has launched its Diwali films featuring veteran Kanwaljit Singh.
• In an exclusive chat with Ad & Media Insider, Nipun Marya, Director Brand Strategy, vivo India, about the new campaign, the consumer sentiments during this year’s festive season, the brand's IPL experience this year, and more.

The Diwali week is finally here and brands are doing all in their might to make the most of this festive season, by telling lots of beautiful stories. Last week, Vivo launched a heartwarming film, to celebrate the spirit of Diwali.

Featuring actor Kanwaljit Singh, the film is aimed at encapsulating the role of smartphone photography in rekindling the joy of connection. At a time when there is a constant debate about the effectiveness of long-form ads with dwindling attention spans, this film has tried to tell an engaging story in around 5 minutes.

The film has been conceptualized by Dentsu Impact. Photographs play an important role in the narrative and Vivo has tried to show how

We speak to Nipun Marya, Director Brand Strategy, vivo India, about the new campaign, the consumer sentiments during this year’s festive season, the brand's IPL experience this year, and more.

Excerpts:

Q) People often talk about the decreasing attention span of consumers and you have just released a 5-minute long film for Diwali. Tell us a bit about Vivo's new campaign.
As a consumer-centric brand, vivo has always focused on establishing a strong connection with its audience through emotional storytelling. With the #JoyofHomecoming campaign, which features the veteran actor Kanwaljit Singh, we aim to remind everyone that the festival of lights is fondly celebrated, when the entire family gets together. The campaign encapsulates the role of smartphone photography in rekindling the joy of connection, and aims to bridge the emotional and physical distances between families and spread happiness.

India is a collectivist society and all of us are deeply emotionally connected with our families and loved ones. We understand the importance of capturing those perfect moments with the help of photography and how it can be used to stimulate emotions. Delivering industry-leading camera technology, we want our consumers to enjoy this festival with their loved ones and capture every moment and emotion. Through this, we also intend to strengthen our bond with our consumers, which motivates in delivering what’s best for them.

Q) What is the message you are trying to communicate?
Mobile photography has always been the key focus for vivo. From delivering industry-leading technology to the best camera features, we make sure to spread joy to our consumers. We understand how technology plays a vital role in today’s fast-moving world and how important it is to help us stay connected with our loved ones.

Pictures have a way of conveying the entire story. The purpose of this campaign is not to highlight a feature, rather to understand and establish the emotional connection behind the picture. At vivo, we understand that technology is an enabler for the joy in our lives and through this campaign we want to celebrate homecoming, as people will be able to visit their families by taking necessary precautions and celebrating this festival at home.

Q) How has the festive season been so far this year? Are you witnessing a revival?
Recovering from 2020, this year businesses across the globe are gradually coming back at their feet. We are definitely optimistic about the situation getting back to normal. As businesses are steadily opening up, we foresee a huge scope for engagement with the consumers and smartphone sales are proportionately expected to increase in the coming months. According to Counterpoint Research, India’s smartphone shipments grew 82% YoY to reach over 33 million units in Q2 2021, and vivo captured a 15% share of the overall market. According to the latest report by Counterpoint, nearly $7.6 billion worth of smartphones is likely to be sold during the ongoing festive season in India. Hence, we are looking forward to the festive season.

Despite the ongoing situation, we have managed to maintain steady growth in the Indian smartphone market. Our V-Series models (the V20 and V21 series) have performed exceptionally well, and since our entry in the premium segment with the X50 series last year followed by the launch of the X60 series early this year, our market share has become 3x in the above 30k segment. The growth numbers clearly indicate the consumers are out there, looking for feature-rich smartphones.

As we are nearing the festive season, we have introduced the all new X70 Series Co-Engineered with ZEISS and the response so far has been tremendous. We expect that the premium segment will continue to grow in the future as consumers want to upgrade and they are willing to pay a premium for meaningful innovation. Therefore, the launch of the X70 series is vital ahead of the festive season.

Q) How did your association with IPL work for you this year?
The duration of Vivo IPL holds special significance in our product launch and marketing calendars. It offers us a great opportunity to engage with our target audience across the country more effectively. Most of our significant announcements or product launches have been around IPL - be it the announcement of Virat Kohli as our brand ambassadors, the launch of our popular V-series, or the most recent launch of our X70 series.

Cricket, as we know, is not just a sport in our country. It is a religion. People in the country are connected to the game. The Indian Premier League is a perfect blend of cricket and entertainment. It offers a brilliant opportunity to connect with our consumers more closely and effectively. Vivo IPL has played a vital role in catapulting vivo to being a leading smartphone brand in India. It has helped us tremendously in enhancing Brand Awareness and Brand Salience. Today, Vivo's brand awareness is 100% in the country. Furthermore, association with the league has also had positive impacts on our business results. Today, vivo is the leading smartphone player in the mainline retail market (Source: GFK). As a brand, our consumer-centricity focuses on youth, and vivo IPL helps us to connect with them.

Q) How is Vivo as a brand pushing the threshold of technology and innovation in the smartphone segment? What more can we expect from the band in the coming months?
At vivo, our acute focus is our consumers. As a consumer-centric brand, we have set high benchmarks in the industry by launching meaningful innovations for our consumers and have won the admiration of smartphone lovers with its technological prowess.

From introducing the world's first 20MP moonlight selfie camera to launching its first smartphone with in-built Gimbal technology, vivo has always surprised the audience with its innovative products. The recently launched X70 series is a testament to the capabilities that vivo has as a premium smartphone brand. Similarly, the vivo V21 launched this year, was the thinnest smartphone in the category and was launched with the Industry first front OIS.

We are manufacturing future-ready 5G phones that also provide the industry best camera innovation and design excellence. In the future, to meet the demands of our evolving consumers, we will continue to focus on game-changing innovations and customize enhancing smartphone user experience.

Q) Where will your next phase of growth come from in India?
We have always focused on providing innovative technology to our customers and helping spread joy in their lives. At vivo, this has been our vision for the last six years of spreading happiness among our Consumers, Partners, Employees, and Shareholders. With the same vision, we will continue to delight our customers by bringing splendid innovations in the future.