OPPO
Technology
Repositioning a tech brand from copycat to designer cool
Services
Audience segmentation, International relevance, Strategy, Aesthetic philosophy, Brand framework, Design signatures, Experience principles, Brand book, Chinese Trans-creation
Challenge
OPPO is China’s second largest smartphone brand. Since its inception it has been a pioneer in innovative smartphone technology but contrary to this, recent perceptions of the brand were that of a cheap imitation of global leading brands.
The brand DNA had started to be misattributed, and OPPO was struggling with negative associations of being superficial and juvenile. This was having a commercial impact as the target audience was being limited to young women in tier 3 areas of China.
Solution
The opportunity was to shift perceptions and bring the innovation story to the forefront. To stand out in a global arena, we positioned OPPO as a premium, global cutting-edge tech brand with high design credentials. The perfect marriage of technology and design. We knew that the values of ‘ultimate beauty’ and ‘technological excellence’ sat at the very core of their DNA.
We articulated the strategy to centre it around the positioning of ‘technology as an art form’, bringing together high technology with high art. This new positioning enabled OPPO to own the territory around aesthetic beauty and technological innovation in a way that felt more credible, serious and sophisticated.
This positioning was pivotal in OPPO becoming a tech company with a difference: aiming to be a global icon of design in the technology world.
