Since the Businesscom Invisible Phone sparked a sales storm through TV direct sales last year, many domestic brand mobile phone manufacturers have shifted their marketing focus to the realm of TV direct sales this year. Nowadays, one just needs to casually turn on the TV to see numerous direct sales advertisements for domestic mobile phones. Recently, in particular, three high-end phones launched by China Unicom World Wind have frequently appeared on television, including models from the renowned international brands Samsung and LG, as well as the Coolpad 768, a high-end domestic brand. So, why has the TV direct sales model been favored by domestic mobile phone brand manufacturers?
Due to the long-term brand communication accumulation by foreign brands such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and LG, which has formed strong brand recognition and preference, the market has a high level of trust in these major brands. As a result, traditional marketing channels (home appliance chains, specialized mobile phone stores, exclusive shops) are generally dominated by these international brands. The oversupply situation in the industry has determined the reality of the mobile phone market where brands and channels reign supreme. Under this scenario, domestic mobile phone manufacturers, which started late and lack technical advantages, find themselves in a situation where they have no brand or channel to participate in. Naturally, they tend to seek out emerging sales channels with low participation costs and evident results, hoping to gain benefits more quickly. The TV direct sales model is undoubtedly one of the marketing models that has caught the attention of domestic mobile phone manufacturers.
Hengji Weiye, which struggled in the PDA sector but transitioned into the mobile phone industry, promoted the Businesscom Invisible Phone through the TV direct sales model. Strategies such as high-intensity broadcasting, detailed feature explanations, and celebrity endorsements combined to make this phone sell over 300,000 units within less than a year of its launch. Hengji Weiye's brilliant performance in 2006 further stimulated domestic mobile phone manufacturers' desire to adopt the TV direct sales model. Jinli Company followed up with voice advertising for the Voice King phone and game playing phones, CECT (China Electronics Communication) started direct TV sales for the Standby King C1000; even the well-known domestic brand Amoi stepped into the river of TV direct sales. Amoi initiated TV direct sales for the Smart King E850. Changhong also negotiated cooperation with multiple TV direct sales companies, riding on the success of signing Lin Zhiling, and launched an aggressive TV direct sales campaign in April, promoting so-called "Four Universal Kings" phones. During this time, some third-line domestic mobile phone manufacturers also ventured into TV direct sales, hanging banners like "** King" and airing long ads on various TV stations, bombarding audiences in rotation.
In numerous TV direct sales advertisements for mobile phones, TV shopping companies still stick to their usual style—repetitive ad content played in loops, continuously introducing features claimed by the product, brainwashing-style presentations, and dense ad bombardments, thereby "kidnapping" consumers' wills to prompt purchases. In fact, such ad expressions, while leaving a deep impression and positively contributing to opening up the brand awareness of domestic mobile phone brands, struggle to gain good word-of-mouth or purchasing preferences. The actual pull on sales is very limited. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers' overly impulsive actions have, in fact, failed to cleverly leverage the TV direct sales platform to support their marketing.
Key Point: Difficulty in forming synergistic effects with brand alignment
In August last year, the National Radio and Television Administration conducted a large-scale cleanup of TV shopping advertisements. I had previously deeply analyzed the growth reality and changes needed in the TV direct sales industry to address its "widely despised" status. Simply put, in recent years, TV direct sales have gradually deteriorated to the point of being universally criticized and condemned, with advertisements suspected of fraud and causing significant auditory disturbances to consumers. The TV direct sales industry has become one of the sectors most shunned by consumers. It is evident that TV shopping platforms have characteristics such as forced dissemination and low reputation. Any product associated with such a platform likely diminishes its own social acceptance, possibly increasing awareness but at the cost of becoming infamous. Instead of boosting sales, it creates long-term negative side effects.
Under conditions of market oversupply, when enterprises push products into the market, they should first possess brand awareness, a reality dictated by today's market. In the consumer purchase cognition and decision-making process, merely opening up product awareness is just the first step. Today's consumers are increasingly rational in their consumption behavior, going through processes such as problem identification, information collection, evaluation of available options, and making purchase decisions. Other interpersonal influences (family, society, culture) and non-personal influences (time, place, environment), as well as evaluations of purchase behavior, play key roles in consumer decision-making. Purchases often only occur with products that have high brand preference. Therefore, objective and detailed explanations of product functions, brand reputation, and testimonials from opinion leaders become important factors in building product purchase preferences.
The TV direct sales platform, with its negative brand reputation, cannot form good alignment with the needs of domestic mobile phone manufacturers (who lack brand reputation but seek high brand reputation). In fact, blindly using common TV direct sales tactics to promote products may lead to accusations of "frauding consumers," "false advertising," and "disrespecting customers' lifestyles." It is difficult to speak of any synergistic effect resulting from such a partnership.
How can domestic mobile phone manufacturers better utilize the TV shopping platform?
To allow communication to better integrate into the consumer purchase decision-making process and elevate the reputation of the TV direct sales platform to promote the establishment of domestic mobile phone brands, domestic mobile phone brand manufacturers must first pay attention to the quality control of their advertising creativity.
The detailed possibility model of advertising research suggests that in the peripheral route inspired by advertising, peripheral cues such as the reliability of the information source affect attitudes, while the audience's active thinking about the product is relatively less. Advertising needs to identify which factors consumers view as peripheral cues that can influence their viewing attitudes. Only then can multiple detail highlights be created to establish or reinforce consumer product preferences.
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