New Delhi and Mumbai: Smartphone brands have ramped up marketing and advertising spends by at least 15-20% in an aggressive push to capitalise on the upcoming festive season and salvage a disappointing year. Majority of the investments will go towards offering price discounts in an aggressive bid to clear stocks and tap the fast-growing mid-to-premium segment, said industry executives and analysts. Companies are earmarking most of the spending on new model launches and to offer discounts, among others.
Some are also spending on incentivising offline retailers for achieving steep sales targets, with companies offering cashbacks, free mobile phones and even all-expenses paid trips to Europe. Advt The higher promotional spends come amid analysts’ forecasts of a muted festive season this year with brands expected to clock single-digit on-year growth in sales volumes. Counterpoint Research expects handset sales to grow 4-5% on-year to 30-35 million units during the one-month festival period starting later this week.
“Marketing and ad spends by smartphone brands in the upcoming festive quarter are expected to be at least 15-20% higher, compared to last festive quarter,” said Navin Khemka, chief executive, South Asia, of media buying and planning giant GroupM-owned agency EssenceMediacom. The company represents Vivo, Dell and Airtel , among other brands. “Marketing spends in the smartphones category are very launch-led.
Creating buzz in the category is crucial,” Khemka sai.
