Motorola aims to ‘blow the bloody doors off’
Motorola plans to “blow the bloody doors off” in the launch campaign for its Razr i smartphone as it looks to achieve cut through in a crowded space full of “me too” competitors.
The handset maker is looking to capture the attention of a “mid-tier” audience with its new hero device, rather than targeting early adopters like the majority of its competitors such as Apple and Samsung.
The Razr i is the first Motorola smartphone to be powered by an Intel processor, which James Soames, Motorola’s European marketing operations director, says will help the company enlist first time smartphone owners into its customer base.
He told Marketing Week: “More than 45 per cent of the UK population are yet to embrace a smartphone but they can be reassured by Motorola and Intel. Consumers see Intel as a kitemark for quality and dependency.”
Motorola is set to exploit the partnership and the new phone with a “record breaking” multimedia marketing campaign, with the bulk of the activity launching on 13 October. It has been created by Goodby Silverstein and Ogilvy & Mather localised the activity for the UK market.
Soames says the heavyweight campaign takes on a different approach for Motorola, which is more subtle in terms of narrative than previous campaigns but intends to “blow the bloody doors off” in execution and marketing investment.
The multi million pound campaign will focus on lifestyle benefits of the device rather than specifications – unlike its previous campaign for the Atrix smartphone – and will feature across TV, cinema, outdoor, digital display, press and a “world first” YouTube takeover. The first iteration of the TV ad will, however, centre around the size of the Razr i’s screen (see video) as well as lifestyle benefits.
Marcus Frost, Motorola’s senior marketing director for EMEA, said the company’s “record breaking” investment in the launch was critical to ensure the campaign was meaningful to consumers and touched them multiple times.
He added: “The walls of engagement in this category mean you have to double down to achieve cut through…we’re not adopting a ‘me too’ approach.”
Google acquired Motorola Mobility in May this year, but both Soames and Frost insisted the company still maintains its independence in its marketing and product development – not least because Motorola is not the only manufacturer running its handsets on Android software.
Investment from Google has, however, offered Motorola more opportunities to focus solely on hardware and build propositions built around the people using its phones, Frost said.
He added that in the future people will see Motorola as being the phone maker that provides “the best of Google experiences”.
