Spice Mobile looks to go one up on competition with Pinnacle Pro series

 

Spice Mobile entered the smart phone category earlier this year, with the launch of the Pinnacle Pro. Last week, the brand added the Pinnacle FHD to its range and also rolled out its communication for the category. Starting with an ad film created by Ogilvy & Mather, the campaign will see more films, besides digital, outdoor and print legs.

 

The film is set in what looks like a European city. A video kiosk shines bright through heavy rain at a high street corner, outside a fashion store. The video on show explains several features of a smart phone. The presenter then asks, “Now, can you guess which brand this is?” A visitor says, ‘Sam...(muted)’. It’s wrong, and he’s offered another chance. He gets a slap when he says ‘No...(muted)’. The curtains close and the kiosk vanishes. A voice over announces, “Presenting the Spice Pinnacle Series – One Up”.   

 

Campaign India caught up with Sapna Sharma, head – marketing, devices, S Mobility, to learn more about the campaign and the company’s plans for the smart phone category.

 

What was the idea behind the campaign?

 

The smart phones category is growing by almost 100 per cent. It's our first campaign for the category; our previous campaigns were only on feature phones. All the other players in the category are talking about lifestyle and there's hardly any differentiation in those campaigns because everyone is talking the same language. We thought of connecting with the customer and came up with our 'One up' concept to show superiority over competition.

 

Our commercial highlights a 5 megapixel autofocus front camera, that is the first in the industry. We also have software features like gesture control, flip to mute etc. – some of these are features which phones other than the Samsung Galaxy S3 don't have; no other domestic brand gives these features. Therefore the whole idea of giving the customer the best specs at the most affordable prices was what we wanted to communicate through our 'One up' campaign.

 

What was the brief given to Ogilvy & Mather?

 

With the current set of phones, we had received positive feedback in the market during our test period. So we wanted to feature our flagship products and show that we are 'One up' on the competition and come with a price people can't even think of.

 

What is the price of the phone and what is the positioning of the smart phone range?

 

The phones start at Rs 14,990. The overall positioning that we want to give Spice Mobiles as a brand is that we are always going to come up with something one up on the consumer. For example, if you look at the 'Full HD' phone, we are offering that at a price much more affordable than the competition.

 

When you're talking about competition, what brands would you consider competition? The film targets a couple of brands...

 

I would not want to name brands here. But anyone who is present in the category is my competition.

 

Do you think Spice Mobile will be perceived as a top brand? Can it compete with brands Samsung and Apple?

 

That's what our communication is going to lead to. We want to build the perception of the brand, which in turn will lead to conversions. Because we're coming up with smart phones for the first time, it's important to inform. When the customer goes to the counter, he may have a perception of a certain brand, but the features are more important. 

 

What's the current market share for Spice Mobiles?

 

The market share currently is between three and four per cent. We are targetting an aggressive plan for the next year and hopefully that will help us increase our market share. The idea is to capture the feature phone market also, because a lot of MNCs are vacating that category. We will also look to build a decent market share in the smart phone category. 

 

What's the flagship product for Spice right now?

 

The Pinnacle series (smart phones) would be our flagship currently. We've got Pinnacle Pro, Pinnacle FHD and we'll be launching Pinnacle Stylus in the next few days. 

 

Credits

 

Client: Spice Mobiles

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather

Creative team: Mahesh Gharat, Pradyumna Chauhan, Makarand Joshi, Prashant Pradhan, Rajaram Kavatka, Adwait Kulkarni, Prashant Patankar

Client servicing: Ajay Menon, Roshni Mohan, Abhishek Banerjee, Neha Agarwal

Production house: Joshua Tree

Producer: Joshua Upputuru

Directors: Nobrain