Campaign Spotlight: dentsu X and Huawei Unveil Behind the Scenes of Ambush Campaign

dentsu X and Huawei Unveil Behind the Scenes of Ambush Campaign dentsu X Singapore, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, continues to provide ‘Experience Beyond Exposure’ with its latest ambush campaign for Huawei. Twenty four hours ahead of the Apple iPhone XS official sales – dentsu X and Huawei leveraged on an opportunity to engage with fans in the queue by distributing a free Huawei power bank to Apple fans to ensure their smartphone battery lasts through the night.

The stunt was carried out at 11PM SGT on 20 September 2018. On ground Huawei staff and dentsu X agency staff handed out 200 Huawei Supercharge power banks to individuals in the queue within 15 minutes, along with a card with the message: Here’s a power bank. You’ll need it. Courtesy of Huawei.

Members of the public, people in the queue and bloggers from across the region captured the stunt in action and uploaded the content as user generated content. Two hundred power banks were given out in 15 minutes that night.

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The campaign went viral with over 299 articles in 41 countries covering the stunt, generating 10.56 million estimated views, 336,000 social shares and an estimated PR value of US$343.6 million.

“The overall impact of this activation not only drove global headlines for us, but more importantly it uplifted our brand to a level that allowed us to connect with our audience. A dose of humour and thoughtfulness in branding always goes a long way, and this time around, we’ve added the element of surprise and delight by handing out our Huawei SuperCharge Power Banks to those who have spent the many hours and effort waiting in line. Careful considerations were made internally and together with dentsu X. Ultimately, we wanted to elevate the level of awareness among non-Huawei users with a gesture that would resonate well with them, and power banks were the perfect accessory to help them pass time while waiting in the queue. Since then, the results and public feedback have been phenomenal; driving conversations on one of our key product differentiators such as battery performance and also drawing attention to our upcoming flagship Mate 20 launch,” said Jonathan Ye, Head of Digital APAC and Marketing Director, Singapore of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

“To execute on brave work, it takes an unwavering trust between a client and their agency. We’re proud to call Huawei a client, and for the trust they’ve placed in dentsu X and Dentsu Aegis Network to help them grow their business in Singapore. They’ve achieved record growth this year and we look forward to continuing to support their growth in Singapore and the region,” said Phil Adrien, General Manager, dentsu X Singapore.

“We believe in the power of human-centered ideas with innovation at its core. But innovation is not always tech, sometimes it’s just a smile. We’ve been thinking about the launch of the new Mate20 for weeks now, but we wanted to take advantage of the queue in front of the Apple Store. We shared this idea with Huawei, they loved it, and in the afternoon we went through the logistics and legal implications and we aligned on the positive note of the activation, then we mobilised the Creative and PR teams and made it happen. The news spread like air, we didn’t share or pushed, it was all organic. The results also made us smile,” said Joao Flores, Head of Creative, dentsu X Singapore.

To watch the video, click here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l3ieof-Utrv3L8eSlUFvDMFH4YHV_SEa/view

Campaign Credits:

dentsu X:

General Manager: Phil Adrien

Head of Strategy: Johanan Sen

Head of Creative: Joao Flores

Head of Business: Jessica Beaton

Account Director: Iking Uy

Account Manager: Kong Jin Yu

Copywriter: Emillio Rodrigues

Art Director: Woon Chng

Designer: Charmaine Kum