Lenovo is practically unknown in the consumer market in Australia. It’s a business brand, and that’s where its attention has been until now. A month ago it kicked off a $10 million marketing push to launch itself into the consumer market in Australia for the first time.
It’s starting off with tablets. The foundation of the entry into the Australian market is the Yoga tablet, and then it will move into laptops and smartphones. It’s got its sights set on being number one in connected devices around the world.
It’s a tall order. Apple and Samsung dominate the market in both tablets and smartphones, but Lenovo global CMO David Roman reckons it’s an order Lenovo can fill. He might be right. Not too long ago, Nokia, Motorola and Blackberry ruled the mobile world. Now all three are languishing.
Roman says it’s all about momentum.
“It’s interesting because from the outside people look at the technology industry and miss the point that things are changing so rapidly. Lenovo continues to grow ahead of the market; we’ve been doing that for some time, so we see the opportunity to build on that momentum. In marketing momentum is a tremendous asset to have. The way you grow in tech is coming up with new products and that gives you fast momentum,” he said.
The timing for the launch centres around the product cycle. Before now, it didn’t have the products on which to hang a major push into the new space. Now, it believes its Yoga range, with the Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, Yoga Tablet 2, and Yoga 3 Pro, is game changing.
“In the tech space, it’s technology that matters and there are a few products that will change the category and redefine our place in the market. They are ground-breaking and stand up very well with any comparison. We call them our ‘big play’ – and we will make a big bet on them and use them to change our position in the market. In Australia, specifically, this is a perfect time to launch the consumer business because we have some breakthrough products on the PC side, the tablets and phones. It’s a great opportunity to use those products to position Lenovo,” said Roman.
The Australian market launch is also piggybacking on the global brand campaign that launched in October starring Lenovo’s celebrity product engineer Ashton Kutcher milking a goat while he reads his tablet. The quirky ads stand out, but they are polarising.
“Polarising is a good word. Even our products are polarising – and that’s a good thing. Some people absolutely love them – others don’t get so excited – and the marketing reflects that. There are three layers of marketing; one to get people interested, that’s why extreme videos like the goat get noticed. The next stage is giving them more information. The next is engaging the user,” he says.
The latter is the reason behind the Yoga My Way competition that asks people to submit the cool things they are doing with their devices.
Where Apple’s ads have taken to showing what users can do with the iPhone, Lenovo’s theme is around the flexibility of its products to strengthen, bend and adapt to the needs of the user – hence the Yoga name.
Kutcher’s involvement, according to Roman, is much more than just a celebrity endorsement in a few ads. Kutcher is heavily involved in the tech scene, with a number of high-profile investments into start-ups and VC funds, and was involved in the development of the Yoga range.
Kutcher will also be in Australia in January to work on some Lenovo brand projects.
It’s starting from a low base in Australia, but Lenovo already claims to be the number three brand in the world in tablets, and the number one PC brand. At the Australian launch, CEO and chairman of the Chinese company Yang Yuanqing said he wanted Australia to be the growth engine of the business.
In IDC’s latest Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, Lenovo’s share of the global tablet market grew 30% – taking it to 5.6% share – while Apple slipped nearly 13% – down to 22% of the market. Asus fell 0.9% and Samsung made gains of 5.6%.
So the dial is pointing in the right direction. Lenovo is no downward-facing dog, it just needs to engage its core.
This story first appeared in the AdNews print edition on the 28 Nov 2014.
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