Why the Celebrity-Focused Marketing Campaign Works for the OPPO F5

The hype for the F5 began with celebrities

While I am fairly new in writing tech stories, I have never imagined how a tech story can be showbiz oriented. When I came across OPPO’s approach in teasing the upcoming F5, it felt like my former work as a lifestyle writer is coming back to me.

Frankly speaking, OPPO’s marketing strategy for the F5 is quite different from how tech brands would promote their upcoming products. Instead of boasting about specs, features, and whatnots, OPPO chose to let celebrities and beauty experts do the talking.

Whether you may agree or disagree, this unconventional approach to marketing a smartphone is effective to Filipino crowd. Using my previous experience as a lifestyle writer, here are my findings why OPPO’s strategy works:

It connects to people better

Using known local celebrities like Julia Barretto, Coleen Garcia, and Jessy Mendiola, promoting the F5 is made easier, as these celebrities have a large fanbase. It’s a well-known strategy: using celebrities bolster brand loyalty and consumer confidence in the long run, especially if that celebrity has a good reputation. This works further when these celebrities are spotted using the product they are endorsing. Which is why when Julia, Coleen, Jessy, Janella Salvador, Robi Domingo, and other Star Magic celebrities were spotted using the F5 to take photos during the Star Magic Ball, it instantly created a buzz on social media.

It builds up hype without divulging actual specs

By using a widely-watched and followed event like the Star Magic Ball to tease the F5, OPPO got a sizeable media mileage. Because of this, people now talk about the F5 over social media without necessarily divulging all of its specs. Even a makeup tutorial by Metro Magazine and ABS-CBN Lifestyle—which has no relation to tech whatsoever—helped OPPO build the anticipation for the F5, both in local and international tech news. Those posters of celebrities holding the F5 spotted at the country’s leading malls? They also help bolster the hype for the F5. The mere appearance of the F5 in unconventional locations will capture the attention of people without going too technical about the phone itself.

Will all of these be worth it?

All these teasers leading to the F5’s October 26 launch will backfire if OPPO fails to impress the crowd with its specs. So far, initial impressions about the F5 look promising, especially with its 6-inch 18:9 display and a sleeker unibody shell (borrowing design elements from the A71). While we do not know about its internals, rumors state that it will have a Snapdragon 660 processor, 6GB of RAM, 64GB Internal Storage, and a sizeable 4000mAh battery. Along with the specs, what is important is how much the F5 will be priced. With all the promotions OPPO has been doing for the F5, they should give it a really competitive price for them to have a fighting chance against other mid-range 18:9 display phones like Vivo’s V7+, LG’s Q6, and Huawei’s Nova 2i.