Unlike other brands, Xiaomi has a social first approach: Jaskaran Singh Kapany

Xiaomi as a brand is known for making technology accessible to the masses. This festive season, the focus was on introducing a range of products and giving its customers a wide variety of choices to buy. With interesting offers, attractive discounts and EMI options, the brand ensured that the same was also available in the marketplace, while following strict safety measures for the same. Announcing the 6th edition of the Diwali festival with MI, multiple campaigns were released for the internal and the external audiences to make this Diwali rejoicing and memorable.

As a consumer-centric brand, Xiaomi’s objective has been to continuously help and improve the consumers’ lifestyle with innovative technology and by delivering maximum value through all their products.

Jaskaran Singh Kapany, CMO, Xiaomi India, spoke to Adgully about the brand’s festive marketing strategy this year, as well as shared some interesting marketing and consumer insights.

Tell us more about your new Diwali campaign. What‘s the thought behind the campaign and what’s your end objective?

Diwali is one of the biggest & the most celebrated festivals in India. It contributes a significant part to our company’s topline & is by definition a period where the entire mood is ‘celebratory’. Keeping this in mind, we thought of introducing a campaign which resonates with the grandeur of the festive spirit. The theme of our campaign this year is around the ‘India's Biggest Diwali Party’ titled #DiwaliWithMi with the vision of calling out to all our employees, Retail partners, fans and consumers across the country to join in this year's celebrations in grand style!

To mark the beginning of the festive season this year, we launched our campaign with a set of 6-7 Teaser films which featured our valued employees. This sort of laid the foundation of intrigue building up to the ‘Big ticket’ reveal a few days before the actual #DiwaliWithMi Annual Party. We then introduced a series of high voltage videos for the 6th edition of #DiwaliwithMi wherein we collaborated with popular actors like- Bobby Deol, Mouni Roy & singer Himmesh Reshammiya grooving to the tunes of #LordPartyMix. The whole idea of this campaign aims to elevate the fun and excitement around this season pushing Xiaomi Fans to embrace their festive spirits.

What kind of expectations have you set for the Xiaomi brand during this Diwali? How have you beefed up your retail and online channels to push your products?

Our expectation this Diwali is to make our celebration grand, more joyous for all our users, employees & our valued partners. We announced the 6th edition of ‘Diwali with Mi’ festival, unveiling blockbuster festive sales with an array of exciting offers and discounts on a wide range of products across categories. It is safe to say that with the kind of deals and offers, this is by far the biggest Diwali party for all our users & valued partner merchants.

During the festive season most brands offer attractive discounts, amazing offers with competitive pricing. How have you modelled your pricing to leverage the festival season?

Xiaomi as a brand has always been known for making technology accessible to the masses. During this festive season, we have focussed at introducing a wide range of products for our consumers to choose from. We also made our ecosystem products available for purchase, coupled with no cost EMI options, bank offers and discounts. With customers also looking at buying offline, we not only ensured that same offers are available in the marketplace but, followed strict safety measures for the same.

You have roped in a different kind of brand ambassador for your campaign. What’s the thinking behind that and how will it help the brand to strengthen its equity and position in the market further?

As mentioned earlier, our Employees are our true Brand ambassadors. So phase 1 of the #DiwaliWithMi campaign was launched on the back of multiple entertaining Employee teaser films. To add more excitement and happiness in phase 2, we roped in celebrities from yesteryears - actor and DJ Bobby Deo, Mouni Roy and singer Himesh Reshammiya for our Diwali campaign as we believe that they would take our campaign to newer heights. We believe that these performers have left a long-lasting impression on the audience which resonates with Xiaomi’s philosophy when it comes to reaching out to its target audience. Happy to say that both the phases of the campaign performed fantastically. Happy to share that the videos crossed 10mn+ within a few days of launch Safe to say that the country saw our #DiwaliWithMi campaign as India’s largest Diwali Party!

How do you plan to engage with your audience? What’s going to be your media strategy at the national level in all your major and smaller markets?

We have been reaching our consumers more with the help of online platforms as it is crucial for us to be aware, help and engage with them in real time. Unlike other brands, Xiaomi has a ‘Digital first’ approach- most of our marketing campaigns are driven through digital & social platforms first. A lot of our marketing campaigns feature Xiaomi’s own employees & fellow Xiaomi Fans. This not only helps Xiaomi create a unique space for the brand but also makes campaigns memorable & provides better exposure to our employees as brand ambassadors- which come to think of it, is the perfect solution i.e who would know the product better or explain it more passionately, other than an employee of the company.

Digital also provides instant feedback, allows two way engagement & real time course correction - all of which is important for a fast paced company like ours.

What kind of road map do you have in mind to grow the Xiaomi brand further and garner a sizable market share in a market where there is cut throat competition?

We respect the work done by our competition & wish them the best in whatever they do. In terms of our own strategy, we always strive to bring in the most innovative technology at honest pricing that caters to evolving consumer needs & demands. Besides, being a consumer centric brand, we always keep our customer’s feedback in mind while introducing any products which have helped us to improve consumers’ lifestyle & overall well-being - and we have been receiving a tremendous response from Xiaomi Fans and consumers.

Early this year, we refreshed our visual corporate & brand identity. Having a presence across more than 100 regions around the world, we focused on taking a more unified approach to further reinstate Xiaomi’s position as the world’s leading consumer AIoT (AI+IoT) platform

With the new brand identity, there are 2 distinct product series under the parent corporate brand. “Xiaomi” represents the pinnacle of technology and offers a premium experience across categories.“Redmi”, known for bringing breakthrough technology at an affordable price point, continues with the same approach.

With the new branding, our aim is to further strengthen Xiaomi’s foothold in the market, while raising brand awareness and reducing the perception gap between the brand & its products.