華爲邀斯嘉麗拍廣告 要做全球高端品牌

Scarlett Johansson gazes worshipfully into the dual lenses of asandblasted-metal Huawei P9 smartphone as the Hollywood star shares a selfieproduct placement moment.

斯嘉麗•約翰遜(ScarlettJohansson)一臉愛慕地凝視着金屬機身經過噴砂工藝處理的華爲P9智能手機的雙鏡頭。這位好萊塢明星爲該產品拍了一則廣告。

The advertisement, released this month by the Chinese telecoms equipmentgroup, was the opening salvo in a barrage of publicity planned for the P9 asHuawei accelerates efforts to promote itself as a premium smartphone consumerbrand.

本月由這家中國電信設備製造集團投放的廣告爲P9的一系列推廣活動拉開了帷幕。華爲把自己定位爲高端智能手機消費品牌進行大力宣傳。

Already number three in world smartphone sales, the privately heldcompany has been making bold pronouncements that it will unseat Apple andSamsung Electronics atop the global rankings in five years.

按智能手機銷量計算，這傢俬人公司如今已經在全球排名第三。華爲已大膽放言，要在5年內超越蘋果(Apple)和三星電子(Samsung Electronics)，做到全球第一。

Huawei, better known for cables, routers and switches than consumerdevices, only began making cheaper phones for the masses in 2003, under thebrands of its telecoms carrier clients including PCCW, Vodafone and Emobile.

與消費設備相比，華爲更爲知名的是電纜、路由器和交換機。它在2003年纔開始製造較爲廉價的大衆手機，爲其電信運營商客戶包括電訊盈科(PCCW)、沃達豐(Vodafone)和Emobile等貼牌製造手機。

It began life as a manufacturer of phone switches in 1987 and has growninto a sprawling company that employs 170,000 employees and sells about a thirdof the world’s telecoms equipment.

華爲1987年剛成立時是一家電話交換機制造商，後來逐步發展爲一家業務廣泛的公司，僱傭了17萬名員工，電信設備銷量大約佔到全球的三分之一。

But Huawei wants to be known for more than just gear, says Glory Cheung,chief marketing officer. The company is confident that the technical quality ofits phones can rival that of the market leaders but feels it lacks a is what inspired its expensive campaigns such as the one that features MsJohansson, as well as actor Henry Cavill, model Karlie Kloss and footballerLionel Messi.

但華爲消費者業務全球首席營銷官張曉雲(Glory Cheung)表示，華爲希望不僅僅因設備本身而爲人所知。華爲相信，其手機的技術質量可以媲美市場領軍者，但感覺缺乏品牌知名度。爲此該公司斥巨資開展廣告宣傳活動，比如聘請約翰遜以及演員亨利•卡維爾(Henry Cavill)、模特卡莉•克勞斯(Karlie Kloss)和足球明星萊昂內爾•梅西(Lionel Messi)代言。

The company is also working with other brands. High-end camera companyLeica endorsed the P9 camera, one of the company’s smartwatches isencrusted with Swarovski crystal and Harman Kardon audio is used for Huawei’s tabletdevice.

華爲還與其他品牌合作。P9配備了高端相機公司徠卡(Leicas)的攝像頭，華爲的一款智能手錶鑲嵌了施華洛世奇(Swarovski)的寶石，華爲的平板設備採用了哈曼卡頓(Harman Kardon)音效。

“building a premium brand for us is more than just money; it’s aboutchanging our own self-image, about building a whole new visual expression ofHuawei,”says Ms Cheung.

張曉雲表示：“對我們來說，打造高端品牌不僅僅爲了賺錢；它還與我們自己的自我形象有關，與打造華爲全新的視覺表達有關。”

“The difference is that now, we have decided to build a brand,instead of just doing some campaigns,”she says.

她說：“不同之處在於，現在我們決定打造一個品牌，而不是隻做一些廣告宣傳。”

The campaign has drawn mixed reviews. “I’m not against using paidambassadors with discretion, but when you’ve got a whole boatload of DiCaprios— I think they’ll get awareness, but I also think top-level customers are waypast that,” says Nick Arnold, Apple’s former head ofmarketing for China and Asia, now an independent strategy adviser. “They’ll bethinking: ‘Is Scarlett Johansson really going to choose Huawei unless she ispaid to? I doubt it.’

外界對華爲的廣告宣傳活動看法不一。獨立的戰略顧問、蘋果公司原中國及亞洲營銷負責人尼克•阿諾德(Nick Arnold)表示：“我不反對酌情聘請代言人，但當你有了一系列迪卡普里奧(Dicaprio)的廣告的時候——我認爲他們會因此知道你，但我也認爲頂級消費者會想得更多。他們會想：‘如果沒有報酬的話，斯嘉麗•約翰遜真的會選擇華爲嗎？我懷疑這一點。’”

“A lot of companies use celebrities in place of having a sound andrelevant brand idea.”

“許多公司使用名人，而不是擁有一個健全和接地氣的品牌理念。”

Fang Xingdong, founder of Beijing-based think-tank China Labs, says thecampaign ultimately doesn’t matter: “They will get attention, which is important. But what really mattersis they have a phone that is competitive.”

北京智庫互聯網實驗室(ChinaLabs)創始人方興東表示，廣告活動從根本上來說並不重要：“他們將獲得關注，這很重要。但真正重要的是擁有一款具有競爭力的手機。”

Yet whatever the campaign’s merits, Huawei’s phones have done ei is running neck and neck with upstart rival Xiaomi in their home market,and trails only Apple and Samsung worldwide. Its smartphone sales rose 44 percent last year to 108m units, making Huawei the first Chinese company to shipmore than 100m in a year.

然而，無論廣告作用怎樣，華爲的手機賣得不錯。華爲在國內市場的銷量與新秀小米(Xiaomiin)匹敵，在全球僅次於蘋果和三星。去年華爲智能手機銷量增長44%，至1.08億部，這讓華爲成爲首家年出貨量超過1億部的中國公司。

The rapid progress has caught even the company’s own executives bysurprise. Earlier this year Richard Yu, head of Huawei’s consumer devicesdivision, faced incredulity when he predicted that its phones would be numbertwo in the world in two to three years and number one within four or five.

這種發展之快甚至讓華爲自己的高管都感到意外。今年早些時候，當華爲消費者業務CEO餘承東(Richard Yu)預計華爲手機銷量將在兩到三年裏在全球排名第二、在四到五年裏全球排名第一的時候，外界表示懷疑。

When asked about Mr Yu’s prognostication at Huawei’s annual analystsummit last week, even Eric Xu, Huawei’s chief executive officer, said Mr Yumust have been misquoted and could only have been talking about the Chinamarket (the Financial Times checked; he was not misquoted).

在最近華爲年度分析師大會上被問及餘承東所說的目標時，即便是華爲輪值CEO徐直軍(Eric Xu)也表示，餘承東的話肯定被引用錯了，他可能只是指中國市場（英國《金融時報》查證，餘承東的話沒有引用錯）。