By Patrick Avenell
NEW ZEALAND: Haier has today launched its first new major marketing campaign since partnering with Fisher & Paykel. The new creative, which will originally screen only in New Zealand, targets the youth market, with Haier promoting itself as value-for-money brand that saves consumers money.
In a release to trade, the new campaign, which is “proudly brought to you by Fisher & Paykel”, declares that consumers will choose Haier because “they need enough money for beer”, because they want to buy a new pair of jeans and because they haven’t been to South America before.
In the advertisements that will actually air on New Zealand television, Haier’s creative involves Gen Y and Xers talking about how with money being tight, choosing a brand that delivers good performance at a competitive price is paramount.
Haier’s message to trade is that whitegoods aren’t as exciting to young consumers as they are to the manufacturers and the retailers. Haier posits that the emerging generations are happy to buy whitegoods from secondhand outlets, online or from friends and family. So Haier asks, “What if you [the retailer] stocked a brand that was attractive, desirable but, above all, affordable?”
A key concept in this campaign is to differentiate the consumer base from that of Fisher & Paykel. Haier does not want to cannibalise its existing market. It claims Haier’s target of 18-to-39-year-olds is younger than that of Fisher & Paykel, and that in time, these consumers will be traded up into Fisher & Paykel’s more premium ranges.
The campaign will encompass print advertisements, outdoor billboards, point of sale, television and cinema.
“These ads establish a distinct personality for Haier and Haier is very much a standalone brand, but we know that 70 per cent of a sale in made in-store by [retailers], so we’re relying on [retailers] at the point of sale to deliver the message that Haier has the backing of Fisher & Paykel,” said a Haier spokesperson.