Our big idea came out of an opportunity. Rex Tso is Hong Kong’s homegrown boxing legend. But with just days to go until his biggest bout yet, in March 2017, there was still no broadcaster – leaving hundreds of thousands of HKers longing to watch the fight, missing a moment in history for HK.

We saw the chance for Huawei to become a pioneer by exclusively live streaming the fight on Huawei’s Facebook, for free. By transforming Huawei from an event sponsor to a broadcaster, we successfully demonstrated the brand’s innovativeness in a way that was highly appreciated by the public.

The idea ridded on the emotional connection that Hong Kongers have for their local heroes. By positioning Huawei as a partner to Rex and providing a platform to channel local pride, we could make the public see the brand in a new light.

After acquiring the broadcast rights, we teased our Facebook fans 5 days before the fight by encouraging them to support Rex. We announced that if we collected enough ‘likes’ to support Rex, we would live-stream the fight free to the public.

This triggered a strong public reaction. People got curious and started to guess whether Huawei would really broadcast the fight on the brand’s Facebook page. Mainstream media outlets also reported the news, making it the talk of the week and built anticipation.

We also hit the streets and interviewed people so they could cheer on their hero, sharing the content on our Facebook page.

The official announcement of the live-stream was made on the day of the event! Yes, Huawei would live broadcast the bout for free. All local supporters were able to react and comment on the fight in real-time and spawned a #ThankYouHuawei movement.

Media Outputs:

The fight became HK’s #1 Most Viewed Facebook Live event. The broadcast logged 146K concurrent viewers, nearly 30K shares and 1.97M video views, the highest ever in HK. The Huawei HK page gained 57% more fans in 1 night.

The campaign generated influence in the marketplace, earning over 60 press mentions, including a full-size front page coverage on HK’s major newspaper on next day. Sample headlines include:

¥ "Huawei won the hearts of Hong Kongers by supporting local Hero"

¥ "An astonishing number of concurrent viewership on Facebook, most likely setting a new record in Hong Kong"

Target Audience Outcomes:

The campaign successfully changed the public’s perception, and created acceptance and love for Huawei. Social sentiment was 95% positive. The ultimate demonstration of brand love was the fan-initiated #ThankYouHuawei movement in appreciation:

¥ “Huawei, I give Huawei 10,000 likesss”

¥ “Have to consider Huawei when I change my next phone”

¥ “I'm going to buy a Mate 9 tomorrow”

Business Outcomes:

The following month, Huawei sold 18% more smartphones.

Huawei’s flagship product P10 was launched around the campaign period. With 32% media spend less comparing to the previous model P9, the unit sales of P10 increased by 64% - and we believe that is attributed to the Rex Tso campaign.

These results contributed to a 6.5% YoY market share increase, making Huawei one of the top 3 smartphone brands in HK for the first time ever.