"It’s about having the right products like the RAZR V3," says Neil Stewart, Motorola’s marketing director for high-growth markets. That model sold 50 million worldwide, and is catching fire in the Philippines, too. From a brand perspective, how important a brand is, like a watch or shoes, is intertwined with its success.
"The Philippines has tended to go for candy bar-form-factor products, so the MotoSLVR ("sliver") has also been very successful there, and we’re very confident that as we move into the slider form factors and the clams as well, that people will start moving away from the old habit and start making more active choices."
Since the Philippines is also an operator market where Globe, Smart and Sun are highly involved in the ranging of the phones, Moto works closely with them to identify the right markets to go after, and to make sure they’ve got the right mix of products.
"In the Philippines you’ve got a very affluent ‘I want the latest, I want it now’ market, and yet you’ve also got a very large opportunity for some of our more affordable, lower-tier handsets in some of the provinces," says Stewart. "Just because they’re more affordable phones, we don’t compromise in terms of the design or the appearance or the functions that matter."
In fact, Motorola has announced a range of lower-priced phones for developing markets like the Philippines. Whenever the company launches new flagship products, as it did last July with the new MotoKRZR and MotoRIZR handsets in Cape Town, South Africa, Moto’s design team takes the design cues, the quality of the finishes and materials from the higher-tier phones and spreads them all across the portfolio.
"As you go down the price tiers, you don’t see that much difference in terms of the quality and feel of products," adds Stewart.
Great design is part of Motorola’s success here, but on the ground, people tend to buy phones for the features. Text messaging, for example. To achieve success in the Philippines, a cell phone must offer a great texting experience and considerable storage of up to hundreds of texts – after all, this is the country where EDSA 2 was sparked by widespread text messaging.
To help Pinoys text faster, Motorola has improved its software in terms of predictive text, and the phones are reconfigured specifically for the Philippine market to increase message-storage capacity. (The KRZR in its original state, for example, can only hold around 16 to 19 messages.)
Another unique feature of the Philippine market is the large number of OFWs – people who will, increasingly, want reliable text and phone services overseas. "There are an awful lot of Filipinos who are working overseas, and we’re working with operators to ensure that our products work with some of their network-based services," says Stewart. Things like providing sharing of balances on prepaid accounts and international warranties for those who buy Motorola phones overseas are also tailored to the Philippine market. "We recognize the unique situations of the Filipinos," adds Stewart. "And if the phone doesn’t text well, forget it."
Stewart notes the youth will play a big part in spreading the success of Motorola’s cutting-edge models. He recognizes that Filipinos are "the musicians of Asia" and points out the huge success of musical ringtones here. Add to that a strategic partnership with hot pop and alternative bands, and Motorola seems to have its finger on the pulse of Pinoy youth.
"Music is very important," continues Stewart. "You are a very young country, and you’ve got a great local music scene… In fact, we’ve got one of the local bands to do a promotion for our Motobus, which has become one of the top 5 or top 10 hits in the Philippines, which is terrific."
"In every place we go to, the Motobus enjoys celebrity status and people from all walks of life flock to the bus, excited and eager to be part of it," concurs Mari Litonjua, Motorola Philippines’ marketing head. "Also, the Hellomoto jingle used as the official song of the Motobus has very high recall and we are creating ‘Motobus fever.’"
The latest band to join the Motobus campaign is the Itchyworms. Last year it was Urbandub, which became the first local Motoalert artist. During its Rockmoto events, Motorola tied up with some of the most talented and powerful bands in the local music scene, such as Sandwich, Imago, Chicocsi, Spongecola, Sugar Free, and Urbandub. Litonjua says he is constantly on the lookout for up-and-coming Pinoy bands, not only in the rock scene, but other music genres such as hip-hop, house, and R&B.
Since music is such a big thing for Moto, they make it a point to drive music and great design elements throughout their portfolio. In high-growth markets, all the phones come with FM radios for entertainment and news, a 2- gigabyte memory card, and great stereo capability, both wired and remote. You can actually have your phone hanging around, playing music while you work.
"We are currently very happy with how Motorola has grown in less than two years and we can say firmly that Motorola is definitely back on the map," declares Mari.
Part of this is due to the company’s new CEO, Ed Zander, who over the past two years has brought new ideas and a freshness to Motorola’s mission. "He’s perhaps brought a level of focus back to the things that are really important," says Stewart. "We’ve seen a simplification of our business and a reorganization of some of our business units and a real focus on not just delivering parity, but getting out there with a game-changing strategy, getting people to really look and go ‘Wow!’
"The easiest way to make people do that is to completely redefine the product. So if clamshell phones used to be fat and used to have an antenna, then put that to one side, do not launch a phone unless it can redefine it. We did that with the SLVR last year."
Zander is a former marketing man who understands the power of a brand and a USP (unique selling position). A "funny, engaging" man, Moto’s CEO is its first – and toughest – customer, who’ll pick up a prototype and ask his designers, "Tell me, why would you buy that? Doesn’t that one do the same as that?"
Zander’s also the man responsible for the phones’ catchy, unforgettable names. "He says, ‘If everyone’s calling it the 6622, don’t!’" laughs Stewart. "We’ve always been about innovation, but even more than innovation is disruption – to completely try and change the rules. If everyone thought you could only sell a phone for $50, then work to get a $30 or a $20 phone. It’s that type of disruptive behavior that he’s championed, which keeps us all on our toes."
For Motorola, Southeast Asia looms as a site with significant operations but they have to be strengthened, according to Allen Burnes, corporate vice president of high-growth markets: "We’re driving to build up local teams to drive local marketplaces, drive GSM handsets, and get products of good design to people who earn $20 to $40 a month."
"An iconic, real game-changing phone like the RAZR has sold 50 million since its launch around the world, so our expectations and our hopes are that we’d love the MotoKRZR and the MotoRIZR to build those sort of volumes in the future,"says Stewart.
It’s worked in countries like India, where the V3 is considered the "sexiest handset in town."
Consumers are saying, "Give me more choices," and Motorola is only too happy to give it to them. "We’ve been very successful with the pink color," notes Burnes. "We work with the fashion and design industries to decide what are the next big colors, and the new phones will come in a full palette of colors."
In an Imeldific country like the Philippines, Moto is hoping that people will buy not only one phone, but build a wardrobe of handsets with different colors, forms, functions, and funky names. After all, when it comes to selecting accessories, "Some people can never have enough pairs of shoes," chuckles Stewart.