Smartphone brands get tech gurus to influence purchase decisions

The space so far dominated by celebs is being shared by a new breed of internet created stars.

Technical Guruji, Geeky Ranjit, Gogi Tech, Unbox Therapy, Trackin Tech, Mrwhosetheboss, Phoneradar – at least one of these names would ring a bell had you looked for reviews about a smartphone of your choice on the internet. But what’s important is, all of these names belong to YouTube channels and some of their representatives appear in the latest digital ad for smartphone brand realme. The ad is overloaded with positive comments on realme’s latest addition to its line of phones, the realme X2 Pro.

But that’s not the point. Smartphone brands are actively looking at an extension to the usual big ticket celeb flashing endorsed phone brands at launch events and ads. These celebs have been seen changing brands like seasons. One brand today, another in a few days. We asked experts if consumers fall for celebs. Their responses suggest, the celeb partnerships get quick eyeballs unlike a long term image building relationship. But what about the next stage when interested probable consumers are looking beyond relying on a pop face to decide on their next purchase? The ones that compare tech specs, prices, designs, durability, etc. across brands and models? They look for what the ‘gurus’ have to say. There is a specific YouTube channel that puts phones through extreme conditions just to measure durability.

These channels have millions of subscribers and even more millions of views. Like realme, OnePlus got a bunch of global YouTube tech influencers to clap for its OnePlus 7T model last month. The brand also unboxed one of its new releases last year with Unbox Therapy (15.8M subscribers).

Asus even launched a dedicated campaign - ‘Loved by Tech Gurus’. Each of the brand’s ads from the campaign end with the VO ‘loved by tech gurus’. These weren’t direct partnerships but a really smart invitation for viewers to visit the ‘tech guru’ channels and find out what they had to say about the new Asus phones.

We asked a couple of experts about the hows and whats of the business:

Ashutosh Harbola, chief executive officer, Buzzoka, an influencer marketing agency, says, “The consumption audience is glued to 13 or six inch screens rather than being awestruck by the idiot box. It implies that the rise of social and digital mediums is creating parallel voices of key opinion leaders which were once movie/sports stars. The new age audience sees these influencers as a more authentic voice guiding them in their buying cycle. Celebs and influencers both are amplifiers of content on the one hand and on the other hand, contribute to share of voice. The combination has become an important play in the digital landscape.”

“These influencers command a lot of affinity with their target audience and a subtle placement or a review definitely builds a strong use case for buying a product and brands are looking to capitalise on the same. Share of voice and reach are primarily the most important metrics that brands look forward to, and what better if they come at 1/10th the cost of a random movie celeb. Influencers and celebs both are part of the brand marketing mix and not performance. A lot of people get confused by this. The perfect ROI that a brand manager looks at while doing an influencer or celeb led campaign is around reach and share of voice, packaged with influencer authenticity,” Harbola adds.

Sanjay Vasudeva, founder and chief executive officer, BuzzOne Influencer Marketing says, “Influencer marketing is an emerging industry that relies on the power of real people to spread a brand’s message. Brands identify influencers basis their interests and platforms and then engage them to communicate with their followers. Customers want every detail about products laid out to them. Searching about a specific product requires time and hard work and hence, influencer marketing comes into play. Tech bloggers’ reviews are detailed, highlighting the USP of the product and a review of whether the product will satisfy customers’ requirements. Therefore, the audience requirements have driven tech bloggers to come out and be the stage players in the social media industry where you can review a phone within five minutes. If done right, influencer marketing creates organic brand/product awareness, increases traffic and eventually helps in increasing the sales figures.”

“Featuring celebrities in advertising can grab attention immediately and enhance a brand, and for that reason, it has always been a high-impact marketing tool. The cost to ROI ratio for a celebrity is higher because of the huge fees demanded by the celebrities because of their face value. Brands have been successful in gaining truckloads of sales due to celebrity endorsement, but the costs are always on the higher end. Influencers are basically more category-based social media celebrities who demand lesser fees as compared to the celebrities and hence, the cost to ROI ratio is considerably lower. Although people are more interested in the reviews of niche-specific bloggers, the costing remains nominal,” he explains.