When Haier needed an agency to take its brand higher, it partnered with M2.0 Communications.

The Challenge

High describes the Haier Group’s aspirations in the Philippines. In 2015, the country’s growing market saw increasing sales in home appliances, Haier’s business, in defiance of trends in the rest of the world. With high hopes, the company sought to triple its sales by 2018 and take part in the region’s growth. To achieve these goals, the global domestic appliance company sought to elevate its brand among Filipinos.

Increasing Haier’s brand awareness was no easy feat. The Philippine market was saturated with suspiciously similar Asian brands such as LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Hanabishi, and other growing companies lining up to compete. Additionally, Haier wasn’t the brand that most people thought of when purchasing a domestic item.

To reverse these perceptions and stand out on its own brand, the home appliance company needed a partner that understood the Philippine market and knew how to engage it.

Creating an Integrated Message in Traditional and New Media

M2.0 Communications advised Haier to adopt an integrated PR solution that sought to engage Filipinos through print, broadcast, events, and online social networks – in other words, in every media where Filipinos can be found. Through experience, this challenging approach is the best way to highlight such a broad product line. It answers the needs of a wide demographic of consumers who look for advice and info on different channels. After seeing the company execute similar campaigns for other brands within the industry, Haier decided to work with M2.0’s dynamic team.

The outline for the year-long campaign was simple but required much from both Haier and M2.0’s Client Success Team. In the first quarter of 2016, Haier reintroduced itself to the consumers and the media. But M2.0 understood that it was a great chance to redefine what the company represented to Filipinos.

To increase its resonance with the Philippine market, Haier needed to be more than an appliance company. Its message needed to focus on life, family, and the bonds that bring people together – like the ones that tie the Haier brothers, the company’s own iconic mascots, which was created to symbolize the partnership between the German company, Liebherr, and the Asian manufacturer, Qingdao Refrigerator, Haier’s parents. To that end, Haier’s campaign introduced a family-friendly face, helpful and eager to make his friends succeed.

A Campaign in Sync

Through a media event, it introduced this aspect to reporters and bloggers alike to cover both traditional and new media. Aside from the company, its products were also reintroduced. As the rest year unfolded, the campaign sought to expand and prove the company’s message through article and product seeding. It brought attention to Haier’s ability to support others, such as it’s after sales service, and the opportunities for success utilizing their products, such as in small businesses.

At the same time, a new more approachable personality emerged in Haier’s Facebook account. In sync with the PR approach, Haier social sought to introduce the company and its products, and, most especially, help purchasers resolve issues quickly. It featured products, revealed fun facts, shared lifehacks, related trivia about the company, and more to converse with its followers.

In the final quarter, just in time for Philippine Christmas rush, the campaign went all out to highlight Haier’s products and corporate successes, including its achievement in having their appliances sent to space again!

The Results

By the end of December, the campaign was featured by top publishers and high-ranking blogs ending with a yearly total of 606 million impressions on the Filipino public – enough for the entire population of the country to be exposed at least six times to a Haier story. The company’s Facebook did great as well, adding an average 4.5 thousand followers each month, growing from 5,896 at the start of January to 53,044 at the end of December – ten times the original followers. Due to the growth, Haier ranked fourth among its local social media competitors in home appliances. Through these integrated communications efforts, as 2016 came to an end, Haier was one step closer to achieving its triple sales targets by 2018.