OPPO hands Asia media remit to PHD

OPPO has handed its media business for Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh to media agency PHD. The appointment covers online and offline media planning and strategy and thought leadership, according to the agency.

Key duties include strategy, media planning and buying across HQ (global), Hub (regional) and local markets.

"As Malaysia is the HQ and Hub centre, our duties also include multi-market coordination and reporting," said David Soo, managing director of PHD Malaysia in a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

The duties will be managed out of Malaysia, which is OPPO’s APAC hub, and includes working with the OPPO HQ team in China and other OMG offices to roll out various initiatives and strategies for global markets.

Each market had a different incumbent agency and part of the pitch was to streamline agency operations under a single agency network, according to Soo.

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The appointment comes shortly after PHD won the OPPO media business in India.

“We commend PHD Malaysia for their exceptional track record, expertise, and passion for innovation. We are excited to embark on this journey together and push the boundaries of what is possible in this dynamic industry,” said OPPO’s HQ Head of Media, Elly Huang.

“We are proud to have won the OPPO business and this marks a great opportunity for us to work on a leading global technology brand that mirrors PHD’s pursuit of innovation, excellence, and creating work that delights consumers," added Soo.

"A crucial part of the win stemmed from the team’s thorough response to the brief as well as the chemistry internally and with the client teams at all levels,” he said. 

He added that in this highly competitive market, OPPO already commands high top of mind awareness among their key target audience.

"Moving forward, we will focus on developing innovative media strategies and tactics that help OPPO drive conversions given their technologically advanced product line-up," he said. 

Oppo called for a media pitch globally last year as the brand looked to change its strategy and to position itself as a premium brand.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE last year, Andy Shi, APAC president of OPPO shared that the company is looking to change “the whole picture” on how it competes in Asia Pacific. This will largely revolve around its product and marketing strategy to move from being known as a “mass market” brand to a premium player in the mobile space. Alongside its media pitch, in many of the markets it has a presence in, it is also looking for a PR partner.

As such the company was looking for a partner who was able to understand the nuances across APAC. While often companies calling for a global pitch might be keen on getting a one-stop shop agency partner that has presence across numerous markets, for Shi and his team, getting the “local kings” is just as vital, he said last year. 

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