OnePlus was always eager to highlight its commitment to delivering the very best for their customers in any way possible, which is how it justified pretty much every annual price hike attached to its new devices for half a decade now. Yes, you paid slightly more every twelve months but those extra profits went toward making sure OnePlus can keep up with its better-funded rivals.
As of 2019, it appears that noble goal includes paying one of the most expensive names in Hollywood to pose with the OnePlus 7 Pro. Earlier today, the firm launched a new advertising campaign in Asia starring no one other than Robert Downey Jr. The effort also includes automaker McLaren that presumably paid for at least a portion of the famous actor’s fee for participating in the marketing stunt, though with OnePlus being the focus of the campaign, it’s believed to have taken care of the majority of the bill.
Speaking on the subject of Downey Jr., a OnePlus official said “he represents a passion for cutting-edge technology and futuristic design which resonates greatly with what OnePlus stands for,” which is a statement that would make any digital marketing group shed tears of joy for how marvelously it manages to combine emptiness with pompousness. For the time being, the campaign appears to be solely aimed at several Asian countries like China – at least until OnePlus finds the willpower to pay whatever Downey Jr. is demanding in exchange for global outreach.
OnePlus never shied away from the fact every single one of its producs is meant to be profitable so that its excess income can be put toward further improving future devices, though that pitch became harder to buy as years went by and its devices continued increasing in price while maintaining the overall level of their capabilities relative to those of their rivaling peers from the full-fledged flagship category.
Things certainly changed with the OnePlus 7 Pro announced earlier this week; in many respects, this phablet is on par with the very best the mobile market has to offer at the moment, though it also features a much more realistic price tag and presumably allows for a significantly healthier profit margin. Sure, OnePlus stopped presenting itself as a small startup a few years back, yet it’s still sticking with its efforts to foster a global community of smartphone enthusiasts loyal to its products. That kind of blind favoritism is difficult to maintain when have the resources and the flamboyance to pay for A-list celebrities to promote your products as part of exotic ads, which is something a powerhouse conglomerate like Samsung would probably deem a good idea.
Wait a minute, Samsung did that already, as did HTC, with both of those having Robert Downey Jr. star in their ads over the course of the last five years or so.
Just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong in having a business target higher profit margins and more luxurious marketing campaigns but to do so while still claiming to be pursuing some noble goal exclusively focused on consumers is silly; paying a Hollywood celebrity is a brand-first move concerned with optics, not the end-user experience of one’s products.