iQOO's latest ad is all about mispronouncing its name

Iquu, IQ, Eqoo, Icooh, Iquo - in how many ways can a brand's name be pronounced or mispronounced? iQOO, a Chinese smartphone brand, has now come up with an ad, called 'What’s in the name', conceptualised by Dentsu Creative India. The ad stars Vijay Deverakonda and Janhvi Kapoor, taking a dig at iQOO’s eccentric brand problem - no one gets the name right.

afaqs! spoke to Nipun Marya, CEO, iQOO India, to understand the story behind this campaign.

"We have been dealing with a marketing challenge, where some people know us well. On the other side, some people don't know how to pronounce our brand name. To overcome this challenge, we started talking to consumers to understand how they pronounce ‘iQOO’. We heard so many funny ways in which the brand's name was pronounced and, so, we came up with the idea of this film."

“We are excited to launch this brand pronunciation awareness film with the hope that we will build a stronger relationship and instil confidence in our consumers, who are at the heart of our business. Through this, we intend to create a sense of community and cheerfulness around this common conundrum. We hope that our customers will be able to proudly speak about our products and services with their family and friends.”

This year, iQOO was named as the number one smartphone brand in customer satisfaction, as per ‘91Mobiles Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2022’. As per the survey, iQOO has remained on top for two consecutive years, 2021 and 2022, in customer satisfaction, ahead of smartphone giants like OnePlus and Apple.

iQOO has tried to incorporate this fact in its film. So, while the world gets the name wrong, they get one thing right - user satisfaction.

Through this campaign, the brand has also tried to move away from conventional advertising and taken a digital approach. Just prior to the launch, Marya tweeted, "Only true #iQOO fanatics will get this right. Take the challenge and stand a chance to win exciting goodies. Share your videos as comments to this tweet."

The brand received over 4,000 engagement and two lakh-plus impressions, as a result.

"We talk in the language of any young brand. We followed three simple steps: a simple tweet from my side, one from the brand's handle and then, the ad’s launch."

It will be shown on all digital video/social media platforms (like YouTube), OTT, etc.

This film will be followed by another one, where Deverakonda and Kapoor will be seen unboxing the upcoming flagship smartphone - iQOO 11.