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WAGGENER EDSTROM’S
BRAND AGILITY INDEX AT
Mobile World Congress is billed as one
Below are our four key takeout’s from the noise
of the most important weeks for the
generated at MWC.
telecoms industry and this year’s event
was no exception.
1. POSITIVE HYPE DOESN’T ALWAYS LEAD TO
POSITIVE REACTIONS SO BE READY TO ENGAGE
Samsung planned on launching its
WITH NAYSAYERS AFTER LAUNCH
Galaxy S6, HTC’s Vive would show how
HTC’s entry into the Virtual Reality market was
truly immersive it is, while analysts were
one of the most anticipated and surprising
expecting big things from Facebook’s
products receiving over 3,000 mentions on
Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote. But,
Twitter a week before it was officially released.
which brands were most successful
The product was universally well received,
at communicating its messages?
winning TechRadar’s Best in Show award.
Not those you’d expect according
Conversely, Samsung’s S6 was glorified even
to our Brand Agility Index (BAI).
more than the Vive, receiving 18,000 mentions
on the eve of the event but still received
Waggener Edstrom (WE) analysed
mixed reviews.
the top brands and several upand-comers at #MWC2015 using
What could HTC and Samsung have done
our bespoke Brand Agility Index
differently?
measurement tool to find out.
HTC learnt from previous MWC mistakes by
WE’s BAI scores brands’ social
bringing something new to the table beyond
interactions on 10 metrics
the ‘standard’ handset announcement (HTC
including: speed, sentiment,
One M9). The brand played a smart game
business impact, standout and
across owned and earned media by putting
originality.
the tech into the hands of as many journalists
as possible. With so many people commenting
Overall, Twitter was key for
online about the products performance,
driving conversations with 90%
including numerous comparisons to the
of MWC2015 mentions coming
Oculus Rift, the brand didn’t need to have
from the micro-blogging site
alone.
an aggressive presence on social media as
lamented the lack of a water-resistance
journalists and consumers were doing it for
feature. As a result of poor sentiment,
them. Of course it wasn’t all about Virtual
Samsung’s overall Brand Agility score was
Reality, HTC did a fantastic job of promoting
just 38.
the positively received HTC One M9 with
#htconelife receiving 39 million impressions
2. CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLATFORM FOR YOUR
and #htconem9 receiving 43 million
CONTENT IS KEY
impressions – one of the most shared hashtags
Ikea, a non-telecoms player, could have
from the event. As a result HTC won our Brand
launched its phone-charging furniture at any
Agility Index for the second year in a row
trade show, but took a gamble and decided
scoring 46.
on MWC. With a weak battery life being a
massive bug-bear for many smartphone users,
Samsung on the other hand, suffered because
its charging devices sent Twitter users into a
of low sentiment. In the same way the City
frenzy. The campaign scored well for standout,
responds to quarterly profit statements
originality and sentiment finishing third with 41.
from corporates, so MWC responds to
Vodafone on the other hand had the perfect
new announcements from brands: for the
platform to engage its audience, but did little
corporates, the response is based not on an
to create any buzz around the event. Aside
actual number, but on the actual number’s
from mundane tweets, the brand did not tailor
relationship to the anticipated number; so
its content correctly and scored low points
for brands at MWC, the response isn’t based
in differentiation, standout, engagement
on the actual product spec, but on the
and sentiment. It could have done better
relationship between the actual and the
by actively responding to the themes of the
anticipated product spec.
show which would have increased its score for
speed and engagement. Vodafone finished in
Despite the levels of hype hitting fever pitch,
last place with 26 points.
the Galaxy S6 was seen more as a direct
response to Apple’s iPhone 6 rather than a
If you want to set social media alight, you
handset at the forefront of innovation; it didn’t
need to listen more of what your audience
add enough technological advances to
wants. With so much talk taking place in the
set the phone apart. In addition, Samsung’s
months leading up to MWC, brands should use
decision to lose the removable battery did
this data to finesse and adapt their activation
not sit well with consumers and journalists
plans.
What could these brands have done
Xiaomi’s minimalist approach with the launch
differently?
of its cheap Go Pro competitor helped
If you want to set social media alight, you
it achieve strong levels of sentiment and
need to listen more of what your audience
engagement. Combined with the speed in
wants. With so much talk taking place in the
which it engaged fans and followers, saw it
months leading up to MWC, brands should use
just miss out on third place.
this data to finesse and adapt their activation
plans. Facebook’s Internet.org initiative is
It will be interesting to see if the Chinese
important and the story needs to be told but,
brands can build on their success next year.
with MWC evolving into an event that is more
Lenovo, however, tried to do too much
about the greatest technologies vs. discussions
too quickly and the quality of its campaign
around social altruism, it was not the right
suffered. Even a large number of different
platform for Facebook’s chosen topic.
product launches couldn’t help ignite the
levels of dialogue seen with other brands’
3. SPEED AND QUALITY IS KEY
launches at MWC. A content partnership
Huawei (44) and Xiaomi (40) both scored
with Motorola also failed to generate any
better than expected thanks to their sharp,
excitement leaving the brand score low
slick and well executed campaigns. They
in differentiation, standout and sentiment.
both showed that a speedy digital presence
A YouTube video demonstrating one of its
doesn’t have to be rushed and that even the
products received a dismal few hundred
best laid plans can be executed well.
views as it was so poorly promoted and
consequently finished on 30 points.
Huawei’s first smartwatch was a surprise hit of
the show - its use of social to accompany the
What could these brands have done
launch combined paid, earned and owned
differently?
media successfully. Through the use of the
Being a well-known brand will always help
#inspiredexperiences hashtag and universal
gain instant recognition and engagement,
critical acclaim for its new wearable, it owned
but at MWC you need to go one step further.
much of the conversations taking place on
Brands need to put more effort into the ‘show’
Twitter. This helped the brand score top marks
and if they come to the table empty handed,
in engagement, standout, originality, creativity
they should expect to get a similar response.
and sentiment.
4. SMALLER BRANDS MUST BE PRO-ACTIVE
Smaller brands, such as FitBit and Data Fox, may have relatively low brand awareness, but
this didn’t stop them from scoring well for sentiment and reaction. It showed that a pro-active
presence can help smaller brands have a positive effect, scoring 31 and 25 respectively.
Datafox pushed out lots of creative content relating to MWC and its personalised content
made it stand-out amongst the small brands. FitBit received lots of media coverage following
the launch of its multi device support but lost points due to its lack of active presence on social
media.
What could these brands have done differently?
Not every brand has big budgets to make a massive impact, but our BAI has shown that you
can still succeed, you just need the right strategy. Datafox did well because it spent the time
personalising its content to the needs of its audience. As a result, they saw better take up and
engagement that many of the bigger players didn’t. In comparison, FitBit came to the event
with their brand awareness at an all-time high. However, despite such strong recognition, they
didn’t maintain the audiences’ engagement and over time, attendees simply forgot they were
there.