Exhibit: Motorola has a rich history in the mobile industry. How do you position Motorola’s products in the market, especially considering the competition from other tech giants?
Shivam Ranjan: Motorola is an iconic brand known for its meaningful consumer innovations. We aim to be among India’s top 3 smartphone brands, offering a diverse portfolio of premium and more accessible products. We aim to leverage the premiumisation trend in the Indian market to drive hypergrowth for our premium smartphone portfolio led by Edge and Razr franchises. We are not only leaders in form factors such as foldable but are also differentiating our premium portfolio through premium colours, materials, and design options that are emerging through our global partnership with Pantone – a global leader in colours and fashion trends. We will continue to democratize technology with a focus on meaningful innovation across price points. We lead not only in terms of the feature-to-price ratio, where we bring premium features at affordable prices but also in terms of time to market. 5G is a crucial segment for us as the penetration of 5G devices is growing rapidly in the Indian market. By having top-of-the-line 5G products across price points, we are ensuring that we are bringing the best of 5G in terms of connectivity as well as hardware and software features to deliver the most advanced 5G experience to more consumers in India than ever. We are committed to the “Make in India” initiative by manufacturing almost all our smartphones locally. Further, we are customizing our products to what the consumer in India wants, with unique local SKUs. This pulse check of the audience and catering to them has enabled us to capture the mind share of Indian consumers.
Exhibit: How does Motorola balance innovation with maintaining a consistent image and legacy in the eyes of consumers?
Shivam Ranjan: Motorola’s legacy is known for its meaningful innovation. With over 90 years of experience developing mobile communications products, we’ve become a trusted brand in the industry. We were the first to launch the clamshell-style foldable form factor with the Motorola Razr in 2019. We are the first to introduce new trends and technology to the market. Last year, we launched the Motorola Razr40 Ultra with a minimalist design, featuring the largest external display and being the thinnest when folded. We showcased the rollable and bendable concept phones at MWC 2023 and 2024, respectively, showing our commitment to disruptive innovation.
Exhibit: How does Motorola gather and leverage consumer insights to inform marketing strategies? Can you share an example of a successful campaign driven by consumer feedback?
Shivam Ranjan: We have a consumer health track that we conduct every year. At the same time, we engage in qualitative and quantitative research for campaigns as needed for meaningful insights to develop our communication plan for maximum resonance. These insights allow us to design specific products for Indian consumers. One such example is the Moto G54 – widely recognised as the best 5G phone in its segment, which comes with a different design and a longer battery life compared to the variant launched in different parts of the world.
Exhibit: With technology becoming an integral part of consumers’ lifestyles, how does Motorola ensure that its products are not just functional but also seamlessly integrated into users’ daily lives?
Shivam Ranjan: Our software experiences are an essential lever that enables meaningful experiences for consumers. With features such as ThinkShield for mobile, Moto Secure, Ready For, and Family spaces, we offer business-grade security, multi-device connectivity, and home experiences that enable experiences that create value for consumers and differentiation beyond hardware. These features seamlessly blend within the users’ daily lives with their ease of use and intuitive functionality, ensuring that consumers can enjoy a seamless integration into their lifestyle. Moreover, we prioritise interoperability and connectivity, enabling our products to seamlessly interact with other devices and services that consumers rely on daily. For example, our multi-device connectivity enables a seamless connection between the smartphone, TV, or PC.
Exhibit: Can you share a marketing campaign that successfully positioned Motorola products as lifestyle accessories rather than just tech gadgets?
Shivam Ranjan: We at Motorola understand that smartphones nowadays are not just about practicality but also a style statement. Recently, we have consciously curated campaigns and identified meaningful collaborations that align with our vision and resonate with the brand. We brought to life our vision of meaningful innovation beyond hardware by partnering with celebrated Indian designers Shantanu & Nikhil to launch the Motorola Peach Muse collection, which is inspired by Motorola Edge40 Neo in Pantone® Color of the Year 2024- Peach Fuzz. The exclusive collection acts as an innovative fusion between fashion and technology, capturing the essence of a smartphone’s design story. We also collaborated with India’s leading influencers to further promote the campaign, which garnered an impressive 2M likes and sparked 4.4K comments from engaged viewers. Recently, we onboarded Kriti Sanon as a brand ambassador and launched two TVC campaigns featuring her. Through these two TVC campaigns, we successfully captured the essence of style, versatility, speed, and seamless user experience for the Razr40 series.
Exhibit: With growing concerns about data privacy, how does Motorola address these issues in its marketing practices, ensuring consumers feel secure about using Motorola products?
Shivam Ranjan: We are able to do this through our software experiences. ThinkShield for mobile and Moto Secure are unique to Motorola. ThinkShield provides business-grade security to consumers across most of our smartphone range. Moto Secure is a one-stop shop for security needs. It has multiple features, some of which include: Security Checkup – Actively scans the firmware on your device looking for threats and vulnerabilities, and then provides recommendations to make sure you stay protected. Phishing detection – The Moto Secure app can identify and warn about potential threats associated with a suspicious link or website—even before you open the page. We regularly communicate about this innovative software feature to our consumers to increase awareness and ensure better experiences.