TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Over the last few days, #BoycottChineseProducts has been among the top trends on social media, following the stand-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Ladakh. If visuals of people smashing their Chinese-made smartphones and television (TV) sets are any indicator, the anti-China sentiment has only hardened, prompting smartphone brands to sit up and take note.
Smartphone makers, such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme, and OnePlus, are planning to scale down their forthcoming launches, sources told, even as the anti-China sentiment rages on. Eighteen phone launches lined up for release over the next two months could suffer low marketing intensity, impacting sales, informed sources.
Typically, companies have a 360-degree marketing plan for most key launches, with emphasis on TV in general and social media in particular. While campaigns for Vivo, OnePlus, and Xiaomi are currently on air, the category as a whole was expected to spend around Rs 1,000 crore on marketing and promotional activities over the next six months, even as India unlocks gradually, said media industry experts.
