SHENZHEN - Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) increased its commitment to amplify its brand awareness across sponsorship in sport by hosting the Milan football team in their headquarters in Shenzhen. The visit was part of the tour of the International Champions Cup 2015.
During the 'Milan-Huawei Day', Adriano Galliani, Vice President and CEO of AC Milan, and Kevin Ho, President of Huawei Consumer Handset Product Line, shared their vision for the future of the partnership between Milan and Huawei. This was followed by a guided tour of the Huawei exhibition that gave the players the opportunity to experiment with leading Huawei technologies and products like the P8, Mate 7, Talkband B2.
Sponsorship in sport remains a fundamental marketing strategy for Huawei in their efforts to improve their brand exposure and their brand awareness all over the world. In the last four years Huawei has collaborated with many international football teams, some of them leaders in Europe and South America, and has recenly branched out beyond football to the Indian Cricket Premier League, the Bangalore Reale Challenger Club (RCB) and to the Canberra Raiders Australian Rugby League.
So far the strategy has been successful, with Huawei classed inside the Top 100 Best Global Brand in 2014 and more recently in the Top 100 Global Brands of BrandZ in 2015 where they finished in 16th place in the technology and science category.
Their sponsorship of foootball has been a key factor for the growth of sales at Huawei and the importing of their products. High level Huawei smartphones have seen a growth year after year in Italy and Spain from 293% to 448% with respect to the 1H of 2015.
In the last six months Huawei has registered some outstanding results with a total revenue of 9.09 billion USD thanks to an incredible 69% increase over the years. In terms of the handset business for Huawei, the revenue has reached 7.23 billion USD, with a massive increase of 87% over the years while global demand for smartphones has registerd a growth of 7% in the first quarter. The sales of smartphones have grown 39% over the years, having reached 48.2 million. Huawei has attributed this growth to their strategy with medium- to high-end handsets which has contributed to an increase in imports as well as the average price of sale.
Huawei first became a partner with Milan in 2011 when they became the official sponsor for the team during the Italian Super Cup 2011, played at the National Stadium in Beijing, also known as the 'Bird's Nest'. Huawei joined forces with Milan once again in 2013 when they became a premium sponsor and mobile partner for the football team. The deal was met with the launch of a limited edition P6 smartphone for the AC Milan players.