Pierre-Alain Houard hung up his job at Next Mobiles to join Honor three months ago as the Chinese manufacturer’s marketing director. A look back at his ambitions for the brand.
Pierre-Alain Houard, can you introduce yourself in a few words?
Pierre-Alain Houard : I have been working in telephony for a little over 10 years and about fifteen years in marketing. I started with small brands like Meizu, then I joined Xiaomi, being the first French employee. I stayed there for 5 years as marketing director. I have always kept an eye on Honor, which is in my eyes a very special brand, which has an ability to innovate that other brands do not have. It is therefore with great pleasure that I joined Honor’s workforce 3 months ago.
Where does Honor stand in a market dominated by Apple and Samsung?
P.A.H. : In the first quarter of 2024, according to figures from Canalys (a technology market analyst firm), we have an 8% market share in France. This is explained in particular by the fact that Honor, created in 2013 by Huawei, was sold following legal problems at its parent company. Honor has been 100% independent for 3 years, including 2 years where we have been working hard to increase our sales.
What are your ambitions for Honor?
P.A.H. : The challenge for the brand is to conquer the premium segment, with products worth more than 600 euros. We are moving forward step by step to take the time to do things well, with the objectives of reaching 100% brand awareness and increasing consideration. We want to reach levels comparable to those of Apple and Samsung, in terms of awareness, consideration, sales, while maintaining our own identity.
Within Xiaomi, you have sought to create a community, a real commitment from consumers. Are you on the same strategy for Honor?
P.A.H. : Not exactly, although the community remains important to us. We are putting the customer more at the center of the strategy by listening to our users’ feedback to improve our products. This is our priority. For example, in August 2023, we launched a program to reward app and game developers as well as designers of smartphone user interface themes.
In your latest campaign, you chose to collaborate with Harcourt studio. Why?
P.A.H. : We wanted to promote our latest Honor 200 Pro and differentiate ourselves from smartphone manufacturers who do technical collaborations, whether with Leica (camera brand) or with Zeiss (German company specializing in precision optics), through an artistic collaboration. For 2 years, 20 experts worked together to co-develop an artificial intelligence that allowed us to have this “Harcourt” rendering on portrait photos.
Why did you focus on the portrait?
P.A.H. : According to a study we conducted: portraiture is very important to the French. Our goal is to become masters of portraiture. Our initiative is daring because usually smartphone brands use real DSLR cameras to have a beautiful quality, while we used our smartphone. We want to reveal the beauty of the people who are photographed, as well as authenticity and transparency. Until today, Studio Harcourt has always made very classic portraits. We wanted to make the atmosphere more youthful in order to show the real emotions, because we are convinced that it is emotions that make beautiful.
It’s the photo at the service of the phone and not the phone at the service of the photo”
How does this collaboration work?
P.A.H. : We are proposing a 360° campaign, combining displays, videos integrating FOOH (Fake-Out-Of-Home), influence and press. Our latest video, released on June 27, takes place on Place de la Victoire in Paris. We created an Honor x Haucourt mobile studio. In the spot, the people – who had their photo taken in the studio – found their photo on a giant panel, displayed on the facade of a building. But this panel is just an illusion, it is a FOOH production. For the little extra, the photo we chose to put on display was taken the same day as the video was filmed.
You were at VivaTech this year, why?
P.A.H. : It’s a show that is becoming more and more international. A godsend for Honor, which wants to conquer more markets: primarily Europe, the most important continent for the brand after China, and more particularly France. Our CEO, Georges Zhao, gave a conference there to talk about artificial intelligence, particularly that present in the latest 200 Pro model, which optimizes the rendering of portraits. It’s a subject that is close to our hearts. We are actively working with the biggest players in the market on artificial intelligence.
What are the results of your latest marketing actions?
P.A.H. In the last quarter of 2023, we were at 62% brand awareness. Since June 2024, we have increased to 67%. We are confident that this figure will increase significantly after the Honor 200 Pro campaign, although it is still too early to know the impact. In terms of sales, we have reached our targets of 100%.
Source: www.e-marketing.fr
