Five years ago, Apple and Samsung cornered much of the premium market, and Chinese phones ruled the affordable range. But things started changing with the entry of OnePlus. The brand built its consumer base purely through digital sales, and today that consumer base is a burgeoning community. Now, OnePlus’s focus has changed from community building to community engagement. This is where activities like the OnePlus Music Festival come in.
Vikas Agarwal, GM OnePlus India states that members of the community are music lovers, and tend to be fans and consumers of international music. The objective of something like the OnePlus Music Festival is to give back to the community. He further elaborates that a concert like this was missing in the lives of the community members, and so they decided to get artists like Katy Perry and Dua Lipa for the gig. The location of the concert – DY Patil Stadium, New Mumbai, was chosen to serve the OnePlus community members from Mumbai and Pune which put together form the largest community bucket for the brand in India.
According to Tilen Pigac, head of events and community at One Plus, and co-curator of the OnePlus Music Festival, there are some things a brand does, not for sales, but purely for engagement. “Music is a unifying force. We didn’t restrict non-OnePlus users from coming to the concert. In fact, it allowed them to get a feel of the brand. Experiences like these go a long way in building a brand, and its community”, he adds.
OnePlus is further involved with other community outreach initiatives. These include the college ambassador programme under which, it chooses student ambassadors who are responsible for engaging their campus through activities and initiatives like tech or photography workshops, competitions, etc.
Thus, it can be concluded that OnePlus has pioneered a new technique of community engagement which will give them an upper hand over their competitors.
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