Some irony in Huawei ad campaign, says marketing professor

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

An advertising blitz by China's Huawei to win over the hearts and minds of Kiwi consumers over a 5G ban is well-crafted but unlikely to achieve its objective, an Auckland academic says.

Huawei warned in a series of advertisements placed on the Stuff and New Zealand Herald websites this week that 5G without Huawei would be like 'rugby without New Zealand'.

The campaign came in the wake of a decision by the Government Communications Security Bureau in December to block a proposal from Spark to use 5G equipment from the Chinese firm because of a 'significant network security risk' that the spy agency has not disclosed fully in public or directly to Huawei.

Auckland senior marketing lecturer Michael Lee says the creative elements of Huawei's campaign are 'pretty good' and will get attention but speculates it may come to nought.

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Huawei's hope of quickly overturning the ban through the available official channel appears limited.

Spark has indicated it will take time before deciding whether to try to address the GCSB's concerns and submit an amended proposal, after which GCSB Minister Andrew Little might then have the final say.

Michael Lee, an associate professor at Auckland University's business school, said he could not see Huawei's attempt to appeal directly to Kiwi consumers in the hope of influencing the process being successful.

'People can barely be bothered to vote these days. I don't think they are going to be championing market access for a foreign company.

'The only way the advert would work is if so many New Zealanders got outraged that competitive forces in the telco market were being limited or hobbled by the GCSB that they protested, or something. I just can't see any of that happening.'

Huawei might just be feeling the need to share its side of the story, he said.

The advertisements said Huawei put cyber security and privacy protection at the 'very top' of its agenda and had never had a significant security breach.

If Huawei was excluded from developing New Zealand's 5G infrastructure, consumers would likely end up paying more and that would have an impact on the overall economy, they said.

'The creative elements of the campaign are pretty good. They would get attention. But in terms of a 'call to action' – I don't think that will happen,' Lee said.

'The first thing we teach our students is 'what is your target audience?' and in this case the message is going to a particular target audience but the action they are trying to enact is at a government level and I just can't see that ad bridging the two parties together in any way that would be beneficial for Huawei.'

It was 'a bit ironic' to see any Chinese firm lobbying consumers and appealing to the democratic process, he said.

'Because they wouldn't be able to get away with it if they were advertising to their own populace trying to get them to change their government's policy on anything.'

Huawei NZ said in a statement released by public relations company Pead PR that 'globally Huawei is proudly demonstrating we are the leaders in 5G and that countries like New Zealand risk missing out on having the best possible networks'.

'We see this as a quirky way of getting that message across. New Zealanders wouldn't accept second or third best on the rugby field, and they shouldn't have to put up with it when it comes to 5G,' the statement said.

'There has been no evidence produced that Huawei has done anything wrong and we believe New Zealanders could miss out on a real 5G experience if Huawei is not involved.'

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