Title	HONOR YOUR SENSES
Brand	HONOR
Product/Service	HONOR 7 LAUNCH
Category	A09. Launch or re-launch
Entrant Company	LEWIS PR London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Ranj George	Lewis Pr	Head Of Consumer Uk
Miranda Liujia	Honor	Senior Pr Manager
Man Ying Chan	Honor	Marketing Manager
Sally O’neill	Lewis Pr	Vp International
Ruvina Uppal	Lewis Pr	Associate Director (uk)
Katharine Murray	Honor/Huawei Uk	Senior Gtm Manager
Xi Zhao	Honor	Marketing Director
Yasmine Boucetta	Lewis Pr	International Associate Director
Gabriele Sciuto	Lewis Pr	Account Manager
Sophie Lennon	Lewis Pr	Director
Kornelia Gruszka	Lewis Pr	International Account Manager
Sebastian Vonderau	Lewis Pr	Senior Account Manager (germany)
Tom Shearer	Lewis Pr	Account Manager (uk)
Madeleine Richards	Lewis Pr	Account Coordinator (uk)
Janneke De Vries	Lewis Pr	Account Manager (netherlands)
Elisa Rattotti	Lewis Pr	Senior Account Executive (italy)
Amalia García Igea	Everythink Pr (spain)
Marie-laurence Auge	Ppr (france)
Umang Dokey	Lewis Pr	Senior Creative Designer

The Campaign

Honor launched one of its flagship products, the honor 7, across Europe at a bespoke event in London on August 27. As well as launching a premium smartphone for digital natives, Honor used the opportunity to announce its new online store, vMall, and surprised the audience with a wearable band device. The objectives were to secure high media attendance (150+ journalists/bloggers) and ensure coverage conversion from attendees across EMEA. The launch was designed to be as creative as the honor 7 itself, with hands-on interactive zones themed around the ‘seven senses’ which allowed attendees to try out the phone for themselves. The event was held in trendy Brick Lane, home to the target audience of digital natives, plus hipsters, tech startups and fashionistas. Despite the event being organised in only one month before the challenging launch date - during the quieter summer period and before the IFA consumer electronics tradeshow - the launch was executed successfully. 190 journalists and bloggers attended the launch, and 774 pieces of coverage were generated in the fortnight following the event – including 189 on the day of launch. The total coverage for the honor 7 (review and launch), vMall and the wearable device had a combined audience reach of 2,110,521,887. The honor 7 sold out within one day of the launch event.

The Brief

The goals of the launch included: • Building brand profile in Europe while strengthening relationships with media and fans • Positioning the honor 7 as the phone of choice for digital natives • Launching a new flagship product and driving sales • Launching an ecommerce site, and driving traffic to it • Securing high quantity and quality of coverage across Europe Event media management and on-site support was also provided to ensure smooth running of the event.

Execution

The event was executed within just one month. Before the August 27 launch, buzz was created with media invites and pitches, plus the confirmation of musicians Nellie Bell and Foxes. Interview content, messaging and Q&A were drafted, plus a journalist’s handbook was created. A briefing book was provided for all spokespeople, and an event bible laid out every detail of the day. The country team leads provided support throughout the launch, and accompanied media on their travel to London. Bespoke creative spaces based around the ‘seven senses’ were created to allow the audience to engage with the product on an experiential level, in addition to the traditional media briefing.

The August 27 launch event trended in the UK, with over 3,000 tweets being sent in just a few hours. In the fortnight following, 774 pieces of coverage appeared throughout Europe. 51% of the coverage was in consumer tech titles, with the next biggest sectors being mobility (15%) and lifestyle (12%). The coverage was overwhelmingly positive - 77% of coverage had a positive tone of voice, 23% neutral, and 0 negative pieces of coverage. The total impressions for the honor 7 (including launch and product reviews), vMall and wearable announcement was 2,110,521,887. Within one day of the launch, the honor 7 sold out.

The Strategy

The creative plan was built around the design of the smartphone. The creativity of the product was mirrored in the bespoke launch event, in London’s Brick Lane, one of the capital’s most fashionable streets, home to digital natives, tech startups, and hipsters. These always-connected digital natives demand a lot from their smartphones, and the honor 7 had to prove it can compete with the best of them. The event’s target audience was journalists and bloggers writing for tech, mobility, lifestyle and business titles. 190 from around Europe attended the launch event, and 1-to-1 briefings were held with over 40 journalists representing titles including The Register, The Times, CNBC and Reuters, plus European titles such as Wired.it, Radio Number One, Tom‘s Hardware, Android Planet and more. The target audience participates in the ‘Experience Economy,’ valuing experiences over products, and reaping digital benefits in the forms of likes and influence. With this in mind, attendees were invited to experience the phone hands-on in a creative way in bespoke spaces around the launch venue.