Oppo/Vivo sibling OnePlus Uses Downey Jr To Woo India & China

OnePlus latest commercials helmed by Robert Downey Jr will be released in India and China, the challenger brand’s biggest markets. Celebrity endorsements for smartphone brands have been a risky business in recent years, with brand ambassadors caught using handsets other than the ones they are supposed to be promoting.

This has also been experienced by OnePlus which had previously used veteran Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan extensively in its advertising in India; only to have him tweet for help with his Samsung Galaxy S9 issues.

Speaking about Robert Downey Jr’s endorsement, OnePlus founder and CEO Pete Lau said, “We at OnePlus believe in having a laser focus in everything we do and in doing whatever it takes to create an exceptional experience for our community. Working with Robert Downey Jr, we see that these ideologies are reflected in him as well, in his creativity and dedication. This synergy has us convinced that nobody could represent what we stand for better and we are delighted to welcome Robert Downey Jr into the OnePlus family.”

According to ASN data, handset brands have invested almost US$54.4m across (non-sport) celebrity endorsements in Asia since Q316, with major Chinese brands Oppo (29%) and Vivo (21.5%) – both within the BBK family with OnePlus – accounting for slightly over 50% of this total spend. However, we have seen Oppo retreat from a string of high-profile deals late last year, including Ranveer Singh (US$462k) and Angelababy (US$525k)…Vivo had also done something similar during that period, ditching the likes of Eddie Peng (US$500k) and Chen He (US$331k).

RDJ endorsed Taiwanese competitor HTC in US$12m Deal in 2013

The deal shows that OnePlus is likely to have milked better value for its sponsorship if it had taken the risk of moving beyond the world of celebrity endorsements, investing its entire budget of almost US$1.42m in that platform across Asia. Online tech news platform Verge has already panned OnePlus for getting its priorities wrong, paying for a costly ad with the Iron Man star, instead of waterproof certification.