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ZTE (Zhong Xing) Corporation is one of the worldwide leader manufacturers of communications devices and network solutions from China. Created in the beginning of the 1980’s, ZTE is registered on the Hong Kong stock exchanges as well as on the Shenzhen stock exchanges. It is the biggest China based telecom equipment society registered and one of the 5 largest handset manufacturers in the world. The brand is recognized to propose fashion and smart devices adapted for consumer all over the world. It is renowned for its innovative mindset and its high-end products and business solution. It has operations in more than 150 countries around the world. The brand recently managed a strong Branding strategy development by closing a deal with the NBA’s team of Houston, the Rockets.

The Houston Rockets are looking to etablish themself on the Chinese Market

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. This team became special for every Chinese fan since 2002, when it decided to choose the Chinese icon Yao Ming as the first choice of the 2002 NBA draft (the draft is a system where the NBA’s team select the young players, newcomers in NBA, from US University or from overseas).

This choice had a great impact in Chinese basketball market but mainly made the Rockets the most popular team, even today in spite of the retirement of Yao, in all the NBA. Indeed, Yao Ming is one of the biggest star in China, even apart from sport, and he is the pride of many young Chinese fans. The Houston Rockets understood very well the opportunity of having this kind of phenomenon in their team. Even if the choice was relevant in the sport field, its marketing impact was without any doubt the main consideration and the team launched a lot of campaign in China to take advantage of this opportunity.

ZTE wants to extend beyond the Chinese market

ZTE announced the US availability for the Grand S and nubia 5 smartphones last week, ZTE hopes to use its two new phones to expand its profile in the U.S. smartphone market. Therefore, the brand choose the Houston Rockets to represents its products on the American market. However, this deal seems relevant to develop or maintain its image on the Chinese market as well.

According to a survey from Nielsen, Apple’s lead tightening as its market share dropped to more than 40% from less than 30% in 2013. At the same time, its competitor as Samsung, HTC, Motorola or LG increased their market share. However, for Chinese smartphone producers, the American market still seems hard to conquer, as Huawei has still less than 1% of market share for instance. Thus, for ZTE, the partnership with the Houston Rockets is a good opportunity to build itself abroad, and especially in the US.

Amy Wang

Sources:

About ZTE, http://wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbelzer/2013/10/08/houston-rockets-partnership-with-zte-leads-nbas-charge-into-china/