Hisense taking it to the big boys in 2014 with 700 screens at the Melbourne Grand Prix

The problem for many brands in the marketplace – no matter what the product – is that the companies with the biggest marketing budgets often get the lions share of sales too, we consumers are pretty simple at the store front – if we don’t know the name we just don’t trust it.  Hisense is one brand that is challenging that in 2014 with some big branding opportunities.

Long time naming rights sponsor of the indoor arena in Melbourne used for a large amount of the Australian Open tennis matches, Hisense this year provided over 1000 television screens to the Australian open for use throughout the venues and corporate hospitality and to ensure they get the name out there even more-so, they’ve done the same deal with the Australian Grand Prix corporation which sees almost 800 TV’s and signs right across the Albert Park circuit.

Combine that with a strong on-air campaign during the grand prix weekend and the brand Hisense is starting to become more familiar to consumers, and at the same time give a real air of quality that you can’t get just from a name.

All this activity is leading up to the May launch of the new Vision TV series which was debuted at CES earlier this year.  An Android operating system for the TV means it’s not just smart, but it’s part of an open eco-system which should be beneficial for users, and also allows Hisense to do some great customisation work on the look and feel of the menu systems and the “smart TV” components of the TV.

Vision TV as Hisense are calling it marks a big change for the company, moving to the Android powered operating system with a real view to being a player in the lounge rooms of more and more Australians.

The activity at the Grand Prix circuit in terms of branding, the high quality TV commercial during the coverage and the aggressive approach they’ve taken to these corporate partnerships like the Australian Open and Australian Grand Prix along with keen interest from the retail sector means that Hisense is likely to be an option on the shopping list of TV buyers this year.

Andre Iannuzzi, Head of Marketing for Hisense here in Australia also confirmed to EFTM that some Hisense TV’s in 2014 would support the HbbTV standard which will power the soon to be released Freeview Plus interactive EPG and catch up portal across free-to-air TV.

2014 is another big year for TV.