Lava hires MS Dhoni as Brand Ambassador

NEW DELHI: Indian mobile handset maker Lava national has hired Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MS Dhoni), as its new brand ambassador.

The partnership comes at a time when Lava is at the cusp of its next level of growth with its increasing market share in the Indian mobile handset industry. A recent report by Counterpoint Research based on the Q4 2015 (Oct-Dec) performance of the handset manufacturers’ report mentions Lava International Limited as the fastest growing Indian smartphone brand globally in 2015.

Dhoni will be the new face of Lava’s multi-channel marketing campaign as well as brand engagement activities.  Through this association, Lava aims to strengthen its brand identity as the most trusted and reliable mobile handset brand in the Indian mobile handset industry. This association will further build upon the recent industry recognition Lava has received in respect to its product quality & after sales service.

Solomon Wheeler, Vice President & Head - Marketing & Communication, Lava International Limited said, “ M. S. Dhoni epitomizes reliability and Lava Values both as a person and a sportsman. Hence, there was a natural connect between both the great brands which resulted in this association. Bringing him on board, strengthens our resolve to offer trusted and reliable products & services to all our consumers at all times.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said, “In a highly competitive mobile handset market, Lava stems out as a brand that differentiates itself through a compelling story, a commitment to stay relevant and high quality products and services. I am very happy to associate with Lava and look forward to working with them closely.”

Founded in 2009, Lava International Limited has become one of the fastest growing mobile handset companies in India. It achieved revenues of USD 1.2 billion in FY 2014-15, registering more than 100% growth over FY 2013-14.

Aligning itself with Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, Lava has already set up its first manufacturing plant in Noida and plans to invest INR 2615 crore in a phased manner to scale it up to have an annual production capacity of 216 million phones.

Recently, Lava was declared as the most trusted smartphone brand in product quality and after sales service amongst all Indian mobile handset brands by Silicon India. The brand also bagged the “Best Customer experience team of the year award” in consumer goods category in 9th Loyalty and Customer Experience Awards conducted by Kamikaze B2B media.

Lava with its robust network of 1115+ distributors and over 1 lakh retailers has also a strong foot hold in the offline channel - as it is the only company to have a single layer distribution model wherein all distributors are directly managed and controlled by Lava. This is unlike most of the other mobile handset players who have a multi-layer super distribution model which leads to lesser control and poses higher risk.

The company also has overseas operations in Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico, Middle East and Russia and is the number 1 smartphone brand in Thailand. Lava is the only company in the emerging ecosystem outside of China to have an end to end control on product design, development, testing and manufacturing.