Lionel Messi starred in global advertisements this summer [2014]for Samsung Electronics but in Indonesia the Barcelona footballer is the face of Advan, a local brand that has taken a third of the country’s handset market.
The marketing deal reflects the increasing clout of homegrown smartphone makers in Southeast Asia as they exploit local market expertise and connections. Cheap designs and the assembly processes of Chinese partners are helping them take large shares of their domestic markets from foreign rivals such as Samsung.
Individually, the southeast Asian companies’ sales pale beside those of the established market leaders or newly prominent Chinese brands such as Xiaomi. But as a group they have rapidly secured a solid foothold in smartphone markets that are among the world’s fastest-growing.