Synopsis
If other airlines follow suit by banning Vivo shipments the incident may cause damage to brand imagery especially when the company is spending top dollars in India for branding in IPL, experts said.
The Hong Kong Airlines has embargoed all shipments of Vivo mobile phones after one consignment of the Vivo Y20 model caught fire at the Hong Kong airport on April 10.
“We regret to inform you that the latest update of embargo with immediate effect, all cargo (from any agent and destination) forbidden to accept the “CargoLink Logistics HK Co Ltd” and “Sky Pacific Logistics HK Co Ltd” and/or co-loader on carriage by RH/HX aircraft until further notice. Also embargo all type of “VIVO” mobile phone,” the Hong Kong Air Cargo Carrier said in an internal communication dated April 11, seen by ET.
If other airlines follow suit by banning Vivo shipments the incident may cause damage to brand imagery especially when the company is spending top dollars in India for branding in IPL, experts said.
“This is an unfortunate mishap at a time when Vivo is full blown with the IPL which is its title sponsor,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and principal analyst at research firm TechArc.
“Though in India, Vivo is manufacturing phones and procures components instead of CBUs, we need to see if those also are impacted by the said embargo. However, it could lower consumer confidence till the root cause is known. I expect Vivo to proactively educate stakeholders about the incidence about the cause and ensure its not something to do with product design, etc,” he said.
In 2017, Samsung had to recall its Note 7 and suffer loss of millions of dollars after several Note 7 handsets were reported to explode due to overheating of batteries.
Vivo did not respond to ET’s query till filing of this story.
