Astro, Zimbabwe’s new smartphone brand released a brand video which is the clearest indication yet of where their brand is going, or at least where they claim they want to take it. The video done for them by a local media company is right up there amongst the top video productions by local companies. It’s the kind only large companies like Econet have managed to achieve so far.
The Astro Story from C MEDIA on Vimeo.
The script in the Astro video intelligently narrates the story of Astro founder Munyaradzi Gwatidzo and outlines the company’s vision of establishing a manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe and taking the brand across Africa right through to Nigeria. We are not still certain what Astro means by saying they design the devices locally, but what is certain is that Astro devices are assembled in China, and like other low cost devices originating from there, they have a striking resemblance to designs by globally popular brands like Samsung.
Last week we attended Astro’s well organised launch event and with this new video telling us more about the Astro brand, it seems like these guys know what they are doing and take their brand seriously.
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16 comments
i love it, so inspiring, sando kune mafesi aya
like idea but to mention investing in an assembly plant just for cellphones riduculus.labour rate in zim to high plus market volume to small. Don;t you think South Africa would have had a plant by now
Not to burst your bubble buddy but who the heck made you an economic analyst? Only time will tell if they prevail or not. What is ridiculous is your comment. Assembly can be SKD or CKD. Differentiate fact from hype, the word plant can be misleading.
in Zimbabwe the term Manufacturing or assembling means importing goods from South africa or china,then assemble the goods from the airpot & zimra into one bag or vehicle .
Nice definition, I think it applies to most African countries.
Very true Muti! In Zimbabwe an assembly plant does not necessarily imply setting up a place where inception of the gadgets is done rather its more of “joining” parts of the whole. It makes business sense as it reduces the cost of the final component since it will be assembled using local labor which is cheaper… compared of course to wages/salaries paid in advanced economies like South Korea or the U.S. Infact another local company LPS a subsidiary of Unlimited Africa Holdings is negotiating such a deal with Samsung to assemble a “joining” plant for electronic gadgets in Zimbabwe.
i like your optimism clint, but this is africa (more so, zimbabwe). ‘manufacturing’ (or whatever they mean by plant) here doesn’t make sense.
1. We dont have a ‘market’, by this I mean a market that can sustain your business. how often do Zimbos (Africans) purchase NEW phones? Its going to be ‘difficult’ to export the phones from zim, because they will have to compete with the chinese.
2. Politics (sanctions/laws etc wont say much here)
3. Electricity and other infrastructure (again, i will leave you to fill in the gaps here).
These are some of the Major stumbling blocks these guys will have to deal with.
Maybe they have an ace up their sleeve and will succeed, I dont know.
The one thing i like about this is that they will be a guinea pig and will open up a lot of doors along the way.
Yes time will tell, but I think in this case we already know what we will be told.
I can give you one unofficial hint that is coming from my “crystal ball”! These guys are under contract from the largest buyer in Zimbabwe!!!! Thats all I can say…. figure out who…
Great advert, ugly phones.
Worse still is the fact that they LIE about the specs that are on the phone. I’m saddened to know that Nigel Chanakira is associated with this!!!
How much did Nigel drop into Astro, haya
Great Story. There is hope for a big African market. Many African countries experiencing rapid growth and this is empowering the growing middle class. Manufacturing in Zim a great idea, they could also try Ethiopia. Ethiopia has one of the cheapest electricity tariff structures. More and more big firms are looking to manufacture their products in Ethiopia.
wow, showers of praises for Astro, I am so impressed by this local brand, I also attended the launch event it was fabulous. I forsee big things coming!!!!! I wasn’t taking these guys serious but now I am convinced zvazvinhu
wow nice logo, who did that one?
This advert is 2:49 min long and they only slot in the products they are intending to sell for app. 30 seconds combined. Whats the point??? Poor advertising imo.
It’s not an advert per-say , it’s a short story of the company… The product clips were taken from the proper adverts.
Short story.. dzaangano here nhai mukoma? Anyway the short story in short is advertising their company and products which makes it an advert.