Lionel Messi to kick off Huawei brand campaign

Huawei on Friday announced appointment of soccer superstar Lionel Messi as global brand ambassador for its consumer business group that deals in mobile devices. "Lionel Messi will help our brand encourage people to focus, persevere... to connect with greatness, especially in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, where Huawei puts great devotion," Huawei Consumer BG President for Handset Business Kevin Ho said in a statement.

The partnership with Messi showcases the brand's alignment with people and brands that demonstrate, and strive towards its shared value of connecting greatness, it said. Messi is also global brand ambassador for Indian auto major Tata Motors.

"Just like our brand which strives for excellence and innovates to better itself to reach newer heights of greatness, Messi is the epitome of perseverance, excellence and commitment," Huawei India CBG President Allen Wang said. Huawei shipped 108 million smartphones in 2015 and became the third-largest player after Apple and Samsung. The company has set a target of growing its smartphone sales by 300 per cent this year.

It has been in the Indian market for the last 16 years and has associated itself with cricket as a sponsor of IPL team RCB. "Besides cricket, football is another game which has a lot of followers in India and we are excited to be associated with the world's top football athlete," Wang said.