Lenovo launches ‘technology firsts’ with new tablet and notebook range

At a launch event in London last night (9 October) Lenovo introduced what it claims are ‘technology firsts’ with new notebook and tablet products in its Yoga range.

The brand unveiled designs for the Yoga Tablet 2 including a 13inch ‘home entertainment’ product with a built in projector, and the second generation of the existing tablets, which now run on both Windows and Android.

The tablet’s kick stand, which allows users to stand the product upright, hold and tilt, will now include a ‘hang function’ as it features a hole in the back panel.

The Chinese computing company also revealed the Yoga 3 Pro notebook, which can be bent 360 degrees to be used as both a laptop and tablet, and claims it is the thinnest and lightest convertible in the market at 12.8mm thick.

The campaign for the Yoga Tablet 2 range will include TV spots featuring US actor Ashton Kutcher, who was hired by the company last year as a product engineer and led the unveiling via live stream at the event.

Speaking to Marketing Week, Mike Etherington, UK marketing director and EMEA digital marketing director at Lenovo says: “One of the things I love is that we are a PC, tablet, server and storage company and most companies [in the sector] don’t market themselves as any fun.

“The Ashton ads are a little bit naughty, funny and different,” he adds.

The campaign will also see experiential activity at Waterloo Station’s 120 square metre digital billboard where consumers can take and submit ‘selfies’ via a dedicated website to have their faces superimposed on the people doing yoga poses in the ads.

The brand is also targeting consumers via social and with video and display ads using real-time bidding platforms.

Etherington says: “We have become a bit more mature in our segmentation and the point of online is that we have specific targeting. Marketing is no longer fluffy, you can’t blast it out and hope people get your message.

“You can target people and behaviourally follow people to be selective about who is seeing your ads and engaging with your marketing.”

The brand has retained the worldwide number one spot in the PC market over the last year and is third biggest tablet maker globally.

Lenovo, which acquired Motorola Mobile from Google earlier this year in a deal that is due to close by the end of 2014, also announced a mission to sell 100 million smartphones and tablets by the end of 2014.

It currently sells more smartphones and tablets than its PCs and laptops worldwide.