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The OnePlus 3T is a phone that has a number of aces up its sleeve, not least the fact that it inherits most of the
goodness of the awesome OnePlus3. Unfortunately, a terrific India launch event was not one of them.
There are events when you come away
thinking of nothing but the product that was unveiled. And well, the launch of the OnePlus 3T in India was certainly one such. When the dust had settled on all that had happened, we came away with the product firmly imprinted in our senses. Mission accomplished, most marketing pundits would say. Well, to an extent. Because the reason we came away with so much of the OnePlus 3T on our minds was that there was nothing else really too much of note.
OnePlus has always followed a rather unorthodox strategy as regards product launches in India.
Their first launch, that of the OnePlus One and their third, the OnePlus X, followed relatively conventional lines – inviting the media to a large conference room in a well-known hotel and then
sticking to the presentation-followed-by-Q-and-A routine. But those two apart, the brand has tried to go for a slightly less formal setting, opting for
cafes and well-known pubs for the launches of the OnePlus 2, OnePlus 3 and well, now the OnePlus 3T.
On paper, there is a lot to be said for the latter approach – it evidently lets a brand connect and identify itself to and with a younger crowd (which is its target audience) and is a lot less formal than the routine presser which can turn a little stuffy. There is better chance of intermingling in a cafe or a pub than in a five-star hotel.
In practice, however, things often do not work out that well. For one, most pubs and cafes in the capital are not tailored to host events. Most of us
ended up standing at the launch of the OnePlus 2 and could see nothing of the stage from ten rows back at the OnePlus 3. For another, these places can easily get claustrophobic and crowded,
leading to a fair bit of confusion. And these alas, were in ample evidence in the launch of the OnePlus 3T.
The venue was a place better known for eating and drinking rather than launches and once again, most media persons found themselves standing right through the presentation. The fact that most of them had to stand on the side of the stage rather than in front of it (the front had been taken over by an armada of cameras on tripods, ensuring no one behind them could see a thing) did not improve matters. And as the numbers of media persons gradually swelled, the brand’s slogan of “Never Settle” seemed to come into play in a totally different context – settling was well-nigh impossible in such constricted quarters.
