October 21 2026, 2:09 pm | BY Ricki Green | No Comments
What happens when a smartphone starts making a brain feel a little redundant? For OPPO New Zealand, it’s the starting point for its first-ever locally developed brand campaign created by independent agency YoungShand (YS).
The campaign, ‘Phone Smarter’ introduces an insecure and sarcastic talking brain.
Voiced by Kiwi comedian Cori Gonzalez-Macuer (What We Do in the Shadows) and directed by LA-based Andrew Laurich, the pulsing pink brain feels threatened by how smart OPPO phones have become – and makes its feelings known to New Zealanders using them.
The campaign establishes OPPO’s first local brand platform, built on the promise that whatever you spend on an OPPO phone, you should feel confident you’ve made the smart call.
OPPO New Zealand’s Senior Marketing Manager Eduardo Sampaio says the brief began with the brand’s place in the local market: “OPPO is a household name in China, but here in New Zealand we’re still earning that familiarity and trust. We know we make great phones, but a spec sheet alone won’t give people a reason to reconsider the brand they’ve always bought.
“Whether you’re buying an affordable everyday OPPO phone or one of our flagship models, you should feel you’re getting quality, value and smart technology that makes life easier.”
Having developed local campaigns for individual smartphone ranges, OPPO wanted to give the masterbrand a distinctive personality.
Says Sampaio: “Our brief to YS was to create a recurring character that audiences could recognise and build a relationship with over time. We asked for a person and YS came back with a brain.”
Julie Spedding, Creative Director at YS, says the character opened the door to something more memorable than a traditional product campaign: “OPPO phones are so smart that once you see what they can do, they’re a no-brainer. What would be threatened by that? A brain, obviously. We wanted a brand vehicle that felt memorable and fun, but also had somewhere to go, something we could build on and continue developing over time. The character of an insecure, slightly jealous and forever-defensive brain really appealed to us. It sounds random, but is actually pretty logical.
“That character led us straight to Cori, whose comedy has exactly the right mix of endearing awkwardness, darkness and stupidity.”
Across four films, the brain defends his quiz-night credentials, challenges OPPO’s durability and battery life, and attempts to outpace a fast-charging phone used by Wellington Phoenix player Pia Vlok – a nod to OPPO’s sponsorship of the club.
The brain itself was created as a physical prop, operated by two puppeteers.
Says Claire Joy, Associate Creative Director, YS: “When you can create almost anything with AI and CGI, there was something much more interesting about making the brain physical, imperfect and very human.
“It’s amazing the number of conversations we had about how pink is too pink, and how wet a brain should be before it’s gross. The answer? Any level of wet.”
The campaign launched on 14 October on YouTube, BVOD and social formats.
Client: OPPO NZ
Senior Marketing Manager: Eduardo Sampaio
Social Media & Digital Marketing Specialist: Cameron Barton
Agency: YS
Chief Creative Officer: Corey Chalmers
Creative Director: Julie Spedding
Associate Creative Director: Claire Joy
Chief Strategy Officer: Sue Kipling
Client Service Director: Sophie Radford
Account Director: Chin Taguines
Production Company: Flying Fish
Director: Andrew Laurich
Executive Producer: Sam Attenborough
Sound Engineer: Craig Matuschka, Liquid Studios
PR: Ground Control PR
