Interview: Bai Yuli, vice president of Lenovo

On the evening of July 27, 2013, at the 2013 VGL Blizzard Games held in Shanghai, Lenovo and Blizzard Entertainment announced that they have formed product licensing and market strategic partnerships in China. Lenovo, as the world's No. 1 PC maker, cooperates with Blizzard, the world's top game maker, based on what strategies and considerations? What kind of different experience will be brought to consumers after cooperation? Mr. Bai Luli, senior vice president of Lenovo Group and general manager of China Consumer Business Group, and two senior partners of the cooperation company received media interviews with Matthew Blizzard Entertainment’s global business development and authorized Matthew, responding to questions from reporters.

Mr. Bai Yuli, vice president of Lenovo Group, said that the cooperation products involved include the top desktop X series in the Erazer product line launched last year, as well as the Y series and Z series of notebook products, as well as some optional accessories and peripherals. The products are mainly U disk and mouse pad. The first collaborative themed commemorative product will adopt a way for players to participate in joint development, allowing players to participate in product design and development. In the later period, we will also consider the need for special individuality to meet the personalized needs of top Chinese players in the storefront and in the back of the production line.

Regarding the specific form of Lenovo's Blizzard theme customization machine, Bai Yuli stated that this customization is an innovation of Lenovo. Lenovo did a full integration of the back-end R&D team and the front promotion team, including the marketing team. The game player can customize the content, including the application of Blizzard's image on the product, but also include suggestions for the provision of key hardware. Lenovo will make the final preference based on the quantity and rationality that everyone suggests. This is a player's all-round participation, of course, does not rule out some of the players with ideas, put forward some special, innovative ideas, will also discuss with the R & D department, consider its feasibility.

Lenovo's IdeadPad Y series notebooks are Lenovo’s notebook product line that has dominated the game crowd in recent years. This time we noticed at the press conference that the Y410 has been called the “Legendist Y410”. For the division of Y-series product lines and the planning of Erazer's product line, Mr. Bai Yuli said that Lenovo's consideration of the layout of product lines focused on games is gradually formed. In the past, Lenovo had a sub-product line focused on high-performance gaming customers in notebooks and desktops, such as the One-Stop Terminator B series, the traditional desktop kingboard series, and the notebook Y series. This year, Lenovo launched the Erazer series to strengthen the game-oriented market, and the product line is gradually being groomed and structured. The Y series in the notebook will come up with a product to Erazer's product line. This is a gradual transfer process, and it is also the process by which the opponent’s own brand power is established.

Lenovo's cooperation with Blizzard is a powerful move in the game PC market. We have seen many PC manufacturers pay great attention to the game PC market in the past two years. How does Lenovo see the game PC market?

Bai Yuli shared a set of data for us: In China, according to third-party authority statistics, the number of online game customers can reach 320 million, which is a very large customer group. When Lenovo did some research on the direction of computer use, 40% of its customers clearly stated that they had the need to use the game when purchasing PC products. These data clearly demonstrate that the game is a mainstream PC application. The market situation of the traditional PC market has declined since last year. In the background of the decline of traditional PCs, the product line of game positioning has been very strong and has shown rapid growth.

In China, Lenovo has focused and continued to develop its position in the game market for many years. Lenovo has held the IEST E-Sports Contest for three consecutive years and also invited iG Champions to communicate directly with Chinese players. Lenovo's various products are also clearly positioned in the game market. Erazer products have been sold in Europe for many years and are popular with European game players. It is more in place in designing and pursuing extreme performance, and there is an exclusive German team dedicated to the development, definition, and other related work of game products. So last year, Lenovo considered buying and introducing the Erazer product line. It also hopes that this product line can integrate the game concepts that Lenovo has scattered in desktops and notebooks.

Mr. Bai Yuli also revealed the current growth of the Erazer product line: Lenovo's Erazer product line has rapidly grown nearly 10 times in a year, and the channel system has also been built very quickly. Now there are about 2,000 stores. The dedicated distribution channels will soon be constructed and improved. All this gave Lenovo strong confidence. It is estimated that Erazer's product line alone can exceed one million sales this year, and this growth is very gratifying.

The cooperation between Lenovo and Blizzard is not only at the simple product level. Mr. Bai Yuli said that with the development of the Internet and the popularization of intelligent terminal devices, social communication is very common and future promotion must also emphasize direct communication with a wide range of customer groups. Lenovo and Blizzard's major market cooperation has several aspects: First, with Blizzard, Lenovo's elite exchange in the University to promote the implementation of Blizzard's campus line. At the same time, in the second half of the year, he will organize an online StarCraft 2 game with Blizzard. In addition, Blizzard’s experience zone is set up at Lenovo's 1,000 stores. There is also the theme model design competition “Gather Together with the Peak”. The winner of the event and Lenovo jointly participated in the Blizzcon event held in the United States in November. A series of marketing promotions will start gradually this year.

Mr. Bai Yuli also stated that the future development of the game is not a single act of individual actions. In the case of network construction and the popularization of mobile devices, the exchange of people will become more and more common. Lenovo's association association community is hoping to get closer to the customer through this platform and understand their needs directly. At the same time, it also sets up a stage for players to fully communicate.

Reporter's point of view: In the past two years, the PC market has been in a poor situation. Global shipments have been declining for two consecutive years. However, as one of the market segments, game PC has a surprising growth share and development potential. In the second quarter of this year, Lenovo has reached the throne of the global PC market, and seized the growth point of the traditional PC of the game PC market. Although we have seen many PC makers are making efforts in the game PC market, Lenovo's strategy and considerations in this market are more comprehensive and long-term. The introduction of the Erazer product line last year has greatly enhanced Lenovo's brand integration influence on the game product line, and this association's cooperation with Blizzard has made Lenovo more deeply involved in the game crowd. In the gaming PC market, Lenovo is destined to go further.