Mumbai: iQOO has launched ‘The Quest Film’ directed by Shoojit Sircar featuring Bhuvan Bam which was premiered at the PVR Directors Cut, Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. Conceptualised by Ogilvy India, "Keep Questing" aims to inspire the youth to explore their passions, and follow their dreams and aspirations. The film further delved into the quest of the youngest boy of the family who aims to make it big in his life despite multiple hurdles.

Futhermore the brand has also unveiled The Quest Report 2024’ which encapsulates insights from 6,700 respondents, aged between 20-24 years, 7 countries- India, United States of America, United Kingdom, Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. The report covers three broad areas: Gen Z Questers’ spirit & motivation to fulfil their dreams, obstacles & barriers that disrupt their quest for passion, and career choices that drive their interests.

Executed by iQOO with CyberMedia Research (CMR), the report decodes Questers’ drive, passion and ambition through a quantitative metric- Quest Index, or “QI”. The results showcase India’ s QI as 9.1 followed by Malaysia with 8.7 QI, Thailand & USA with 8.2 QI, Indonesia with 8.1 QI, United Kingdom with 8 QI, and Brazil with 7.8 QI.

Indiantelevision.com at the sidelines of this event, caught up with iQOO India CEO Nipun Marya, where he shared some vital details into the process of making this film, some additional insights on the report and much more.

Edited excerpts

What inspired you to create The Quest Film and collaborate with Shoojit Sircar?

We prepared this film on the back of the findings which we got from the Quest report. In which we talked and surveyed 6,700 people across seven countries in the age group of 20-24. When we asked them, we found some very interesting findings. First is new age careers. They are really shaping up and becoming the number one choice for the youth of today. Second that we saw was that at one level, new age careers are becoming prevalent amongst the youth, but they still find very high societal pressure. So when we saw that, we thought why don't we combine the two and make a film. We discussed with our creative agency Ogilvy and we were able to create a film which also depicts at one level what is the interest amongst the youth and at the same time how do they feel challenged when they express their choices.

What are the key trends about Gen Z did the report uncover?

Lot of trends actually! Firstly how audacious your dreams are. We found out that Indian youth are among the highest in the world in dreaming big. What is more heartening is even though dreaming big is one thing, the Indian youth are also hustling twice the global youth. Which means they are taking double the amount of steps to reach their goal. It also means whether they are taking courses or internships etc, whatever they are doing, they are trying to somehow learn more. Then gender also came out where we found out that women expressed the cause of the gender difference. Twice the number of women feel more challenged than men. Lastly societal pressure is still quite high and as a society if we can do something around it, I think it would be better.

How does the research in the global report inform iQOO's strategy and product development?

When we discussed about this report, it gives us more insights into when we are communicating with Gen Z, like how we should do it and what are the aspects which we should touch upon when we communicate with them. At the product development level, it also shows us what are the key areas we should focus on when we have to think about our products like how new age careers are becoming important and critical and how can we enable better usage through our phone. Esports is one example, content creation is another example.

How do you plan to leverage the findings of this report in its future marketing and product strategies?

Firstly, this campaign is not necessarily for product marketing. We don't intend to sell more products through this report. It is more about sharing our brand's perspective.

Any specific outcome you hope to achieve with The Quest Film and the report?

We believe its a long journey. But its a first step towards taking this journey. We are just hoping we put our best foot forward and let's see how the results come.