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It's a very clever way of generating some free publicity and using social media in a viral fashion to spread the message of free smartphones while spreading the Huawei brand in the minds of consumers and social networkers as much as a free treasure hunt giveaway possibly can.
The giveaway ends on Friday, August 5, with 'at least one phone being given away in Sydney and Melbourne every working day' until then.
That phone is the Huawei Ideos X1, with clues being posted at Huawei's Facebook page, with a phone up for grabs in Darling Harbour as this story was posted and the promise of interesting videos to watch.
Huawei also says there's a 'daily prize draw on the Facebook page, ensuring that everyone in Australia will have the chance to win' while ensuring as much Australia-wide marketing goodwill as possible.
We also learn that Huawei's 'Found Phones' competition has 'already attracted 500 fans since kicking-off on Monday 11th July and 35 lucky people have won a Huawei IDEOS X1 mobile phone', so there's clearly a real chance to win or find a phone on offer.
As they say, however, you've got to be in it to win it, so if you're in the right parts of Sydney or Melbourne and are up for a treasure hunt, firing up your inner Indiana Jones might turn out to be a really good Ideos, while armchair mouse-clicking treasure hunters can still get their entries in online, too.
It's a clever piece of marketing that is helping Huawei transition to a much more mainstream brand name, with a big range of in varied form factors, including smartphones, 3G Wi-Fi hotspots, wireless broadband routers and even an upcoming and impressive 7-inch Android Honeycomb 3.2 tablet, all of which I saw at a recent Huawei media event introducing the entire new range.
No doubt we'll be seeing more activity from Huawei, especially now that we're in the second half of the year and racing towards the all important end-of-year and holiday shopping season.
Huawei's clearly serious about taking market share from its competitors, all of whom will be feeling the added competition and pressure.
In today's economically challenged and taxing times, it should see Christmas 2012 becoming more competitive than ever as each phone maker, telco and the retail channel strives to earn the custom of as many people as possible - especially once Apple releases the iPhone 5.
Until then, however, and despite Apple's impending shiny newness, Android's enjoying an undeniable popularity all its own, and through a wide diversity of handsets has established itself as a serious contender alongside Apple.
So, nice to see Huawei pushing the marketing envelope and giving people a real opportunity to participate in a hunt that has some real e-treasure to be found.
Just for fun, I hope some other companies are inspired to do something similar and have treasure hunts of their own.
Anyway'¦ there you have it. Seek and you might just find!
