As Samsung's partner in their regional expansion plans, 34 developed Samsung Switch On. The campaign was created as a consumer-facing communication platform for Samsung to launch new apps into the pan-African market, by asking consumers to tell them what they wanted most to switch on in their lives.
Young African consumers are always online, switching on, keeping up-to-date and chasing the newest, coolest thing. We were tasked to get these young people to focus these attentions on downloading three free Samsung Mobile Apps and talking about them online with as many of their friends as possible. In short we wanted Kenyans to spread the word for us, but as yet they hardly knew we existed!
In order to capture the attention of these fickle and always-on consumers, the creative solution needed to be able to start a conversation and ensure Samsung had a dialogue directly with them. "The campaign idea needed to establish Samsung as the brand that could listen and give consumers a voice as well as access to the best lifestyle technology. We wanted them to know that when it comes to a choice between Samsung and competitors, Samsung is the only brand that really cares about what they want and then delivers it directly to their phones," says Louise Meek, Account Director at 34.
The Switch On campaign in Kenya consisted of three parts: digital conversation, a radio competition and on-the-ground activations which were executed in Nairobi.
To drive online share of voice, we started this two-way conversation online. We asked our target market what they wanted to switch on in their lives using the hashtag #samsungswitchon and drove this across Samsung Mobile Kenya Facebook page and the SamsungAFR Twitter handle.
The response was overwhelming as Kenyan consumers started commenting and uploading pictures of all the things in their lives they wanted to switch on. We expected people to share but never expected such a strong response - they shared their passions, their hopes and their dreams.
Samsung listened to their consumers and responded by launching three of their apps positioned directly to talk to these needs. And so, Kenya was introduced to The Kleek - the hottest continental and international tracks from Universal Music, eKitabu - the world of international and African eBooks and Smart Trainer - everything from training courses to exercise routines direct to their own handset and presented personal to them by the sport professionals themselves.
Radio was then chosen as a means to talk to a broader target market in Kenya and create awareness for `Switch On' and to get people to interact with Samsung. A two-week campaign on Kiss 100 FM, a popular Kenyan station, fuelled the energy behind the digital campaign with everyday winners selected from a shortlist of the best uploads from the day before from Facebook and Twitter.
The overall campaign results were phenomenal, with Facebook achieving a total reach of 593,037 and the page growing well beyond client expectations by over 18,000 new followers. Total engaged users during the campaign period rose to over 15,000 and on Twitter we saw similar success with well over 3,000,000 impressions and 250,000+ accounts reached.
"We have developed an Ecosystem of Content & Services, these campus activations enables us to introduce these applications to the end-users first-hand. We are very happy with the market activity that allowed us to connect and understand consumers in Kenya recently," says Thabiet Allie, Head of Content & Services for Africa at Samsung Electronics.
The campaign was rolled out in Kenya and following its huge success, is now set to launch in Ghana, Nigeria and Angola. Watch this space to see what Samsung switches on next!
