A hot SUMMER day? A fun day to PLAY! Here’s how this brand used this fine season to engage with consumers [Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
What’s your ideal fun summer day?
Going on a relaxing trip to the beach?
Joining a summer camp?
Staying at home and enjoying your air-conditioned room?
For this tech company, a fun summer day is about taking content, video, and music to a whole new level… ON THE ROAD!
Samsung is a South Korean electronics company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. Its most important sources of income are mobile phones and semiconductors.
To raise awareness about its new Samsung Galaxy Player in July 2012 and showcase the product’s features to consumers, the brand created…
The “Summer of Play” Campaign!
The campaign was a mobile marketing tour that brought summer fun and product demonstrations to different places in the US such as:
- New York City’s Flat Iron District
- Chicago’s North Avenue Beach
- Minneapolis’ Target Field
- Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Pier
- Boston’s City Hall Plaza
- Chicago’s Wrigley Field
Samsung’s “Summer of Play” tagline?
“Where we go, FUN follows.”
A “mobile” slogan for a mobile phone’s mobile marketing tour (yes, mobile is our “KOTD”―Keyword Of The Day)!
So… how did the campaign roll out?
With the help of PR agency ZENO Group, Samsung’s marketing vehicle was wrapped in a “Summer of Play” car sticker and equipped with a rooftop speaker.
ZENO’s staff also created a changing room inside the vehicle so brand ambassadors could easily change outfits.
This was where the exciting part came in.
Unsuspecting passersby were greeted with pop-up comedy routines and improvized skits that brought the Samsung Galaxy Player’s capabilities and features to life.
Imagine the “Angry Birds” mobile game in real life but instead of using a slingshot to tear down structured blocks, it was tweaked into an acrobatic dance competition…
… or a live-action race to showcase the thrill of playing the “Need for Speed” game on the newly-launched smartphone!
Aside from that, consumers were also given an opportunity to spin the brand’s giant wheel for a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Player.
This part of the campaign got the crowd squealing, eyes wide open on where the spinning wheel’s arrow will land.
Of course, who wouldn’t get hooked on that when a chance to win a new smartphone (for FREE) is at stake?
We bet you’d also enjoy the thrill and fix your eyes on that spinning wheel!
Consumers who were not located in the cities visited by Samsung also had a chance to win in the “Summer of Play” sweepstakes through the brand’s social media channels:
- Samsung “Summer of Play” Facebook App. Consumers who liked the Samsung USA Facebook page received a notification asking them to share their ideas about an ideal summer day of play.
Each day for 14 days, one lucky participant was chosen to win a Galaxy Player and on the last day, a grand winner was given the chance to have his or her dream summer day brought to life!
Samsung “Summer of Play” Twitter Sweepstakes. Twitter users were invited to visit SamsungSummerofPlay.com to tweet about their ideal summer day. Similar to the Facebook app, 14 lucky users were selected to win a Galaxy Player.
- Samsung Tumblr. Tumblr users who uploaded photos or videos of their own summer fun were given an opportunity to see their posts on Samsung’s official Tumblr page and showcase how they are celebrating summer across the US.
The mobile marketing tour concluded with an appearance at the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” TV show, where Samsung’s campaign team impersonated Jimmy Kimmel while doing a Galaxy Player product demonstration.
Was Samsung’s “Summer of Play” Campaign Effective?
According to Travis Merrill, Samsung Electronics America’s Director of Product Marketing for Galaxy Devices:
“Samsung’s ‘Summer of Play’ lets us bring the core of our new Galaxy Player―play―on the road, giving our fans the opportunity to disconnect from the hectic days of summer and just have fun with the Player’s amazing features.”
Here are the results of the campaign:
- After 14 days of Samsung’s “Summer of Play” campaign, the brand gained more than 500,000 brand impressions
- Samsung was able to engage with over 50,000 people both online and offline
- The mobile marketing tour activated more than 25,000 product demonstrations
- About 2 million people watched the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” episode where the “Summer of Play” campaign was featured
- After the campaign, Samsung’s Galaxy lines became the flagship product for the brand
By creating the “Summer of Play” campaign, Samsung drove home the message that whether it’s music, video, or gaming, the new Galaxy Player is designed to enhance the “fun for any experience.”
One good way to prove that?
A mobile marketing tour!
This is one example of a Guerrilla Marketing tactic you can also do for your brand―bringing your product’s features and benefits to life.
By doing so, just like the campaign’s Angry Birds acrobatic dance competition and Need for Speed live-action race, you’ll be able to interact with your target market in a fun manner.
Besides, what better way to leave a positive impression on consumers’ minds than to give them an experience they won’t easily forget?
Be unconventional with your marketing efforts every once in a while!
You won’t even realize… while you’re engaging with your target market, they’ll also be helping you spread word about your brand.
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers, and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing is inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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