BRAND:
Samsung Neo QLED 8K
AWARD CATEGORY:
The Best Event with Social Media Strategy
CAMPAIGN TIME RANGE:
01/08/2022 - 31/08/2022
CREDITS:
CASE STUDY VIDEO
STRATEGY
During the COVID-19 pandemic, home was becoming an unexpected multi-functional place. Home is originally a warm nest for most of us, now turned into either our daily office or entertainment spot. This phenomenal trend raised TV usage dramatically in frequency. One of the substantial raising demand is home gaming in which the key growth marked in console games (scalability expanded from 17% to 21% after 1 year) Hence, looking consciously, we saw that increasing demand was our must-win source of growth although the console market has been aggressively competitive for a decade. LG & Sony were considered 2 big names in this industry with a range of well-known devices such as Sony Playstation, they also served the communication so well. Despite being reluctant in terms of marketing activities in this segment, Samsung, leading in the technology world with superior gaming functionalities, has conviction to stand out successfully from now on. So, to capture this trend and be the TOM in the gaming console market, we understood that there was no other short-cut than to build a cohesive communication strategy. We defined 2 key tasks towards each phase we need to work out precisely. From the get-go, our plan is to enter the gaming community with a bang, in which best product features would be elaborated in relevant content and activities. According to this solid foundation, Samsung would build annual festivals with numerous interactive activities to sustain relevancy and mark the initiative position. In the long-term, we are greatly ambitious to become the winning in Gaming TV association. From there, to kick-off the first bang, we aimed to go with a gaming tournament serving 3 goals: 1. Penetrate into console gaming community and expand Samsung TV visibility 2. Ignite excitement and consideration for trials by featuring the best TV for gaming 3. Boost overall sales by expanding market share in console games as new demand.
INSIGHT
We took a deep look into game console communities where be dominated by men and end up finding out some interesting insights: It is true that men are a technology-oriented association. They strongly desire to experience the cutting-edge technology in this world at any cost (A research shows that if money were no object, 42% surveyed AskMen users stated they’d throw down for a high-end television). This emphasizes men’s need in the top TV innovations to satisfy their top hobbies in which is playing console games. Furthermore, men use this gaming space as a new way of connecting with each other. Some even stated that the social connection is more important to them than playing the game. They value the talk and sense of camaraderie that comes with being with those of your own gender. This is also one form of self-affirmation to get more attention. According to Appota research, 80% game communities said that they are more likely to watch games during covid-19 and 2.2 hours per day is their time to watch gaming livestream on average. As a result, gaming tournaments became prominent in the men's cave. Mapping those findings together, we are determined to host A TOURNAMENT for game lovers as an initiator in this console market. Our tournament did not only intrigued game console communities by the best technology functionalities, but also empowered them to be the KING of this tough arena.
CREATIVE IDEA
We design this tournament concept with three key tools: product features, brand imagery, and consumer insights. This idea came up with the “8KING TOURNAMENT” as explained below: + 8K - is the key product feature which must be highlighted as the key hook for the best gaming TV + KING - is the affirmation of a leading position in the technology world over a decade from the first formation day + 8KING - is the attractive factor with the exclusive appearances of 8 most prominent players in the Vietnamese FIFA community To capture the trend in home gaming preference, our most-wanted tournament would offer the most professional, eye-catching, and dramatic battles ever to FIFA's beloved fans. We choose the live stream format in each match to create two-way interaction, increasing the connection between the audience and players. All of the livestream would be broadcasted and amplified on the official channels. Hence, we selected key channels that tapped directly into the prominent behaviors of gamers and where they regularly interact with each other. Those are the biggest social gaming communities of FIFA online and livestream events to kick off tremendous attention and raise possible engagement. As the most engaging livestream event conducted by technology leading - Samsung, we must bring out the event concept “8 KING” to the world in the most attractive way. Our key weapon is an exclusive stage that elaborate sophisticated techniques and appealing design in relevancy. The context draws out the living room where it is associated with TV usage. The equipment setting was inspired by a house of casters-commentators. Nevertheless, our livestream experience was not limited at the level of online satisfaction. We are eager to bring it out of the box by offering all fans involvement in reality. It is the desirable opportunity for amateur players to attend the final battle as a teammate with Pro gamers. A small contest was conducted to pick up 4 best players and the last 2 ones would have a golden chance to join the tournament. All those things devised a most desirable experience to every game lover.
CONNECTION PLAN
For the big boom on social media, tournement's center hook was a livestream event. The event was organized through 5 live broadcasts including 4 play offs between 8 Pro gamers and 1 final round with the participation of 2 fans. To hit the most outstanding topic to be followed at that time, the big heat of 8 KING was entirely leveraged for 2 weeks before the first livestream. In parallel, a series of content was released to update introductions and results towards each match on the top gaming communities. The livestream event is promoted on the main platforms as Communities, Pro Gamer's fanpage, PR to have effective coverage among target audiences. In which, the top key communities account for 60% with the role of igniting and inspiring game lovers, while the supporting communities and PR accounts for 40% to amplify the livestream momentum greatly. From there, our livestream events do not have a massive effect but attract hardly focused gaming groups that target the right people in relating content and conversations. Gamer lovers can be triggered in exclusive chambers where they regularly interact and update on all things associated with game & football in general. We shortlisted relevant communities that spoke to gamer’s passion points and maximize activitiy’s share of voice there. There was three level of communities for comprehensive communication: + 1st tier – hosting communities: Biggest groups in the PES/E-Football community played the first touchpoints for releasing official announcements and calling all fans to join this party. + 2nd tier – specific amplifying communities: Console games groups spread out widely tournament introduction to excite and recruit accurate fans to participate in. + 3rd tier – general amplifying communities: Football lover clubs built mass awareness about tournaments and triggered those fans to share and join. The campaign was running across 4 phases to boost up the livestream event: announcement, recruitment, booming and wrap-up
OBJECTIVE-BASE KPI
And it works by all means. The 8KING Tournament went booming on social media. Game lovers were extremely captivated by a professional playground hosted by “a big man” in the tech industry and an appealing chance to accompany one of 8 glorious players as teammates on the journey to conquer FIFA. 1/ Brand Health Check Number 1 in gaming TV MPSA (most preferred single answer): - General population: Samsung successfully owned half of all points. - Premium segment: Samsung is higher than 2.5 times compared with Sony and LG on average. 2/ Quality Buzz Generated - In general: 17.2000.000 reach / 3.800.000 livestream views (7.600 peak CCV) / 1.400.000 engagement / 65 PR outcomes - In Gaming + Football communities focus: reach up to 3.200.000 followers/ 17.000 engagement/ 327 outcomes3/ Sales result uplift: +400% increasing sales vs benchmark in the same period last year