HOW SAMSUNG HARNESSED SUMMER’S GREATEST GRAND SLAM TO PUT THE NEW GALAXY S21 SERIES AT THE HEART OF THE ACTION
Powered by Nine’s group creative solutions manager, Gareth Beale, demonstrates how the power of marketing in and around big sporting events enables brands to ride the wave of cultural relevancy across all media channels.
For Australians, sport is engaging because at its core it taps into the emotions of a nation, unites us, inspires us and keeps us coming back for more, time and time again. For marketers, it’s also a powerful content vehicle that can take a brand across every media channel. Which is exactly what Samsung, in partnership with CHE Proximity and Nine, did to launch its new smartphone, harnessing the 2021 Australian Open.
Samsung was looking for ways to launch its new product, the Galaxy 21 Series to market that would firmly embed it into Australian culture, while creatively showcasing how the Galaxy S21 sets the bar in smartphone photographic capability.
The camera’s superiority provided Nine’s marketing solutions division, Powered by Nine, with the creative territory to thread the campaign across not just summer’s biggest sporting event the Australian Open, but also across Nine’s broader content ecosystem. Our mission was to encourage consumers to capture the epic in every day using the Galaxy S21.
Owning the coverage from
Core to the campaign was Nine’s TV coverage, providing a canvas for Samsung to creatively showcase its new product features in-program, using features like the Samsung epic replays, to not only bring the viewer closer to the action, but also aligning the Samsung brand and the Galaxy S21 with epic moments in play.
Extra features on the phone, such as superior clarity and the ability to capture stills from video footage, were further emphasised with brand association on Nine’s Wide World of Sports Fly Cam, which captured footage of the AO precinct, city skyline and outer courts.
The high-value video capabilities of the Galaxy S21 were demonstrated by Powered Studios shooting two commercials using the smartphone camera, sending it into the skies of Melbourne via a drone. The commercials emphasised the incredible production values of the Galaxy S21camera, capturing city sights, Melbourne’s famous alleyways, and cultural scenes that gave Samsung a local feel to their commercial content outside of their global creative.
Leveraging an Aussie
Authenticity was key to the campaign’s success. To reinforce the in-program exposure, former tennis player and Nine sport commentator Sam Groth was entrusted as a GalaxyS21 ambassador to capture on-ground content for his personal social channels. The association extended across Nine’s talk-radio network, with daily live updates with Sam on 2GB and 3AW Breakfast shows, presented by Samsung Galaxy S21.
Image-led storytelling, crafted by experts,
The storytelling power of print was used for an unmissable media first, with high-impact, double-page spreads in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age featuring images shot by photographers using the Galaxy S21. The images showcased Melbourne at its best, capturing city scapes, laneways and the energy of the Australian Open. A visual celebration of a city reawakening off the back of the COVID lockdowns.
The image-led approach to content extended across Nine’s publishing network into Good Food, with editorial hitting the streets of Melbourne armed with the Galaxy S21 to create digital and social content centred on Melbourne’s food culture.
The print experience was wrapped up in an informative five-page, reverse-back booklet in Sunday Life magazine, educating readers on how to capture their own memories using their Samsung S21.
If the goal of cross-channel marketing strategy is to tell customers a similar brand story across multiple channels, but play to the nuances of each platform, the Samsung Galaxy S21 campaign demonstrates the ability for sporting events like the Australian Open to deliver on this premise in spades.
It’s even better when you can do it with a single media partner who can help deliver a campaign at scale across multiple mediums, within brands that are woven into the fabric of Australian culture.
Owning the coverage from every angle delivered exceptional results for Samsung S21.
+6%
pts consideration
+15%
pts those who agree that ‘Samsung Galaxy smart phones have the best quality camera’
