Taking a Bite Out of Apple

IFA is Europe’s largest electronics show. Every September, IFA launches the holiday buying season—the CE industry’s critical sales quarter. Most companies debut their biggest products at IFA, but each year have become accustomed to being “upstaged” by Apple, with its mystique and coolness factor, and splashy, much-hyped media event after the show’s close. In 2014, the buzz was about the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. As usual, the industry was resigned to watching Apple command center stage. Doing otherwise was generally seen as futile.

Yet to steal Apple’s thunder was the fantasy of every electronics company, certainly Samsung’s. And the media were growing weary of Apple’s expected narrative. This year’s situation seemed “ripe” for picking. A timely crisis in Belgium due to a Russian embargo of pears, Belgium’s largest export crop, gave us an audacious idea: Why not help Belgian pear farmers while also slyly inserting Samsung into the PR conversation on Apple’s big day? Could we distract the media? #aPearForAnApple was born.

The idea was mischievous: For every tweet on Apple’s big press day with the hashtag #aPearForAnApple, Samsung would buy a pear from Belgian farmers. We had 24 hours. Could we pull it off?

We could, and did.

• A frenzy erupted in 40 countries, producing 2 million Twitter impressions in 24 hours

• We hit 5.6 media impressions overnight, including online coverage on hln.be and 7sur7.be, and headline stories in Het Nieuwsblad and La DH, and on Radio 1 and DH Radio

All for a modest PR budget of €2.684.

We have strong relationships with the Belgian Tier 1 lifestyle and general interest online media. We leveraged those relationships to the hilt, making personal phone calls and sending emails just hours before the Apple keynote.

• Launched Twitter hashtag #APearforanApple as a 24-hour campaign during which every tweet on “Apple” resulted in a pear purchased by Samsung.

• Drove immediate word of mouth through aggressive outreach to the most popular online news media.

• Built a microsite overnight and directed traffic to it.

Following the social stunt, we gave away the pears—each with a Samsung sticker—at Brussel’s largest train station during commute hours.

Samsung’s stunt led news stories that day, spreading to 40+ countries and reaching 2 million Twitter impressions and 5.6 million media impressions overnight. More than 3,400 people tweeted. Belgian online sites hln.be and 7sur7.be, Het Nieuwsblad and La DH print outlets, and Radio1 and DH Radio all covered the event.

Samsung gave away thousands of pears to Belgium commuters, a reminder that galvanized local support for Belgian farmers, and helped drive 30% more domestic pear consumption in 2014.

And Apple didn’t own the day. Samsung was mentioned in a significant proportion of industry stories, as other electronics firms enviously watched Samsung’s daring move “bite” Apple. Showing how far €2.684 can go with PR savvy.