Our challenge was to drive the business growth for S21, Samsung's latest flagship Galaxy Series smartphone, under the circumstances that S20 did not meet up to the market expectations due to its expensive pricing and subpar camera performance, which caused the global sales plummet by a drastic 33% compared to its predecessor. At the same time, our biggest competitor iPhone brought a massive success gaining market share with iPhone 12, the first model supporting 5G connectivity. Facing strong threat in market plus the haunted reviews for S20, we need to find a new communication approach different from the past to surprise and inspire young consumers in Taiwan with epic camera performance, in the midst of a pandemic.

Under “new normal,” people are looking to escape the home, but avoid the crowds. So they no longer just go out aimlessly but have everything planned in advance; meaning time spent on browsing or searching where to go on social media has increased to avoid disappointments and unnecessary trips.

Noticed consumers’ transition in behaviour, we want to go beyond simply reach but start to be seen as “with consumers” to build business growth opportunity, inspiring consumers to ‘make every day epic’ by helping them find the best places to escape and feel free, while capturing the moment best with the Galaxy S21.

Targeting at “social expressers” who are keen to explore the trending locations to be, we implanted our product in social contents at those hottest check-in locations leveraging real-time data. Thus when they browse for inspirations or wanting to know where the trending locations to be, we want to be seen by them in the most native way ever. Not just by working with the right influencers on social media, we also want to curate brand new contents from influencers’ posts and turning their materials into addictive short-form videos that capture people’s attention. Considering people now avoid crowded areas, all contents become part of the decorations of the 1st ever Samsung Virtual Flagship store in Taiwan, creating a phygital space by bringing offline exploration with online content experience.

We used realtime analytics of Instagram check-in data to identify current trending photo spots, and then activated a full-funnel campaign to inspire those every day epic moments:

• We recruited top influencers, sent them to the epic locations identified, and gave them a toolkit to show off the camera features in photo & video posts.

• Contents from influencers were used, curated and edited it into fit-for-platform brand assets in short video and social to amplify the value. This was released alongside ‘walkthroughs’ of the camera features and tech to create a suite of highly relevant content.

• With last-mile store visits impacted by COVID, we built a virtual Samsung store to land directly from our video & social assets, where consumers could ‘walk freely’ to browse and purchase their Galaxy S21.

• S21 achieved 9% growth in sales in Taiwan market.

• Branded videos made from influencers’ contents received 3.3X CTR and 2.6X VTR compared to the materials from HQ.

• Virtual store had only 35% bounce rate (industry benchmark around 80-90%), 4X duration than campaign site run in same period.

• 200% ROAS achieved, products sold via virtual store through immersive design and influencer testimonials outperform any other existing Samsung eStore.