As the No.2 mobile brand following Nokia in Africa, Samsung Mobile needed to establish an African market-tailored communication platform in order to enhance brand preference and ultimately achieve No. 1 brand positioning.

Soccer is more than just a sport in Africa. This campaign was aimed to create emotional bonding with African consumers by strengthening the Samsung Mobile brand association with soccer. Samsung Mobile partnered with local prominent NGOs and held soccer tournaments in order to provide quality training and opportunities of meeting with local soccer heroes to African youths. The campaign was supported by Samsung Mobile’s product, J700 mobile phones sales. A total of 362 press clips have been generated and over 20,000 children were given a lifetime opportunity to be trained and to participate in the quality soccer programs, soccer clinics and NGO tournaments. As a result, sales of the phone were increased dramatically.

The campaign started with a press conference, targeting local media, to announce the official launch of the Samsung NextHero Campaign in August 2008.Following this, two series of advertorials, aimed to publicizeSamsung's CSR campaign initiative had been placed simultaneously in four African countries.PR momentum of the campaign included 1) NGO activities, 2) The Fund announcement and 3) the rewards, including a consumer/dealer hospitality trip to the UK. Through the collaboration with each media partner in four countries, Samsung Mobile had generated quality stories concerning the campaign with local media.To facilitate the campaign, Samsung Mobile partnered with NGOs, Brand Ambassadors, and Media in each of the 4 countries to best promote the campaign. This organic collaboration between concerning parties and Samsung Mobile helped the campaign’s success.Consumers and dealers who contributed and facilitated the campaign by purchasing and selling the product were heroes who supported the youth back home. They were treated with the hospitality trip to the UK to watch the real heroes play on the green field, an English Premier League match.

A total of 362 press clips were generated and over 20,000 children were given a lifetime opportunity to be trained and to participate in quality soccer programs, soccer clinics and NGO tournaments.The Samsung NextHero Campaign raised a total of USD $673,300 for NGOs by accumulating a portion of the sales of the Product, the J700 mobile phone, at the end of the campaign. This fund was donated to each NGO for the children.To enhance Brand Preference, the campaign aimed to reach the general public through major media and prominent NGOs to strengthen the association between Samsung Mobile and Soccer. As a result, Samsung J700 mobile phone sales were dramatically increased 3 times as many as before the campaign started in South Africa. After the campaign, In January, 2009, the Product (J700) was named as one of the “Ten Million seller phones” in the mobile industry.