After years of growth, it’s become increasingly difficult for premium devices to breakthrough. Over 95% of US adults already own a smartphone1 and the category is down from a 45% boom in 2013 to a 5% contraction in 20183.

Against this backdrop, we had to launch the Galaxy Note9, the latest iteration of Samsung’s business and productivity handset. The device would retail at a premium price-point of $1000.

The Note9 was similar in appearance to its predecessors on the outside. However, the handset had improved processing power, speed and battery life, but these features were hidden on the inside, and none of them were top three reasons to buy a new phone2, so growth prospects looked limited.

We needed to find a new use case or role for the Note9 that would unlock incremental growth.

1. Mobile Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center, February 2018

2. Bigger storage, larger screen and better camera are the most common reasons for smartphone upgrade. Source: Mintel US Mobile Phones Report June 2017

3. IDC, Bloomberg Intelligence Data

We needed to uncover a user group who would care about a phone that looked the same but performed better. Our research uncovered that gamers were the audience with the most potential.

Firstly, they were one of the largest consumer affinity groups. At 50 million people, gamers are a scalable, mainstream audience comparable to sports fans (61 million)4.

Secondly, gamers were playing a new generation of games on both consoles and smartphones. This meant that gamers might be interested in the beneath-the-hood performance that the Note9 provided.

We ran our own survey of the gaming community and learned that 65% of mobile gamers claimed that gaming performance would influence their smartphone choice; and that battery life and processing power were two of the features they cared about most5.

Samsung Galaxy Note is a great device for business and productivity, however our breakthrough moment was to position the Galaxy Note9 as the device for mobile gamers.

4. Simmons: Total US Population, Interest in Gaming and Sports, June 2018

5. Qualtrics Survey: The Gaming Mindset and Makeup Report, June 2018

In order to position the Note9 as the ultimate mobile gaming device, Samsung partnered with Fortnite, the world’s biggest cross-platform game where players spend big bucks on characters called ‘skins.’

To capture gamers’ attention we made a whole new character in Fortnite: Galaxy Skin. The skin incorporated the brand’s colors and name and the only way to unlock it was to purchase a Note9.

To build hype, we gave the skin to the world's biggest gamer. Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins debuted the skin to 20 million viewers on YouTube and live on Twitch for 13 million subscribers. Then we continued with other famous gaming influencers including Ali-A, Markiplier, and soccer superstar Harry Kane.

Lastly, we turned all that excitement into retail traffic by letting gamers demo in our stores. Players rushed into retailers to test out the Note9 and play the hyped skin.

Samsung went from a brand gamers rarely thought of to one whose products they sought after. Against the challenges of a saturated category, a premium price point, and few cosmetic differences in the product, we attracted a whole new cohort of Samsung users.

Awareness:

? 202MM earned impressions in influencer channels and 208MM impressions in news and media channels.6

? 20x increase in online mentions of Samsung and 8x increase in mentions of Note9.7

Consideration:

? 97% increase in search traffic for Note9.8

? 96% of the Note9 page traffic arriving from Ninja’s posts had never been to Samsung.com.9

? 23% of all traffic to the flagship phone section on Samsung.com came from Samsung Fortnite pages.9

? +31 points higher perception of Samsung as the best mobile device for gaming versus key competitor.11

Sales:

? 243% increase in pre-orders among 18-24 year olds.

? Pre-orders among 18-24 year olds increased by 243%, indicating a shift from business users to gamers.10

? 6% increase in Note9 upgraders and switchers versus Note8 during first 4 weeks of launch.10

6. Combined Facebook, Twitch, YouTube and Twitter Analytics, 20th August 2018 – 22nd September 2018

7. Crimson Hexagon, Keyword and Sentiment Tracking, 20th August 2018 – 22nd September 2018

8. Google Search Trends, Note9 Searches, August 20th – August 25th 2018

9. Samsung.com Site Traffic Analytics, 20th August 2018 – 22nd September 2018

10. US Smart Switch App Report, September 2018 vs September 2017

11. Samsung Audience Survey US Aug 18’

Fortnite is a multiplayer game where 100 players are dumped on a virtual island to battle. The goal is simple: to be the last person standing. Along the way, you gather weapons and building materials for forts, ramps, and other structures that can help evade fellow players.

Played by over 200 million people worldwide, Fortnite is currently the biggest gaming sensation in the world. In 2018, the game’s top player, Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins, became the first ever e-sports athlete to be featured on the cover of ESPN magazine. The game has also found its way into popular culture with countless TV shows referencing and parodying the game such as SNL, The Tonight Show and Ellen.