Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

Objective & Challenge
Samsung Malaysia Electronics aims to uphold the leadership in the Smartphone Category as the market emerges and recovers from the peak of the pandemic. Samsung needed to launch big in Jan 2021, to potentially arrest the sales decline and further increase the gap between the brand & other aggressive Competitors. Driving business volumes and brand metrics is imperative for Samsung to enable sell-through for the upcoming S21 Series. Objective 1: Increase Samsung’s Brand Health Metrics for the Flagship portfolio and future-proof the Brand Perception among Gen MZ Objective 2: Drive Consideration & Intent for S21 Series, positioning Samsung for growth through Innovative Products and a strong relevant Brand Story Objective 3: Deliver maximum Awareness at Scale, and drive Innovation-First Digital Activation that elicits Consumers’ Attention Alongside the changing market landscape, the consumer behavior has also continued to evolve with audiences demanding ads to show relevancy (50%), authenticity (80%), innovation (60%), and a strong connection to their passion points (70%). *Based on GWI Mar 2021

Insight & Strategy
S21’s core target audience, Social Expressers, sees the Smartphone as a vital tool to stay connected and share moments of life with loved ones, with skewed interests towards Photography, Messaging, and Communications. Highly digital-savvy, this segment is also selective of their content consumption, valuing key opinion leaders, relevant brand endorsers, & consumer reviews. To standout and effectively connect with Social Expressers, it’s essential to drive awareness not only in milestone Campaign Moments (Pre-order & Consumer Launch), but also in key Cultural Moments that are meaningful to them, driving relevancy and positive brand perception. While personalization is a key lever for Social Expressers, local Samsung subs are usually directed to leverage on HQ-produced video assets for amplification. With any given directives, it will be up to the local teams including Samsung, their agencies, and Google partners, to identify opportunities for innovation, given the cards that they are dealt with. With C-brands and Apple launches well underway, Samsung needed to standout and set an aggressive tone for 2021.

Execution
Breaking Boundaries of Brand x Creator Collaboration Samsung went beyond the Video Amplification Brilliant Basics and worked with Google to exclusively launch the First-In-SEA media innovation, BTS Channel Sponsorship. With the opportunity of BTS releasing their comeback music video ‘Butter’ within the same period as the S21 launch, Samsung leveraged on a BTS Channel Roadblock and Line-Up that allowed them to establish presence on a relevant trend and provide a meaningful content for audiences anticipating the comeback of the group. This is coupled with Samsung’s S21 x BTS collaboration videos that highlight the product’s key features, innovation, and design. As audiences anticipated the MV launch and consumed videos related to the highly-engaged fandom, Samsung leveraged on these key consumer moments and introduced S21 showing BTS as key endorsers demonstrating the product life benefits and compelling USPs across the partner roadblock video formats. Samsung wanted to engage with Social Expressers through a Product Benefit Storytelling via video formats that heighten S21’s product desirability. With BTS as a key endorser for Samsung, consumer reports historically show a strong indication for the association and partnership with BTS to push for high product awareness. The Creator Partnership allowed Samsung to effectively engage with audiences during a key Cultural Moment. Undeniable traction & engagement can be seen on YouTube as Samsung’s Global endorser, BTS, exclusively released their most awaited MVs. Samsung seized the opportunity to leverage on the hype of their global endorsers, and amplified S21 Series. Above high-impact amplification for Galaxy S21 through YT Masthead, Trueview Ads, and Bumper Ads, the BTS Channel Sponsorship was an avenue for Samsung to connect with Social Expressers in a relevant moment to attain brand affinity, relevance, and even trustworthiness. A Second Drop for the Record-breaking Streak Fans continued to rave about the next BTS MV Drop, ‘Permission to Dance’. Samsung continued to ride the momentum through brand integration via a Sponsored Roadblock at 100% SOV. The strong strategic bet paid off as ‘Permission to Dance’ have set records on YT for video views and even retained the Billboard Hot 100 chart, associating the #1 Tech brand with the #1 Global artist. Samsung x BTS Videos on YouTube • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonhMm8Qo-g&list=PLnTShG87SzXOk8ucSawrgSjXEdYUe5JGD&index=18 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1U7ORqiYcQ&list=PLnTShG87SzXOk8ucSawrgSjXEdYUe5JGD&index=18 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS_VEKxHlNs&list=PLnTShG87SzXOk8ucSawrgSjXEdYUe5JGD&index=19 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIa47fjdtuY&list=PLnTShG87SzXOk8ucSawrgSjXEdYUe5JGD&index=21 • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YlrdsyaKgsDR2e-iCzxrj2G6R-IgeRME/view?usp=sharing

Effectiveness
The Samsung Galaxy S21’s partnership with BTS through YouTube, is a testament to how brands can create meaningful moments with Global YouTube Creators, and drive impact to both advertisers and consumers. Objective 1: Brand Health Metrics Impact – Insights from Consumers (IFC), a study conducted regionally by Samsung, shows that the partnership with BTS lent a strong push for S21 awareness, driving strong buzz in social media and WOM. In a broader perspective for Malaysia, brand health index for Total Samsung Smartphone & brand index across Gen MZ increased vs. previous reading. Objective 2: Purchase Intent Impact – Increased Purchase Intent from consumers vs. previous Flagship launch based on Insights from Consumers (IFC). Contributed to +10% Market Share based on GFK Mobile Volume trends. The BTS x Samsung YT Sponsorship case study has also been highlighted globally within Marketing teams as a form of Media Innovation driving both Brand Perception & Product Awareness/Intent. Objective 3: Media Amplification Impact • Record-high for Samsung campaigns on Brand Lift: 16.5% lift in ad recall amongst users who had been exposed to your ad creative during this period of LineUp & sponsorship • Reached over 5 million BTS fans in Malaysia across Roadblock and Youtube Lineups over 28 days. • Took over all BTS fans on their channel over 28 days, reaching over 2.7 million unique users with an average frequency of 7 (strong impact!). • BTS Butter Samsung Partnership was incredibly successful, and saw 262% more impressions delivered! at 27 million impressions • Permission to Dance x Samsung Roadblock took over all BTS fans over 14 days, reaching over 1.8 million unique users with an average frequency of 7. • Achieving 3% more impressions with a total of 12 million impressions delivered.