Samsung iTest
Samsung New Zealand
Issue 60 | September 2021
Agency
Tribal New Zealand & DDB Group New Zealand
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Damon Stapleton Executive Creative Director Gary Steele Executive Creative Director, Tribal Haydn Kerr Creative Directors Brett Colliver, Mike Felix
Production Team
Lead Front End Developer Danillo Castilho Head of Digital Delivery Johannes Gertz Senior Digital Producer Sheetal Pradhan Digital Producer Ipshita Ipshita Executive Producer Judy Thompson Editor Dan Cummings Senior Editor Mike Hammond Audio Engineer Milon Williams Content Creator Trent Hall Digital Developer Mike McMillan
Other Credits
Clients Head of Mobile Product Marketing, Samsung Minna Reinikala Marketing Manager, Samsung John Alexander Managing Director - Tribal James Blair Managing Director - Production Services Liz Knox Senior Business Director Georgia Kerr Senior Account Director, Mango Liz Holt Senior Account Executive, Mango Briar Barratt-Boyes Junior Social Manager Tahnee Hadfield
Date
April 2021
Background
Most iPhone users never considered switching to Samsung because they feared the Android system was just too different, too complicated and too unintuitive. These misconceptions were not easily dispelled and were found in online articles, consumer research and were even held by some of the agency team working on this brief.
Knowing that people could not be argued out of these beliefs, the challenge was to get them to discover the reality of a Samsung for themselves.
Idea
The idea was to transform iPhones into Samsungs through the Samsung iTest, a web app that enabled users to experience navigation, app interaction, texting and calling, theme customisation, and even Samsung’s camera features.
While users explored what it was like to use a Samsung, they were offered entertaining tips along the way via text messages with easter egg offers and prizes to be found.
Because Apple would never have allowed the app in the App Store, it was softlaunched in New Zealand with social ads aimed directly to iPhone users. Some advertising was run outside phone stores and even in-store, where iPhone users were tempted with deals to switch.
Results
The app got picked up by MacRumours and then by every major tech site around the world. There were two million users in the first weekend alone. Now over seven million iPhone users have test driven a Samsung.
The sales data is still being confirmed but early reports are pointing to an uplift in the sales of Samsung devices.
Our Thoughts
Why, when they know who their major competitor is, do most marketers back away from direct confrontation? That’s not how their customers behave. Comparison websites play to our interest in considering products and services side by side. This idea is both cheeky and smart. In taking over your iPhone, the implied message is that Samsung are technologically nimble, maybe even nimbler than Apple.