Samsung Smart TV - Advertising Campaign Plan

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TITLE: Samsung Smart TV - Advertising Campaign Plan

DATE: 2013 Q2

FOR: The University of Texas at Austin - ADV 378-20: Account Planning

CHALLENGE / OBJECTIVE: As an assignment for the Advertising Account Planning course at The University of Texas at Austin, our four-person group was tasked with creating a digital ad campaign for Samsung’s Smart TV at a time when smart TVs were emerging on the market for the first time. (Although Samsung and its smart TV are a real company and product, this campaign was created for a fictional class project only.)

SOLUTION / PROCESS:

• Idea generation for the entire campaign — including written explanations and visual content — was brainstormed collectively as a group (other group members: Liz McCall, Nene Okeudo, and Felicia Pesik).

• For the Executive Summary, all writing in black was contributed by myself, while writing in blue was contributed by group members and edited by myself (as the group’s copy editor) for cohesiveness.

• The Facebook event image was mocked up by another group member; the final two Digital Ads were mocked up by myself.

*NOTE: This campaign was chosen as “Best in Class” by guest representatives from local digital advertising agency nFusion.

RESULTS / DELIVERABLES:

Executive Summary

As 2squared Advertising Agency, we strive to create calculated campaigns that will exponentially increase our clients’ name recognition and sales. Our wide-reaching digital campaign for the Samsung Smart TV is no exception, and the following is an in-depth look at the methods used to create a campaign that we believe will have far-reaching results.

Before starting on our campaign, we decided to do an analysis of the industry and how Samsung’s product fits in with the rest. After secondary research into the TV and Smart TV industry, Samsung as a company, and Samsung’s Smart TV itself, we compared Samsung to its biggest competitors and initiated an online survey as well as some in-person interviews to see what customers currently think about Samsung’s Smart TV. With this information, we developed a SWOT analysis for the product to determine its current positioning in the consumer marketplace.

Based on our research, we refined and embellished upon the target audience suggested and created an overall strategy highlighting the single most important thing that we want consumers to remember, namely that with Samsung’s Smart TV, consumers can “Invest in an interactive experience that everyone can enjoy.” Due to Samsung’s already outstanding website with well-displayed interactive content, we decided to attempt to drive consumers from applications they already use on the web to the website, and then into the stores.

After researching and strategizing, we put together a few recommendations for a digital campaign promoting the product that include some rough creative suggestions as well as recommendations on the media channels to use to better reach the target. Our campaign includes web ads and banner ads placed strategically on websites within certain categories (television, music, sports, etc.) that will tell consumers that they can experience the content they are currently enjoying in a whole new interactive way. It also includes an event put on in retail stores and promoted by Facebook that will drive people into stores and convince them to share their experiences with the product via their social networks with the incentive of entering a raffle to win a free TV.

We believe that we have developed the best possible strategy for Samsung to implement moving forward with their advertising efforts for this product. By promoting the Samsung Smart TV’s unique, all-encompassing entertainment experience as “not just another new TV,” we believe that we will be able to break through the barriers of doubt within our target market and convince them to go out and buy a Samsung Smart TV.

Research

TVs and Smart TVs: Industry Analysis

The television industry seems to have fallen into a downward slope over the past five years as revenues have fallen 49%; however, at the same time, volume sales have actually increased (“Televisions”). This anomaly was due to an overproduction period that resulted in a price dive for TVs, which consumers were more than eager to snap up at such low prices (“Televisions”). Though revenues are expected to continue decreasing for the time being, interest in televisions with new and more numerous functions (such as the Samsung Smart TV) are expected to create an upturn in both the revenues and the sales of televisions between 2015 and 2017 (“Televisions”).

Currently, Vizio, LG, and Samsung sell the majority of television sets, accounting for 44% of the television market collectively (“Televisions”). Vizio, the newest brand, is considered the low-cost brand, and is right behind Samsung in terms of volume sales (“Televisions”). LG and Samsung, on the other hand, are considered technology leaders; both companies released Smart TVs in 2012 (“Televisions”). Both Best Buy’s and Wal-Mart’s brick-and-mortar stores weigh in as the distributors selling the highest number of TVs, while online retailers as a whole are struggling due to consumers’ wariness of online purchases (“Televisions”).

New television purchases are planned for 50% of households with children (“Televisions”). While “married with children” households spend the highest dollar amount per television set, “single with children” households contain the largest number of individual TV sets (“Televisions”). Men are more likely to purchase a television set than women, and consumers aged 25-44 show the most interest in keeping up with the latest technology (“Televisions”).

Smart TVs have become a hot commodity as they represent intriguing innovation and top-notch machinery. They are commonly known and respected for their capability to connect to the internet and mobile devices. Interestingly enough, many different electronic brands are taking advantage of the advances in technology by creating Smart TVs in order to keep up with the time period and competitively stay afloat. Although it can be seen as a great attribute to the electronic industry, it can create clutter in the consumer’s eyes because of many different companies essentially selling the same product.

Overall, many consumers themselves currently seem to be happy with the regular 2D TVs that they have, even as the television industry starts to push newer technology at them (“Televisions”). However, a growing need for multitasking among millennials may change this mindset. Entering the television market, manufacturers should consider either streamlining the production of Smart TVs so that they can sell at lower costs that are more competitive with regular TV prices or focusing solely on high-income households as targets (“Televisions”).

Samsung: Company Analysis

Samsung has grown significantly since its first production of black and white televisions, which brought about its success as the first company in the world to mass-produce digital televisions in 1999 (Kovach). Over time, Samsung’s brand name has developed a strong presence in the consumer electronics market along with building a reputation that connotes reliability, uniqueness, and innovation (Rothman). Today, Samsung remains the leader in the flat panel TV industry with 25.2% of the global market share (“Global”).

The company continues to innovate and develop new technologies that are revolutionizing the way people watch TV. Samsung has taken notice of the market growth in “high value LED TVs,” and is capitalizing on this fact by creating an untapped market of innovation (Rothman). The now-called Samsung Smart TV, which was rolled out as the Internet TV in 2007, is currently the headliner and leader in the smart TV industry (Kovach). With its combination of advanced features and trusted name brand, consumers are undoubtedly getting the true Samsung experience in the convenience of their own home.

Samsung Smart TV: Product Analysis

Samsung launched their first line of Smart TVs in 2009 and hasn’t failed to impress the consumer electronic market since by unveiling new and improved products that top previous ones (Rothman). Samsung Smart TVs advertise and market themselves as “different” in that they revolutionize how people interact with TV by putting consumers in control (“Are...”). The individual is given the power to “navigate menus, use phone apps, browse, and search” as other Smart TVs can, but they are the only products that are also capable of “voice control, gesture control, and face recognition” through their top-of-the-line models (“Are...”). These new and improved attributes that the TV has to offer are steering Samsung away from selling a Smart TV that is capable of having the same features as other TVs in the marketplace and towards providing an interactive experience in which consumers can directly communicate with their electronic devices (“Are...”).

Competition

Through our research, we found that the five biggest competitors of the Samsung Smart TV are LG, Panasonic, Toshiba, Vizio, and Apple TV. Below, we will describe the different features of each of the competitors to fully understand the competitive market that Samsung is currently a part of.

LG’s Smart TV is one of Samsung’s biggest competitors in the smart TV market. LG’s product does not only focus on the application side of their smart TV, but also their networking side. Some competitive features this TV include 4 HDMI ports, Clear Voice II, and a dual core processor (“6 Best”). The 4 HDMI ports allow the user to connect multiple devices without feeling limited and help them remain connected to their different networks. The Clear Voice II feature helps user’s voice to remain audible for commands (“6 Best”). LG TV’s dual core processor helps with faster application operation and allows multitasking to go smoothly. LG’s TVs aren’t only plasma made either; they also offer LED televisions, which provide consumers with the choice of the picture quality they prefer (“6 Best”).

Panasonic’s Viera Connect Smart TV is a competitor to Samsung because of its vast app marketplace, and it is styled in a way that is user friendly. Panasonic sells a variety of plasma and LED TVs to their consumers, and they all contain shortcuts on the remote that make using the TV easier to navigate (“6 Best”). The TV itself is arranged in a three by three grid with a large source (which normally contains the TV) that allows apps to be seen from the front page and alleviates searching through many pages to find what one is looking for (“Panasonic”). The app marketplace contains games, downloads, 3D glasses, and other TV accessories you would otherwise have to find at a store (“Panasonic”).

Toshiba Places is known as the social TV that is best used for families who want to have multiple logins for their different uses of the TV. If families have different interests and use the TV for different activities (like Twitter, Facebook, or other apps), they will never have to worry that the other members of their family will see their private profiles (“6 Best”). These Toshiba TVs mostly offer LED TVs for the interested consumers (“6 Best”).

Vizio Smart HD TV is one of Samsung’s competitors because of the vast amount of capabilities it offers its consumers and it’s appeal to many of the men that we surveyed. Out of the respondents surveyed, 60% said that Samsung was their preferred TV brand of choice, followed by 40% that stated Vizio was their brand of choice. This TV, must like Samsung’s, allows the user to remotely access music, video, and photos from a synced computer, phone, or other devices (“6 Best”). The remote includes a keyboard, which can help one easily search the internet, wi-fi connected streaming services, or internet content (“6 Best”). Most consumers are interested in the mainly LED offered TV, but also the size of the 2 inch thick TV (“6 Best”).

Although the Apple TV is not an actual TV, it does offer consumers many features that are available on the smart TVs while being able to buy their own receiver (“6 Best”). It allows you to hook up its receiver to your HD TV and stream music, photos, TV, or even play games (“AppleTV”). This device gives consumers more of a choice when it comes to buying a TV and getting smart TV capabilities.

Primary Research

Our research of consists of a quantitative survey we conducted on the public with hopes of revealing insights for this campaign along with one-on-one interviews with people that fall in our target market.

Our quantitative survey was implemented to receive a high volume of results among a wide spectrum of men in our target market along with getting a feel for how these consumers feel about the Smart TV market and the Samsung brand as a whole. We asked these men a total of 10 questions such as “Is your technology up to date,” “What do you want in a television,” “Rate the Samsung brand” and “Do you talk about the new technology that you buy with others.” These results helped tremendously in acquiring a general understanding of our target market. Men do like to keep their technology up to date and own quite a few electronic devices. Samsung is one of the most popular brands in our consumers’ minds, and the brand received a decent rating of 4 out of 5 points. Through our research, we found that consumers care a lot about the price of the electronic device along with the quality of the brand. The better majority of our participants said one of those two features is taken into consideration. This definitely sets the tone for our campaign and gives us the foundation of knowledge needed to reach out to these consumers.

Although our primary research endeavor shared keen insights on how males feel about Smart TVs, we decided to dig deeper and conduct one-on-one interviews to gather information that a survey cannot lend. We asked a total of 10 men a series questions to tap into their feelings towards smart TVs, such as, “How do you feel about the Samsung brand?” and “Would you consider buying a Samsung Smart TV?” We were able take notice of the fact that some men are slightly unaware of the qualities and features that Samsung’s Smart TV has to offer. This along with the alarmingly high price steers them away from purchasing a Smart TV. There is a need to communicate a benefit, build brand awareness amongst our target market, and educate the consumers on the experience that Samsung has to offer.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• Samsung’s established brand name and reputation as the leader in digital TV industry with the biggest market share positions the company in the top of consumers’ minds and overall awareness in the process of making a TV purchase decision.

• Samsung has its own section on its website dedicated to the Smart TV. The interactivity of it allows prospective consumers and website visitors to learn more about the products’ features and have an idea of how the TV works in real life.

• Samsung’s Smart TV offers a line of features that no other TV has. From voice and gesture recognition to apps specially built for the product, the TV itself is an innovation and enhancement to the current ordinary TV viewing behavior.

• Consequently, from the previous point, one of the Smart TV’s features is the ability to connect other Samsung devices wirelessly to the TV. This is useful for the target market, since we found (from the reviews on the Samsung Smart TV website) that the current Smart TV owner already has or had an average of four other Samsung devices or products prior to their Smart TV purchase.

Weaknesses

• The Smart TV is equipped with internet connectivity and a webcam that bring a security hazard; security experts found that they could hack into the hard drive and take over the control of the built-in camera and microphones (Gayle).

• Samsung has already established its social media presence through Facebook and Twitter. A special Facebook page for its TV product line (Samsung TV USA) has generated more than 1.3 million likes, and the Twitter page (@SamsungTV) has more than 37,000 followers. These numbers, however, are not followed by engaging content that should be complementing its interactive website.

Opportunities

• The Smart TV’s success is visible in the growing revenue rate as compared to previous year’s revenue (2010 to 2011 to 2012), showing a growth in the consumers’ interest and awareness about the product.

• Samsung currently has the biggest market share in the flat panel TV category, with Smart TV sales also contributing to this number.

• Samsung is constantly updating and innovating their Smart TV. This also includes Samsung’s effort to develop and launch the hardware that will allow Smart TV users to upgrade their TV and keep up with the latest technology without having to buy a new TV.

Threats

• Smart TVs have a higher price point compared to their competitors and other digital TVs in the market. Although the features are not really comparable to the ones in the Smart TV, it still gives consumers cheaper alternatives. Moreover, Apple TV is also offered at much lower price, and in general it also provides integration from the users' smartphones and tablets to the TV.

• From our interviews and survey, we found that most people in the target market are already satisfied with their current TV, and they don’t feel that they will need and use all the features carried in the Smart TV.

Strategy

Target Audience

The Samsung 2012 Smart TV’s target market was put together with the initial suggestions of the agency backed by the research we conducted. Therefore, our primary target includes males aged 25-34 with salaries above $75,000. These males consider themselves “innovators” and like to have the most up-to-date technology that they can show off to their friends. While they enjoy the traditional television experience, they are constantly searching for the next new thing and would be especially open to interactive experiences.

Our secondary target includes males in the “married with children” group. While these individuals are raising children, they are still young (as are their children) and fall into the upper- middle class. This target is looking for new engaging experiences to share together as a family as well as a single unit that has the capacity to entertain in many different ways.

Target Audience Profiles

To bring you closer to our target market, we have created two consumer profiles. Our first consumer, James Simpson, is a 26-year-old entrepreneur who is spreading his wings in the business world after graduating from the University of Chicago two years ago. James is a young bachelor without any obligations outside of work, which gives him room to live life to the fullest. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family as well as hanging out with his best friends. When he does hang out with his friends, he loves showing off his success with his new career through the new appliances and gadgets he purchases.

On the other end of the spectrum, Samuel Graham is a 34-year-old financial analyst that lives in Atlanta. He lives a hectic life balancing work, his home life that consists of a wife and two children, and his personal life spending time with his buds. Samuel loves to dabble in the latest technological advances, such as the new iPhone releases and the latest tablets. As he notices how busy his life is becoming, he relies more on multitasking to get through the many tasks of the day. Whenever his schedule permits, he loves to spend time with his family or catch up with old college buddies by inviting his friends over to catch the game. Because Samuel has established a steady lifestyle through his substantial income, he enjoys investing in the finer things in life and is not afraid to show off his affluence to his friends.

Overall Strategy/Single Most Important Thing

Based on our background research, we have come to the conclusion that the best way to get our target interested in the Samsung Smart TV is by promoting it as a new kind of interactive experience instead of just a new TV. Consumers are currently fine with having just a plain Jane television set without all the bells and whistles, so promoting the product as an “interactive entertainment unit” instead of a “Smart” TV will convince people to spend the extra money. The single most important thing that we want the customer to remember is that with the Samsung Smart TV (or SmartHub, if a name change is possible), you can “Invest in an interactive experience that everyone can enjoy.” Consumers in our target market love sharing gadgetry and experiences with people they know, and the product integrates pretty much every type of digital entertainment people can enjoy into one device. By focusing on the “experience,” we can break through the idea that the product is “just another new TV with a lot of extra stuff” and turn it into a new kind of technology that will improve the entertainment experience.

Recommendations

Media Placement

Again, based on our background research, we have come to the conclusion that the best way to engage our target and get them interested in the product is to get them to a place where they can see and play around with the television’s features. Obviously, in-store salespeople giving direct demonstrations and letting customers try it out for themselves would be the most effective method (as long as Samsung salespeople are reminded to be enthusiastic and persuasive). However, to engage customers digitally, we believe the best way to drive people to a store to try out the product is to drive people to Samsung’s current interactive website first. The current website does an excellent and thorough job of explaining and demonstrating the features of the product, and adding a simple call to action to get people in stores will make the website an excellent promotional tool in and of itself.

We decided that the best way to make a successful digital campaign would be to drive people to the interactive website, which in turn will drive them to the store and later to purchase. Our first order of business would be to place online ads on several prominent websites. We have broken our target’s uses for the product into several categories and matched them to several online hubs where we believe advertising would be effective. The website suggestions and their intended target for web ads are as listed below:

• Amazon (electronics shoppers)

• CNet (electronics shoppers)

• YouTube (internet video viewers)

• Reddit (video game players)

• Major networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC (television watchers)

• Hulu (television and movie watchers)

• IMDB (movie watchers)

• Rotten Tomatoes (movie watchers)

• Facebook (social network users)

• ESPN (sports watchers)

• Pandora (music listeners)

• Spotify (music listeners)

Advertising on websites of applications that Samsung’s customers would be using on their new Samsung product is a perfect way to hit consumers with a better option where they already are.

Another way to utilize digital space for this campaign would be via social media. Samsung’s current TV Facebook page seems to be utilized pretty well, but again there is no call to action to go try out the system on their website or in stores. Adding a call to action to the current cover photo with the website address would give people who landed on the page just for a second new avenues to find out more about the product. From there, we would create an event called “Samsung SmartHub Week” that would be promoted through Facebook in which customers can go to participating stores (such as Best Buy or Walmart) to try out the product’s features themselves and get entered in a drawing to win one for free. For the seven day period, any customer who gets a Samsung representative to show them the product and how it works will get entered in the drawing by the Samsung representative (one time per household per day) and will get an additional entry into the drawing by sharing a photo of themselves trying out the product in-store on their social network (such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram) and including “#SamsungSmartHubExperience” in the description (one additional entry per day, regardless of how many social networks used). This way, new die-hard fans would get a maximum of 14 chances to be entered in the nationwide drawing. The more invested they get in the product, the more likely they’ll be to buy one even if they don’t win; plus, having people post on social media sites will ensure free word-of-mouth promotion. The event could also be promoted through the web ads mentioned earlier.

Facebook Event Example

Creative Content

We wanted to tailor our web ads to the category of entertainment each one was posted on, so we created a message that could interchange different entertainment experiences depending on what each person is interested in. For example, ads appearing on Hulu would declare “Experience movies a whole new way,” and ads appearing on Pandora would simply be changed to “Experience music a whole new way.” This way, people are already thinking about their favorite forms of entertainment and are introduced to a new way to experience that entertainment. These ads are plain with a lot of white space to stand out from the constantly cluttered look of most websites, and have an image that changes so that it will catch people’s attention better and give them more information for such a small amount of space. The second image of each ad will include a message to click on the ad to link to Samsung’s website and try out the product’s features.

Banner Ad Example

Web Ad Example

Conclusion
Through our campaign, we hope to increase visitation to Samsung’s website in order to increase knowledge of the Samsung Smart TV. Through the different outlets chosen in our digital campaign, we hope to instill in our target market’s mind that Samsung’s Smart TV will give them an unbelievable experience they will not get with anyone else’s Smart TV. Our campaign will steer our target market to Samsung’s already informative website and then into stores in order to get more hands on information about the product, which will ultimately lead to increased sales.

Works Cited

1. “6 Best Smart TV Platforms In the World Today.” Tech Radar. N.p, 24 Dec. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

2. “AppleTV Airplay.” Apple. Apple Inc, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

3. "Are Samsung Smart TVs Worth the Price?" Smart TV Reviews Buying Advice and Ratings RSS. N.p, 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

4. “Global market share held by leading flat panel TV brands from 3rd quarter 2010 to 3rd quarter 2012.” Statista. Display Search, Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

5. “Panasonic Viera Plasma HD TV.” SmartReview. N.p, 20 Mar. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

6. “Televisions -- US -- September 2012.” Mintel. Mintel International Group Ltd, Sep. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

7. Gayle, Damien. “Is Your TV Watching You?” Daily Mail Online. N.p, 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

8. Kovach, Steve. “How Samsung Went From A Dried Fish Exporter To One Of The Top Names In Tech.” Business Insider. N.p, 9 Feb. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

9. Rothman, Wilson. "Samsung Rethinks TV." Gadgetbox. NBC News, N.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.