Samsung launches tablet art installation

Samsung has launched an art installation on London’s Southbank comprised entirely of Galaxy Tab S devices, a demonstration of the company attempting to make its marketing touch points “more surprising, rewarding and interesting” as it continues its journey to become the “most loved brand”.

Samsung Love Rainbow
Samsung launched its Midnight Rainbow installation on London’s Southbank last night (19 August).

The 14 foot-high rainbow installation, designed to showcase the tablet’s Super AMOLED screen technology, was unveiled at midnight last night (19 August) and will remain at Observation Point until 4pm today.

The activity is being supported on social media and by Samsung representatives demonstrating the tablet on-site.

Russell Taylor, Samsung UK and Ireland vice president of corporate marketing, tells Marketing Week while the installation does not represent the size of spend of some of its latest advertising campaigns, it is representative of an increased focus on “disruptive tactics”.

He adds: “The simple touch points count in marketing. If you do the right thing, people will feel warm to the brand and every little thing makes a difference.

“We are increasingly trying to make those touch points more surprising, rewarding and interesting. Marketing is all about making people care and if you can surprise and engage people along the way, then that will do great work for the brand.”

In February Samsung announced plans to roll out a UK brand marketing platform called “Launching People” that saw it create a TV show on Sky 1 where stars including photographer rankin, chef Gizzi Erskine, actor and filmmaker Idris Elba and singer Paloma Faith mentored undiscovered talent.

At the time Taylor said the ambition was for the platform to pave the way for Samsung to become “the most loved brand” in the UK. 

Taylor tells Marketing Week more than 1,000 people submitted entries to appear on the show and that the brand saw “big increases” in perception measures such as trust, authenticity, innovation and uniqueness among those who watched the “Ones to Watch” programme on Sky 1, which aired for four weeks during May.

Taylor adds: “[The programme] demonstrated what we stand for as a brand with some engaging content. The Samsung brand stands for giving people access to technology that makes their lives a bit better and helps them to get along the world.

“If we can get people that use the brand to really love us then we will be in a great place. We are on that journey…People know Samsung does great marketing but [we are working on] how we get people talking about Samsung for its marketing and not just the products we make.”

While “love” for the brand is a difficult concept to quantify, YouGov BrandIndex measures “Buzz”, which is a balance of the positive and negative things consumers have heard about the brand over the past two weeks.

Samsung’s Buzz score (see table below) is actually lower currently (9.4 on the 19 August) than before the “Launching People” platform debuted in February (14.6 on 1 February). But after experiencing a sharp drop, Samsung’s Buzz score did see a resurgence in May when the “Ones to Watch” programme aired.

The Samsung brand still sits atop the table of 29 brands across BrandIndex’s handset and operator category in terms of buzz, ahead of Apple with a score of 8.1.

Samsung Love YouGov

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Samuel Joy

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