Samsung Mobile: NowThis x Samsung Gear 360

 

Campaign Summary

Samsung, the market leader in 360-degree hardware, knew that in order to grow the category, the company needed to normalize watching and creating 360-degree content. This is why the company created its Gear 360 camera.

At the beginning of 2017, YouTube, and Facebook enabled 360-degree videos on the platforms. However, even though both platforms made it easy to upload and watch 360-degree videos, very few people were actually doing so. Samsung noticed that consumers were using 360-degree cameras to capture content in the same way they would shoot a traditional shot, not considering the 360-degree frame they had to play with. As a result, much of the content people were seeing on social wasn’t real 360-degree content.

As such, the client's main KPIs were focused on awareness and education.

Strategy

Objective and Context:

Samsung’s campaign intended to reach millennial audiences across social platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Samsung Mobile wanted to build a global ecosystem of 360-degree content created around millennial passions and interests.

Target Audience:

Samsung wanted to excite, engage, and educate consumers about 360-degree by demonstrating Gear 360 in a way that made consumers consider purchasing it, and emphasized the accessibility of 360 photos and videos.

In addition, the company needed to prove to consumers that everything they loved to watch can be more compelling when there’s more than one angle to see — and give them a way to think about content beyond the traditional frame. Samsung aimed to transport its audience to distant places while making them feel intimate and accessible all through Samsung’s Gear 360 camera, which fits within the palm of someone’s hand. Gear 360 was released in five continents and over 20 countries in just four months. The company wanted its audience to not only learn about the new 360-degree camera, but also provide them with engaging content that sparked curiosity and encouraged them to take a look around. Samsung opted for a fully social campaign to reach its audience where they consume content most.

The NowThis x Samsung Gear 360 campaign launched in June 2017 and consists of 23 360-degree videos that transport audiences across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter across the globe, immersing viewers in distant places and unique experiences like gondola riding in Venice, Italy to sleighing through Santa's Village in Finland to exploring a baby elephant orphanage in Kenya.

Creative Strategy:

This was the first time for the brand had ever opted for a fully-social 360-degree content campaign, which illustrated how the Gear 360 and its key features could engage people around the world together.

Moreover, this was one of the first-ever branded content 360-degree campaigns to live exclusively on social (across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube). With Facebook only recently having unveiled its 360-degree capabilities, Samsung relied heavily on unique creative and once in a lifetime access to rare places throughout the world. The company didn’t know how its audience would react or engage with branded 360-degree content, but now has seen incredible engagement.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

Ninety percent of Samsung’s audience comes from mobile, which made NowThis, a social publisher, the perfect partner for Samsung to create a mobile-first campaign that encourages its viewers to "look around!" and have a more dynamic and engaging experience with its branded videos. Samsung’s campaign videos offered visual cues for consumers to move their phones around them to get the full 360-degree experience.

Mobile:

Since Samsung opted for a fully social, mobile-first campaign, the brand was able to leverage the existing 360-degree technologies on the major social platforms so that its target consumers could have a seamless experience with 360 video content in-feed. The total campaign budget was $2.5 million, of which 90 percent went to mobile.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

At the beginning of 2017, YouTube and Facebook enabled 360-degree videos. However, not many people were regularly creating and posting high-quality 360-degree content, nor did they know that they needed to move their smartphones around to see more content outside of the traditional frame.

Samsung, the market leader in 360-degree hardware, knew that in order to grow the category, the brand needed to normalize watching and creating 360 content first.

The company’s campaign achieved its objectives of raising awareness and education of Samsung Gear 360 with the following success:

  • Awareness rose 8 percent.
  • Brand recall increased 16 percent.
  • Brand favorability increased 9 percent.
  • Purchase intent rose 9 percent.
  • 161.5 million video views were garnered.
  • 845 million social impressions were received.
  • 1.6 million social engagements were gathered on Facebook alone, with over 184,000 shares on the site.
  • All 23 videos have been featured on Youtube's Best of VR Portal.

With just 23 360-degree videos, the branded content has seen the following success:

  • NowThis Samsung Gear 360 was the most-viewed branded content campaign on Facebook in 2017, according to BrandTale.
  • NowThis became the #1 most-viewed 360-degree video publisher in all of 2017 (with just 6 percent of the amount of content and more than double the video views than the #2 publisher, according to Tubular.
  • Consumers reacted favorably to the campaign with just 1 percent negative sentiment, which is by far, NowThis' highest positive sentiment campaign to date.

Categories: 360-Degree Video | Industries: Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications | Objectives: 360-Degree Video | Awards: Silver Global Winner