Samsung television: Hardselling on humour

Samsung advertising has never made any pretensions. Be it in advertising its television sets, its refrigerators or, for that matter, its mobile handsets, its entire communication package has had a single-minded focus - push. Drive technological benefits home and sell the product. There was no (hard to understand) metaphors, just 'wow' technology, cool products - which was deemed good enough ‘reason why' to draw consumers into its fold.

While the strategy of harping on the product and its features has augured well for the company so far, the latest two-ad campaign for Samsung televisions (by Mudra Communication) tries to break away from the company's one-point advertising programme in a very interesting manner.

The first television commercial (‘Padosan') in the series opens with the shot of this lovely lady in her balcony seemingly admiring the man in the building on the other side of the road. Her visibly annoyed husband walks up behind her, apparently to reproach her for her inappropriate behaviour. To his surprise, he finds that she was actually marvelling at the beauty of the television set running full blast in the neighbour's flat. What's more, the husband looks around to find that all the other balconies in the adjoining buildings are crammed with husbands and wives and other family members jostling to catch a glimpse of the Samsung television set.

The second ad (‘Maharaj') revolves around this spiritual guru and his room full of devotees. Surrounded by his ardent followers, the guru gesticulates vehemently, cautioning his devotees from getting attached to the ‘bhautik sukh' (material pleasures) of life. While he waves his hands this way and that, his devotees are fixated on the Samsung television set sitting pretty in one corner of the room. In an absurd quirk of fate, the Maharaj himself gets mesmerised by the Samsung television as the voice-over says, "Aisi shandar style aur sound ki sabke rang uda de" (the style and the sound quality of the television set is bound to blow one's mind away!).

Where these two ads deviate starkly from Samsung's earlier advertising is in the use of humour, which was all but absent in the previous communication by the brand.

Explaining the crux of the company's new strategy for marketing televisions, MB Lee, vice-president marketing, Samsung India, says, "With this new face of Samsung advertising, we are trying to strike a popular, humorous chord to connect with our Indian consumers at one level, and convey the superiority of Samsung products in a lighter vein, on the other." These commercials, which go on air this week, will be seen on the more popular channels of STAR, ZEE and Aaj Tak. The company indicates there will be regional language versions of this campaign for the vernacular media as well.

The current series of ads, informs a Samsung executive, is inspired by the "tremendous response" that the TVCs on the earlier Q Series of Samsung televisions had evoked. To put things in perspective, the Q Series was launched earlier this year on the USP of its tremendous sound output to the tune of 1000 watt PMPO. The Q Series ad showed how, on buying a Q Series television, this family undergoes a metamorphosis - modifying everything from how they addressed each other to the manner in which they entertained guests at home.

The Samsung executive says the new campaign takes off from where the earlier ads on the Q Series left "in the way they highlight the glamour attached with owning a Samsung TV, and the pride of ownership that comes with having a TV that offers fantastic sound and visual quality". Samsung India had launched seven sound-oriented colour television models in 20-, 21- and 29-inch screen size segments under the Q1 and Q2 Series in February 2003.

"In the first half of the year, the company focused on associating with cricket at a brand level through its 'Team Samsung' series of advertising and the 'India First' promo TVC. For the second half, the focus is on the product , the superior sound and style of Samsung CTVs," the executive says.

Samsung India is targeting CTV sales of 1.2 million this year. It claims to have notched up a 116 per cent growth in its colour television volume (having sold 6.9 lakh TV sets in the first half of the current year). The company is the leading flat TV marketer in the country and, according to Lee, hopes to sell "over 3 lakh flat TVs this year". © 2003 agencyfaqs!