Samsung’s Pied Piper turns a trick to boost business

When in Rome, do as the Romans do, they say. It’s also true that the most reassuring thing, when you’re stuck in a foreign land, is to find someone speaking your own language. Samsung’s TVC for its new Guru100 handset is based on this simple universal insight: In a strange land, people gravitate towards those who they think know about their culture.

Currently, Samsung occupies No. 2 position in the Indian mobile handset market, but despite having around 30 models, it did not cater to the lower end of the market. The Guru100, a colour handset, is meant to cater to the entry level mobile phone segment and swing Samsung into a space in which it did not exist earlier.

With its new product line-up and marketing plans, Samsung intends to boost its volumes and grow its market share in the Indian market in 2008. Its market share rose by almost 2 per cent in the third quarter of 2007. It now stands at 14.5 per cent as against 12.2 per cent in the same quarter in 2006.

Dutt says, “The rationale for launching the Guru100 is to enhance our product offering in the entry level mobile colour phone market, which constitutes around 25 per cent of the entire GSM market and further grow our share in the Indian market.”

In the entry level segment, the consumer is driven most by the utility of the phone. The consumer in this segment buys a phone usually because it helps to enhance his livelihood prospects. He sees it as an important tool in furthering his business prospects. The TV commercial for the Guru100 is cleverly loaded with the virtues of the mobile – that it has the longest battery life (1000mAh) and that it is the only mobile in its price range with downloadable MP3 ringtones.

Conceptualised by Cheil Communications, the campaign was written by Vedobroto Roy, creative director, and the film was directed by Manoj Pillai of ThinkPot Films. Shot in Jodhpur, the TVC is woven around an Indian tourist guide and a group of Spanish tourists.

The film opens on a group of Indian guides anticipating the visit of some Spanish tourists, who soon arrive in a bus. The Indian guides immediately besiege the flustered tourists, pressing their services on them. Standing away from the crowd, holding his mobile is a young man. He presses some keys on his mobile and plays a Spanish song on it. All the tourists start walking towards the young guide, who charms them like the Pied Piper simply by playing a Spanish ringtone.

The voiceover chips in and introduces the new mobile handset. It talks about the MP3 ringtones and the long battery life. The guide then takes charge and shows the tourists various things. In the group is a young girl who gets smitten by the guide. At this point, the viewers are asked their opinion on how the story should proceed. Should the two fall in love? Viewers are asked to SMS their opinion. The TVC ends with the product and the brand window. (Submit your opinion on this ad.)

Dutt says, “This TVC clearly brings out how intelligent use of a better phone allows you to outsmart your competition and get more business for yourself.”

The Guru100 is targeted at a consumer base in the age group of 20-35 years, predominantly male (90 per cent); semi skilled workers, farmers, shop assistants; annual income of Rs 60,000-120,000; residing in urban, small towns or rural areas.

Says Prathap Suthan, national creative director, Cheil Communications, “Armed with a simple brief, the challenge was to launch a phone within the entry level market that’s much better than what’s currently available. In fact, the product does live up completely to the brief and to the intent of the marketing vision. This meant that we just couldn’t do yet another commercial. We had to deliver a creative with an execution that was also different. Then again, Samsung as a brand is completely about being in sync with the younger market and its aspirations and trends.”

The TVC is less a communication for the consumer and more a creative engagement because it seeks consumer feedback to decide the course of the story. Suthan says, “The SMS invite at the end of the first commercial will seek consumer interaction to decide the course of the story. I cannot really think of any other commercial that has sought consumer feedback to decide the journey of a story. At the end of the day, SMS is a feature that we offer, and we as a brand will empower our customers with the best.”

Cheil came up with two ideas and presented them to the client – Sunil Dutt, Asim Warsi and some members of the senior Korean management, but this idea was chosen because it made use of a very simple but universal insight.