2020, although a less than pleasant year for humanity, was a great year for gaming. With more people staying home to protect themselves against the pandemic, the gaming industry saw unprecedented growth. According to MarketWatch, COVID-19 lockdowns helped global gaming sales rise 20% to nearly $180 billion in 2020.
Gaming console and device manufacturers seized the opportunity to offer gamers their much-needed entertainment and the ultimate gaming experience. It was in such a setting that Samsung approached Netbina for an exclusive gaming campaign. Netbina’s creative team had already drafted up a proposal for a gaming campaign to present to Samsung, but what Samsung wanted from the campaign was far more challenging.
Samsung wanted Netbina to promote its newly released Galaxy Note20 as a versatile device suitable for gaming and entertainment, but it also requested its gaming monitor to be promoted as part of the campaign. This was an ambitious goal, as we would be presenting these devices to a diverse, largely unpredictable target market. We got to work. The result was Samsung’s Gaming Maniac campaign, or #samsungame.
Finding the right moves
Before being approached by Samsung for a gaming campaign, our team was proactively involved in research about the gaming scene in Iran and had found valuable data on Iranian gamers as a distinct tribe with great potential. Samsung, however, was running campaigns globally for the Galaxy Note20 as a powerful device for work and play, and we were asked to focus on the play part, incorporating Samsung’s gaming monitor in our plan as well, with gaming as the core of the campaign. So, we rewrote our strategy for the Galaxy Note20 and the gaming monitor.
This was challenging for two main reasons. First, because the campaign was essentially a synergy between the two Samsung Iran and Samsung Mobile Iran Instagram pages. As we were to promote both the monitor and the smartphone in the context of gaming, we had to produce and coordinate separate content for the two pages, which made the planning process more complicated. We were creating far more content, and a lot more precision was involved in engaging the audiences both separately and collectively.
Our second challenge lay in the fact that we were to present this content to a niche audience with considerable variety within itself. In addition to producing more content, we had to establish a connection to different tribes within the gaming community. Our goal was to communicate the products’ features to the audience, and this was to be done by effectively engaging this audience.
The distinct gamer micro-cultures required that we adopt a different strategy and tone of voice all while maintaining Samsung’s character. We needed to be accurate in targeting an audience which was largely unknown and unpredictable. Achieving and maintaining this accuracy and efficacy required that we be alert, focused, and flexible, making changes as we go.
