Samsung, IOC Worldwide Partner and Official Wireless Communications Equipment Provider of the Olympic Games, is rolled out a new phase of its Winter Olympics promotional campaign for Sochi 2014 led by its ‘Samsung Galaxy Team Russia’.
Under its umbrella ‘Everyone’s Olympic Games’ strategy, Samsung is implementing a set of Games initiatives with promotional work led by the ‘Samsung Galaxy team’ program that aims to bring together promising athletes from around the world and enable them to establish a personal and direct link with sport fans via Samsung’s mobile technologies.
Direct contact between Olympians and fans is the brand’s underlying Sochi 2014 tactic and domestically this is initially being fronted by a slate of Russian Winter Olympian brand ambassadors.
NHL All-Star and Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup champion Evgeni Malkin heads the ‘Samsung Galaxy Team Russia’ which will consist of 10 athletes.
These include cross-country ski champion Nikita Kriukov, biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov, Winter Youth, figure skaters Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Tatyana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, curler Liudmila Privivkova and short-track speedskater Tatyana Borodulina, plus para-skier skier Sergey Shilov and snowboarder Serafim Pikalov
The messaging emphasis targets Russian youth through rounded themes ranging from healthy lifestyles and self belief.
‘I’m delighted to join Samsung on its campaign to promote the Olympic Movement, sport and a healthy way of life to fans around the world, comments 2005 European speed skating champion Borodulina.
‘And to prove through my own example, especially to the younger generation, that sport is all about believing in yourself and making it an inseparable part of your life.’
‘For me, sport is not just about training, victories and titles: it’s an opportunity to promote a healthy way of life and demonstrate through personal example that any dream is achievable if only you make the effort and believe in yourself,’ says team captain Malkin.
‘I’m grateful to Samsung for the invitation to join its team and am certain that the company’s advanced technologies and campaign will help to bring sport into every home.”
Malkin fronts activation on the new Samsung’s Sochi 2014 Russian website – at http://www.samsung.com/ru/sochi2014/ – along with his fellow team members.
In addition to individual team athlete bios and personal messages, the site also includes a programme of Samsung Olympic events – both physical and digital – offering interactive experiences, competitions and prizes.
The website also includes details of the brand’s Russian Sochi 2014 Roadshow running under the title ‘Samsung Galaxy Studio’ – a mobile Games studio that is touring through 15 major Russian cities in an effort to get as many Russians as possible closer to the Winter Games.
The site also includes an ‘I Love Russia‘ campaign strand which gives Russians a chance to send their good wishes to the host nation’s Winter Games Team.
Another element of the site’s activation is its Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Winter Games Ticket Lottery initiative which sees promotional codes printed on product packaging which, once purchased, can be entered into the draw to win one of 260 pairs of Sochi 2014 tickets.
Malkin is also an ambassador for fellow Sochi 2014 sponsor Skoda and fronted the auto brand’s Winter Olympics launch work last year,
Following the debut of Team Russia, Samsung will continue to select top athletes in 16 countries to join the Samsung GALAXY Team in an effort to spread the Olympic spirit – and promote its line of Galaxy smart phones.
Furthermore, Samsung’s lead global brand ambassador Maria Sharapova, who also supported Sochi’s bid to host the Winter Games, will also take part in Team Samsung project.
In this role, Sharapova will work with Samsung to promote sporting and Olympic ideals as well as help raise awareness for Samsung’s Sochi 2014 sponsorship and this role kicked off in early September with the release of an online Sharapova-fronted Samsung Galaxy film.
A multimedia Samsung Olympic Games Digital Hub will offer fans and consumers Samsung Galaxy Team Russia athlete details and interaction opportunities, plus it will act as a space to to learn more about the history of the Olympic movement (and, of course, about the brand’s own Games involvement).
In addition to this athlete ambassador marketing programme, the brand will also continue with its ongoing international Samsung Global Blogger programme.
This initiative invites bloggers from around the world to report on the Olympic Games and the events surrounding them.
‘Samsung supports Sochi 2014 to be a truly social Olympic Games by enabling fans to be actively involved and share their experiences anytime, anywhere,’ adds Samsung Electronics VP Head Of Global Sports Marketing Yung Kook Lee.
‘Through our Olympic sponsorship, Samsung aims to emotionally connect with consumers and build an aspirational brand on a global level.’
June also saw the announcement of Samsung’s additional role as the official supplier of IT equipment for the first Russian winter Games.
Comment
The roll out begins as both the IOC (which recently rolled out this online Sochi 2014 teaser webfilm)
and other sponsors such as Coca-Cola (see previous case study) ramp up their promotional work to coincide with the Winter Olympics Torch Relay.
Samsung’s support for the Olympics dates back to its role as a national sponsor for the 1998 Seoul Olympics and the company has been a Worldwide Partner in the wireless telecommunications equipment category since 1997 (a deal which runs up to the Rio 2016 Games).
The Olympics is the foundation stone of the brand’s increasingly global sports sponsorship strategy – as outlined in this Samsung Galaxy strategy webfilm focusing in on its wider sponsorship history and its specific Sochi 2014 plans.
Of course, each and every Olympics (like most contemporary events big or small) is slated as ‘the most social ever’ and continuing this socially accessible theme, Samsung’s wider ‘Everyone’s Olympic Games’ strategy continues the brand’s approach at London 2012 and at previous Games and also includes the brand’s Wireless Olympic Works (WOW) communication platform
It was late summer 2013 which saw the first roll out of the next Winter Olympic WOW promotional campaign as the Worldwide Olympic Partner and official Wireless Communications Equipment provider of the Olympic Games prepared for Sochi 2014.
‘We also provide the most advanced wireless technology to the Olympic family to contribute to the successful staging of the Games, ’ adds Yung Kook Lee.
Samsung’s Wireless Olympic Work (WOW) campaign was originally a 2003 initiative to provide wireless information systems for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
The initial three-fold objective was to provide an ‘efficient’, ‘cost-effective’ and ‘secure’ platform for the running of the Games.
Basically WOW introduced wireless data to the Olympics – replacing direct physical access and even paper information collation, access and storage.
Samsung’s 2014 aim is to provide the most innovative and socially accessible Games in Olympic history
Not only is the objective for the next WOW communications platform enable the core Olympic Family (from organisers and staff, to at-event officials and VIPs) with real-time mobile Games information via the newest Samsung mobile devices, but next year will see this unique coms platform made available to the general public to ensure sport fans at the event and around the world get live Winter Games data.
Links
Samsung Galaxy Team Russia Website
http://www.samsung.com/ru/sochi2014/team.html
Samsung Sochi 2014 Website
http://www.samsung.com/ru/sochi2014/
Samsung Russia Twitter
IOC Website
Sochi 2014 Website
