Samsung

For many years consumer electronics powerhouse, Samsung Electronics, was succeeding in gaining market share and driving revenue through its distribution strategy and its core competencies of speed-to-market and design. But despite its financial success, the Samsung brand remained relatively undefined for global consumers.

No universally understood brand essence came to life in marketing communications and or could be easily re-told in the marketplace. It lacked a simple set of words that could easily describe the brand's authentic character or its mission. Most importantly, the brand wasn't addressing a key consumer conflict. In short, Samsung lacked a compelling brand story. In a rapidly commoditizing industry, a differentiating brand story becomes paramount to maintain margins, retain customers, and capture the hearts and minds of people who have abundant choices.

Lippincott was tasked with crafting Samsung's brand story in a highly collaborative effort involving key regional headquarters, product divisions and various global agencies.

We conducted widespread research across key geographies including consumer focus groups, outside expert interviews, channel partner interviews, executive interviews and quantitative research to test our hypotheses. Our process took us deep into Samsung lore to extract learnings from interesting company anecdotes of the past. Our comprehensive approach led to a definite answer:

For Samsung, it came down to a deep-seated belief that they could accomplish anything; an unwavering optimism for the possibilities of tomorrow. This story resonated with global audiences who share anxiety around the rapidly evolving technology landscape. The idea that Samsung could help them not only cope with this dramatic change, but thrive because of it was extremely appealing and credible.

To help bring the story to life, we developed a global tagline that would sit above all regions and product categories: "Turn on Tomorrow". The line embodies the essence of the Samsung brand story and serves to unite all entities under one bold banner with which consumers can identify. We also developed a full brand storybook that tells the entire story across all major components. This book serves as the basis of creative brief development for brand communications and informs product-level advertising and promotions.

The results are evident in Samsung's continued leadership and steady rise in market share, brand preference and brand recommendation. The story has gained traction in key geographies, supported by "Turn on Tomorrow", which has been implemented across various communications vehicles.

Today, consumers routinely choose Samsung over the competition in TVs and phones, and the numbers are increasing in other categories such as laptops, home appliances and cameras. The brand story has helped solidify the fact that Samsung is no longer a middle-of-the-road consumer electronics provider, rather a more premium industry leader with an emotional mission and a story worth loving.

Samsung Electronics has been extremely successful at gaining market share and driving revenue through their product distribution strategy. However, their global retail presence lacked consistency and did not express the core brand identity.

Samsung lacked a strong format strategy that would guide their continued growth in existing and new markets. Once the format strategy was established, Samsung would require a retail identity that provided a unique and clear expression of their brand positioning.

Lippincott collaborated with Samsung's Global Marketing Organization, as well regional heads and product divisions, to develop the Samsung Global Shop Identity, which would drive the brand's retail presence through both strategy and design.

Lippincott conducted store audits in multiple markets for the purpose of documenting existing Samsung retail conditions and providing a benchmark analysis of global consumer electronics trends. We supplemented the audit process through management interviews, a business strategy review, and quantitative research to collect customer insights. We used our findings to develop a rationale for the Samsung global shop strategy, which included format definitions and deployment recommendations.

We then moved into the design phase of the project, where we developed a global store design concept that brought the brand platform to life at retail. Lippincott developed the complete look and feel for the brand, including a flexible fixture package, color and materials palettes, and a versatile approach to product merchandising. Due to varied store footprints and a range of format types, the design had to be flexible and adaptable. The kit of parts that was developed made it possible to implement a branded look and feel in any retail environment.

The Global Shop Identity program was extremely successful in developing a consistent and recognizable retail identity. Integration of the new strategy and design led to an increase in average daily traffic in stores globally. Average monthly revenue also rose in all major markets, and an overall increase in perceptions of the brand came about due to a new retail presence.