Toronto Samsung Galaxy S Launch – Thoughts…

Last week Samsung put on a free concert @ Union Station featuring Metric – the entire event was branded – a rep came out to tell everyone about the event and about the handset…I think that:

• Branding it was enough…
• The event should be more about brand visibility, the idea of being given a company line (while Samsung had the best of intentions) doesn’t gel well with young concert goers.
• Control the message – at a certain point WOM took over any controlled message Samsung had put out through its media channels – the message was that Metric was playing – hence I think that company/brand image here is the big win (just being there) – not telling people that the reason they’re playing is because Samsung paid them to play – instead associating the brand with the band – putting the product out there and letting people draw their own conclusions.
• Samsung should have had reps in the crowd with the product so that those who want to give it a try could – or should have planned forward – many concert goers came via TTC or GO Train from out of town – having reps in the station with promo materials OR even just buying up advertising space (budget permitting) in the station for the day, bathrooms or trains could have gone a long way to pushing the message even further.

That said was the event a failure? – NO – absolutely not – Samsung got favourable coverage in the press, they branded the stage to the point where most who watched the show will associate Galaxy S with the Samsung brand and it went off without incident.

Does it hurt credibility when company rep’s get boo’d off of a stage? Does it damage the message? What do you think? Comment below.

Video courtesy of Mobile Syrup.

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