INTERVIEW: Samsung HK CMO on keeping up with a city that doesn't sleep

The brand's move to the summit of the Hong Kong list in Campaign Asia-Pacific's Top 1000 Brands report is congruent with his vision of advancement to the local market-leading position, but conditional upon the brand keeping up with the pace of Hong Kongers—who don't seem to sleep.

For the past year, the Korean electronics giant has gotten things right in terms of products, innovation, pricing and marketing communications in a condensed market environment. "The density of Hong Kong means that the spread and exposure of an advertising spot can be very fast," Chow reveals. "I call this brand radiation."

However, there are pros and cons to branding in such a market. "The challenge is that we cannot slow down; nobody will wait for you," he says. "We have to keep up with the pace of HKers, who don't sleep."

With digitally savvy Hong Kongers now consuming information across various devices and platforms 24/7, to continue faring well, Samsung knows it must focus on enduring product quality. The key pillars of Chow's marketing strategy are "speed" and "trendiness".

"Hong Kongers never leave the world of connectivity," he elaborates. "They are constantly gathering information; always on top of technology. They are extremely keen on being the first in the world to get their hands on first-rate products, as this being-ahead-of-others pursuit enhances their own social reputations."

And being technologically and socially top-notch translates into not just owning the product, but also into tying it effectively into daily life. One example Chow cites is how the brand partnered with a restaurant group for its wine-tasting sessions, developing a wine-related mobile application on its Samsung Apps platform.

Branding experts agree with the principles Chow outlined.

"With the technology game, it is all about the next little twist; it’s not always the technologically superior product that wins, but the connection to people’s day-to-day lives that wins," says Alan Couldrey, CEO of The Brand Union.

Samsung has a strong retail presence as well as aggressive above-the-line print advertising in Hong Kong in outdoor billboards, metro newspapers and magazines, which have been advantageous for the brand.

Last week, in time for the London Olympics, Samsung transformed a giant wall at the Hong Kong MTR Station into a visually-creative 'swimming' zone with 2D cut-outs of 'swimmers' preparing to 'dive' from the station pillars—capitalising on the golden branding opportunity that comes once every four years with the OOH ambient advertisement (below).

"When consumers start looking for a new electronics item, a Samsung presence is notable and, for consumers, this signifies leadership in the category—something reinforced in its marketing,” said Guy Hearn, head of APAC consumer insights and research for Omnicom Media Group.

Handsome and pretty faces lend a hand in that marketing. The September 2011 appointment of Louis Koo and Jennifer Tse as spokespersons for Samsung’s smartphones and tablets has also proven to accelerate the Samsung brand in celebrity-crazed Hong Kong.

 
Samsung’s Galaxy series mobile phones have grown in relative popularity compared to the Apple iPhone; while the brand's grand total of 186 products: tablet devices, smart TVs, cameras, notebooks, home appliances, monitors, camcorders, MP3 / MID players, and printers rolled out in the Hong Kong market from January till now, are also sought-after goods.

Hearn believes they are desirable because the brand has been able to differentiate its products from competitors. He cites the Galaxy Tab, which he claims has a "differentiated functionality and user experience from the iPad".

"I suspect that the success of products like the Galaxy has a halo effect across all their other categories," adds Zayn Khan, Asia Pacific CEO of FutureBrand.

Apple has established its foundation as a lifestyle brand with a uni-product choice. Just 12 months ago, it was a Apple versus Samsung battle for supremacy in Hong Kong. Now, Samsung is reigning through a wide product portfolio highly visible to consumers across a number of different touchpoints, supported by its creative and media agencies Cheil, Leo Burnett, and Starcom in Hong Kong.

"Unlike Apple, which is confined to a specific segment, Samsung has a product almost everywhere you look, from mobiles to appliances to cameras," Khan added. "They spend heavily on media, which helps the brand be even more pervasive."

By the end of 2012, Chow is aiming to increase the market share of Samsung HK's mobile category by another 60 per cent; to double market share for IT and TV products and; ambitiously, to triple share in the compact-changeable-lens camera space.