Samsung TicToc Campaign Targets Fashion-Minded European Youth

The clock has struck midnight on Samsung's "TicToc Girls" competition, and two British teens have emerged as the new face of the campaign.

Completing its five-month-long marketing initiative promoting the TicToc MP3 player, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (http://www.samsung.com/) recently announced the selection of two 15-year-old girls who embody today's fashion- and music-conscious teen culture to represent the company's new motion-operated digital music device designed especially for girls and young women.
Emily Doherty and Bethany Yates, both of the United Kingdom, were selected by Samsung as winners of the TicToc Girls Audition, a free-to-enter "Star Search"-type competition to find the first-ever Samsung "TicToc Girls." The competition was open to residents of the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain between the ages of 14 and 21.

Today's debut of the "TicToc Girls" final pop music video featuring Doherty and Yates marks the culmination of a digital- and social media-driven marketing initiative relying heavily on a dedicated Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/TicToc, which went live in August 2010.

The "TicToc Girls" pop video can be viewed here:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyIDHzXC7Eg)
Seeking to align high school and college-age girls with the TicToc MP3 player, a motion-activated, shuffle-type music player, Samsung embraced Facebook as the hub for the campaign on the basis that this demographic shares virtually everything about one's life on social media, including music.

"Today's generation of young girls wants to tell their own stories, rather than be told what to do, and they want to share their stories with their friends," said YH Lee, senior vice president of mobile marketing, Samsung Electronics. "What we found is that friendship is everything to this demographic. And friends share everything. In order to position the TicToc as the music player of choice for this target, the natural progression was to heavily utilize Facebook, as it provides the ultimate medium for teenage girls to share information with each other."

Samsung created the "TicToc Girls" campaign to build the brand and create product awareness through user participation and interaction. In addition to the Facebook page, Samsung created a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/dothetictoc) to host a TicToc dance instruction video, the professional music video and the behind-the-scenes footage. Meanwhile, the campaign generated a large number of fans and video entries during its short campaign period, accomplishing a high count of monthly active users and a strong fan base.

"The search for the Samsung 'TicToc Girls' was an overwhelming success for the TicToc brand, generating tens of millions of online impressions across four European countries," YH Lee added. "Every teenage girl dreams of becoming a pop star, and Samsung provided a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to star in a music video produced by music industry professionals."

Participants in the Samsung "TicToc Girls" audition were competing for a four-day trip to Seoul, Korea, to shoot a professional pop music video; a film and photo collage of the trip; a gift package with the Samsung TicToc MP3 player; and video and photo displays on Samsung Mobile's channels. To facilitate the contest, Samsung developed and promoted a Facebook application for each of the four participating countries, in which users could watch a demonstration video of the choreography and lyrics, and submit their own version upon completion. The page also provided options to invite friends to audition, as well as view other competitors uploads.

Launched in July, the Samsung TicToc is the first girl-friendly, motion-activated MP3 player. Available in 2GB and 4GB versions, the device supports MP3, AAC, WMA, Ogg, FLAC and WAV files and has a battery life up to 12 hours.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2009 consolidated sales of US$116.8 billion. Employing approximately 188,000 people in 185 offices across 65 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit http://www.samsung.com.