Title	#APEARFORANAPPLE
Brand	SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS BELGIUM
Product/Service	CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
Category	A05. Media Relations
PR Agency	KETCHUM Brussels, BELGIUM
Entrant Company	KETCHUM Brussels, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Wai Hoi Tsang	Ketchum Brussels	Project Manager
Bram Smets	Ketchum Brussels	Business Unit Director
Barbele Walraet	Content Cowboys	Client Ma'am
Marjon Lepage	Content Cowboys	Project Manager
Lev Detrez	Content Cowboys	Creative Director
Anke Van Goethem	Content Cowboys	Copywriter
Charlotte Sterkens	Samsung Electronics Belgium	Pr Officer
Bob Cox	Samsung Electronics Belgium	Social Media Officer
Eva Maes	Samsung Electronics Belgium	Event Manager
Anne Mathieu	Ketchum Brussels	Project Manager

The Campaign

Taking a Bite Out of Apple IFA is Europe’s largest electronics show. Every September, IFA launches the holiday buying season—the CE industry’s critical sales quarter. Most companies debut their biggest products at IFA, but each year have become accustomed to being “upstaged” by Apple, with its mystique and coolness factor, and splashy, much-hyped media event after the show’s close. In 2014, the buzz was about the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. As usual, the industry was resigned to watching Apple command center stage. Doing otherwise was generally seen as futile. Yet to steal Apple’s thunder was the fantasy of every electronics company, certainly Samsung’s. And the media were growing weary of Apple’s expected narrative. This year’s situation seemed “ripe” for picking. A timely crisis in Belgium due to a Russian embargo of pears, Belgium’s largest export crop, gave us an audacious idea: Why not help Belgian pear farmers while also slyly inserting Samsung into the PR conversation on Apple’s big day? Could we distract the media? #aPearForAnApple was born. The idea was mischievous: For every tweet on Apple’s big press day with the hashtag #aPearForAnApple, Samsung would buy a pear from Belgian farmers. We had 24 hours. Could we pull it off? We could, and did. • A frenzy erupted in 40 countries, producing 2 million Twitter impressions in 24 hours • We hit 5.6 million media impressions overnight, including online coverage on hln.be and 7sur7.be, and headline stories in Het Nieuwsblad and La DH, and on Radio 1 and DH Radio All for a modest PR budget of €2.684.

The Brief

The Underdog Dares to Steal the Show The Apple post-IFA event keynote was a milestone event of the year for the consumer electronics industry, something that no other firm dared touch, and attempting to enter that conversation and steal some of the limelight was a bold move. Samsung’s goal was twofold: • Steal some of Apple’s thunder on its big Q4 announcement day • Come to the aid of Belgian pear farmers. Stimulate awareness of the farmers’ plight and drive a show of support and pride, leading to increased pear consumption by Belgians.

Execution

Feeding a Press and Public Hungry for a Fresh Angle We have strong relationships with the Belgian Tier 1 lifestyle and general interest publications, and we leveraged those relationships, making personal phone calls and sending emails just hours before the Apple keynote. • Launched the Twitter hashtag #APearforanApple as part of a 24-hour campaign during which every tweet on “Apple” resulted in a pear purchased by Samsung. • Drove immediate word of mouth on the initiative through aggressive outreach to the most popular online news media. • Built a microsite overnight and directed traffic to it. • Following the social stunt, we gave away the pears - each with a Samsung sticker - at Brussel’s largest train station during commute hours. Timing of our media pitches was critical: the press had to publish stories just before Apple’s announcement so that all of Samsung #aPearForAnApple Twitter action would be fresh in reporters’ mind as they wrote about Apple.

Samsung’s cheeky media stunt made it into leading industry news stories and spread in 40+ countries, generating 2 million Twitter impressions and 5.6 million media impressions overnight. More than 3,400 engaged and tweeted – from as far as Peru. The story also proved too delicious for the media to pass up. Coverage appeared on Belgian online sites hln.be and 7sur7.be, in print in Het Nieuwsblad and La DH, as well as on Radio 1 and DH Radio. The day after the media frenzy, Samsung gave away thousands of pears to Belgium commuters, a motivating reminder that continued to galvanize local support and pride behind the Belgian pear industry. The additional media attention helped drive 30% more domestic pear consumption in 2014. And Apple didn’t own the day after all. Samsung was mentioned in many media stories that day, as the rest of the industry enviously watched Samsung take a mischievous “bite” at Apple. Showing just how far €2.684 can stretch with a little PR savvy.

The Strategy

Hijack a Meme and Give the Media a Delicious Story They Couldn’t Refuse With just 24 hours to execute and a budget of only 2,500 Euros, the Samsung team chose not to make a formal announcement, take out any paid advertising, or even issue a press release. Instead, we decided to “leak” the news of our plan to the top lifestyle media in person, letting the momentum build and the story to organically set its own course based on media response and published reports. The media bit. #APearForAnApple was met with immediate delight and intrigue, and took off like wildfire.