Mktg - Consumers experience Samsung Omnia virtually

Kapil Ohri

Samsung India recently concluded an interesting online contest, called Search for Missing Agent J (James), in which it used the interactive power of the Internet to create awareness about the features of its newly launched high-end mobile phone, the Omnia.

The contest ran for 10 days and was promoted mainly through banner ads across various websites such as Yahoo.com, MSN.com, Rediff.com, NDTV.com, IBNLive.com, Tech2.com, In.com, GSMArena.com and Ciol.com.


To enter the contest, users could click on the banner ads and be redirected to the contest microsite. On entering the microsite, they saw photographs of various secret service agents who had gone on special missions and used state of the art gadgets such as the Omnia mobile. All of them were assigned special code names such as X, Y and Z.

A note on the microsite, written by Agent Z, informed visitors that the company had lost communication with its special agent, James or J, but it had his mobile (a Samsung Omnia), which was the only clue to his whereabouts. The information related to J's last mission was stored in his Omnia handset. Thereafter, J's phone was virtually handed over to the contestants and they were told to find out his location by exploring the various features of the mobile and to dig out information related to James' location.

The online contest was being promoted separately from the banner ad campaign, which redirects users to SamsungOmnia.in, where the various features of the mobile are displayed. Speaking to afaqs!, a Samsung spokesperson says, “The idea behind running the contest was to inform and let consumers experience the various features of the Omnia. We wanted to tell consumers what exactly a Samsung Omnia mobile is and what it can do for them.”

He adds, “People explore more if there is a story in the marketing message. So, we used the missing agent story and asked people to use the Omnia and experience its features such as Excel, video and GPS.”

The company claims that the microsite received 500,000 page views and 200,000 unique visitors in the 10 days of the contest. Starcom IP, the digital marketing arm of the Starcom MediaVest Group, handles the media planning and buying for the Samsung Omnia in India.