Samsung: Launch, Leak, Lifestyle

By 2020 Myanmar's technology media were being courted by a crowd of smartphone brands, each with launches, promotions and executives to promote. Coverage had become a zero-sum contest and relationships with journalists were the deciding factor.

Samsung appointed Ruder Finn Era to lead its corporate communications in Myanmar with a clear objective: strengthen its relationship with the media so that Samsung's news was welcomed, well understood and reported in the right tone, rather than lost among competitors.

The team developed an ongoing 2020 communications strategy that was deliberately more open and collaborative with journalists, treating them as partners with their own needs rather than as a distribution channel.

The differentiator was editorial. Analysis of what local news media had historically reported well led to a three-part framework, the three Ls: launch stories (products, CSR and partnerships), leak stories (global flagship and tech news only) and lifestyle stories built on integrated marketing and KOL campaigns. Each Samsung announcement was shaped into the format most likely to be picked up and enjoyed by readers.

Media relations and KOL strategy ran together, so that consumer-facing campaigns and corporate news reinforced each other across the year.