The worst Instagram account. Ever.

After the Instagram account was seeded with dark pictures, people initially made fun of Rúnar. But he soon had a fast-growing group of followers who embraced him enthusiastically, loved his stories and encouraged him to continue.

The conversation really took off following the launch of the online film. Followers on his Instagram went head-to-head debating whether this was just a campaign, a true story or both. A lot of heart-warming reactions encouraged Rúnar to take more photos. Fans started #runarforpresident, which became a trending topic. The online film became one of the top 5 Virals in the Netherlands. 4.5 million people viewed the online film.

The campaign results were amazing, both in terms of engagement and increased sales:

1. The Samsung Galaxy S7 became the best sold phone in the Netherlands, and was No 1 on the GFK hitlist.
2. During the 3-month launch and for the first time in the Dutch market, Samsung took Apple’s No 1 spot.
3. The engagement rate was 20% (benchmark is 5%, DVJ Insights 2016).
4. Samsung became a more aspirational brand. The ‘proud to own a Samsung’ value increased by 14% (29% in February, 43% in June).

We decided to focus on one single Samsung Galaxy S7 USP: the best camera ever, takes perfect pictures EVEN in low-light conditions.

Breaking with social conventions of posting only perfect pictures on Instagram, we introduced an anti-hero: the worst Instagrammer ever. Rúnar Jónsson, a fisherman who lives in Iceland, the country with the longest twilight in the world. Rúnar likes sharing pictures on Instagram, but his smartphone can’t cope with the low-light conditions. So his Instagram is basically a collage of dark squares. As you can’t see what is in the photos, Rúnar often writes extensive captions.

We made his Instagram account (www.instagram.com/runarjonsson) the heart of our campaign. The content of the Worst Instagram Account tells the story of the best ever smartphone camera and its USP.

We started by seeding Rúnar’s Instagram account with dark pictures, followed by the launch of an online video; an honest portrait of Rúnar, that enabled people to get to know the man behind the worst Instagram account ever. The video ended with Rúnar receiving the new Galaxy S7 as a gift and taking (& posting) his first "clear" picture.

That was the start of his Instagram account’s second boost. Rúnar started posting his beautiful S7 photos and in doing so demonstrated the unique quality.

Samsung is launching the Galaxy S7. The best Samsung smartphone so far, with the best ever built-in camera.

But how to convince free-thinking millennials (18-35), the key target, of this new technology? The market is flooded with competitive brands bragging about their phones and cameras and the GFK forecast for 2016 is -0.5%. It is becoming increasingly difficult to persuade people to purchase a new smartphone. Moreover, free-thinking millennials form a critical key target. They are hard to engage and hard to convince.

We were asked to create an authentic and engaging storytelling platform to launch the new Samsung Galaxy S7 in the Dutch market.

Ambitious objectives were set:
• The Samsung Galaxy S7 must become the No 1 sold phone in the Dutch market.
• Samsung must become a more aspirational brand. The ‘proud to own a Samsung’ value needs to increase by at least 6%.

Jury Feedback

BRANDED CONTENT & ENTERTAINMENT / BRONZE

‘Stand out idea that makes a reasonably generic and unglamorous product feature as the hero, coming to life through fun storytelling. High clickability to discover what was the worst instagram account ever.’