17 May 2010
NAME: Phan Ngoc Anh Thu
STUDENT ID: s3160793
TUTOR: Doan Mai Anh
Melanie Brown
1
Table of Content
I. Executive Summary...............................................................................3
II. Background.............................................................................................4
III. Situation Analysis..................................................................................4
1. Key findings.....................................................................................4
2. Problem/Opportunity Statement...................................................5
3. Critical Success Factor....................................................................5
IV. Objectives...............................................................................................6
V. Target Publics.........................................................................................6
1. Primary Target Public....................................................................6
2. Secondary Target Public.................................................................7
VI. Key Messages........................................................................................7
VII. Strategy Statement...............................................................................7
VIII. Tactics...................................................................................................7
IX. Critical Path Plan..............................................................................11
X. Budget.................................................................................................12
XI. Evaluation..........................................................................................12
XII. Reference List....................................................................................13
XIII. Appendix............................................................................................14
1. SWOT Analysis..............................................................................14
2. Force Field Analysis......................................................................16
3. List of Universities for Mobile Internet Room Sponsorship.......17
2
I. Executive SummarySamsung Vina is planning to launch High-tech Studying Environment program, operated
in one year from August 2010 to August 2011 at five biggest cities in Vietnam including
Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho and Hai Phong. The target publics will be
the entire youth in general and students in specific, who are really interested in modern
technologies. The communication purposes of this program are to achieve high awareness
among the target publics about the commitment of Samsung Vina in assisting youth
education and to generate their brand recall towards Samsung Vina as the best brand in
providing electronic, digital products. In order to obtain these objectives, this strategic PR
plan is developed to create the opportunities for target publics in understanding more
about Samsung Vina’s products and the company’s capabilities to build a comfortable,
modern life for them. Besides, through the Customizing Your Dream Studying
Environment contest and Mobile Internet Room sponsorship, Samsung Vina expects to
transmit the messages that it always commits to create the modern, professional studying
environments for the youth by the most state-of-the-art technologies.
This program will exploit both controlled communication tools (organizational websites)
and uncontrolled tools (media release, press conference, online forum and social
networking) to inform the target publics about High-tech Studying Environment program.
Besides, media monitoring and feedback will be utilized throughout the program to
ensure the adequacy of information, exposed by target publics and evaluate the
effectiveness of the program’s activities.
3
II. BackgroundSamsung Vina is planning to launch a CSR program, named High-tech Studying
Environment starting from August 2010. In accordance with the corporate theme Turn on
Tomorrow, the main purpose of this program is to upgrade the studying environment of
Vietnamese students by latest technologies and through this, encouraging their
enthusiasm, creativity and passion in learning. There had been other educational
programs undertaken by Samsung Vina before but they were failed to generate
communication benefits for the company in terms of brand publicity and long-term bond.
Therefore, a strategic PR plan is required to communicate with the target audiences in
order to achieve the company’s objectives, transmit the right key messages to the target
publics as well as increasing their brand recall and loyalty.
III. Situation Analysis1. Key findings
Vietnam is a young country with a very young population. Most of the youth now pay
much attention to technologies and consider them as an integral part of their lives.
Therefore, Samsung Vina wants to associate itself with the Vietnamese youth and
identify them as the main target publics for its CSR program. Besides, education is
always the big concern for not only the authorities but also the general public.
Accordingly, combining the youth with education can help Samsung Vina share the same
objectives with those stakeholders towards this concern and receive many supports from
them. The program High-tech Studying Environment is promising to gain loads of
attention of the youth due to their big interest in high technologies and the desire to
modernize their lives. Moreover, it also promotes long-term profits for Samsung Vina by
recruiting talented graduates, creating brand awareness for potential customers as well as
showing the company’s commitment to community development.
However, there are some factors which may affect directly to the High-tech Studying
Environment program and restrain the expected outcomes. Previous large-scaled CSR
programs have paid too much attention to the events themselves but not gaining many
communication benefits for the brand. Thus, it is expected that in this time, High-tech
Studying Environment program will not make any failure like that again. Moreover,
4
another pressure is in terms of timescale because the program will only be implemented
from August 2010 whereas Samsung Vina’s long-term goal of becoming the most
preferred brand in electronics in 2011 is nearby.
Besides, High-tech Studying Environment program also may face skepticism of some
people that the company just takes advantage of doing CSR to polish their brand or
compensate for the bad things they have done. And therefore, the key messages of High-
tech Studying Environment program could be distorted.
2. Problem/Opportunity Statement
Problem Statement:
High-tech Studying Environment program encounters the pressure on generating the best
communication outcomes for the company, not making the same failures like in the
previous CSR programs.
Opportunity Statement:
High-tech Studying Environment program has the opportunity to promote its publicity
and attach target public’s attention due to the good relationships with communication
channels and positive responses from the local residents, who also share social concern
towards youth education.
3. Critical Success Factor
- In order to obtain good communication outcomes, High-tech Studying Environment
program must find the appropriate activities and tactics as well as carrying out
evaluation regularly so that the key messages are transmitted effectively to the target
publics.
- In order to gain large exposure of target audience and provide adequate information
to them, High-tech Studying Environment program must integrate in using both
traditional media and new media in its communication plan.
5
IV. Objectives- To obtain 80% awareness of target publics in five biggest cities of Vietnam about the
main purpose of High-tech Studying Environment program as well as Samsung
Vina’s long-term commitment in assisting youth education after three months when
the program is launched.
- To gain 70% awareness of target publics about Customizing Your Dream Studying
Environment contest and Mobile Internet Room sponsorship during those events.
- To achieve 65% understanding of target publics about the capabilities of Samsung’s
products in providing people a completely comfortable, modern life and better future
two months after the event.
- To generate 40% brand recall and brand loyalty of target publics towards Samsung
Vina’s products four months after the High-tech Studying Environment program.
V. Target PublicsThere are two major target publics.
1. Primary Target Public
As the main purpose of High-tech Studying Environment program is to assist youth
education, the primary target group should be narrowed down to students, who are
studying at the universities in five most populous cities of Vietnam including Ha Noi, Ho
Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho. Furthermore, they are the ones who
can inherit directly many benefits from the program.
The reason is that most of students now pay much interest in modernizing their studying,
working or entertainment activities by the high technologies. Therefore, High-tech
Studying Environment program can generate much attention from them because it has
addressed exactly their top concern. Moreover, with an existent interest in technology, it
is expected that the students will actively respond to the program, participate to the event
and spread widely information about High-tech Studying Environment program to other
people as well.
6
2. Secondary Target Public
The secondary target group will include generally the entire Vietnamese youth, living in
five cities involving Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho. The
youth does not only mean that they are in young age but are also early adopters, who love
technologies and like sharing information with others. They are also the key target
consumers of almost product branches of Samsung Vina. Thus, it is really essential to
improve their understanding and knowledge about Samsung products’ features so that
whenever they need a technological product, they will think of Samsung Vina firstly to
satisfy that demand.
VI. Key Messages
- For primary target public: Through the High-tech Studying Environment program,
Samsung Vina commits to create the modern, professional studying environments for
students by the most state-of-the-art technologies.
- For secondary target public: Samsung Vina always takes the needs and concerns of
the youth into serious consideration in order to provide the electronic and digital
products which can best meet their specific demands.
VII. Strategy StatementThis strategic PR plan will utilize event and sponsorship method to create the awareness
of students about Samsung Vina’s commitment in assisting youth education and both
controlled and uncontrolled tactics to communicate with target public groups as well as
attracting their attention.
VIII. TacticsThe High-tech Studying Environment program will carry out event and sponsorship
method as the crucial focuses in the entire plan. Media releases, press conference, social
online networking and organizational websites will also be exploited to spread
information about the program’s activities and encourage participation of target publics.
7
Event: Customizing Your Dream Studying Environment Contest
- Samsung Vina will launch a contest for students, who are studying at the universities
in Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho. The contestants
will propose a concept about their desired studying environment with the combination
of modern, professional technologies. In the proposal, they can use any kind of
electronic, digital facilities as much as they want but it is mandatory that those
products have to belong to Samsung Vina brand. Besides, they are also required to
present a rationale explanation via a video clip, stating the reasons why they choose
those specific products; how it can generate the best outcomes when integrating the
products together and how those facilities enable the contestant to improve their
learning ability. The contestant, who receives the greatest number of votes for the
most persuasive proposal after one week, will be the winner. The duration of the
contest will be in three months from 25/08/2010 to 25/11/2010.
- The prize will be all of the products that the winner has used in their proposal. In
other words, Samsung Vina will reward them by making their dream studying
environment come true. Totally, there will be five awards for three best groups and
two best individuals.
Sponsorship: Mobile Internet Room
- In order to emphasize the mobility of Samsung Vina’s corporate theme Turn on
tomorrow, a mobile Internet room will be set up at a specific university in one week
and keep moving to another university in the following weeks according to the
intended schedule. In this mobile room, there will be a hundred of Samsung laptops
connected to Internet wireless, providing free for students to access the Internet for
studying and researching. This program will happen in five months from 28/3/2011 to
28/8/2011 at 19 universities.
Media releases and Press conference:
- One press conference will be held in August 2010 to inform the journalists about
High-tech Studying Environment program accompanying with its purposes, key
messages and the operation progress as well as introducing Customizing Your Dream
Studying Environment Contest and Mobile Internet Room sponsorship.
8
- One month before Customizing Your Dream Studying Environment Contest, a media
release will be sent to the journalists to provide more detailed information about that
event. It will be the same to the subsequent event - Mobile Internet Room
sponsorship.
- By publishing news on print media including newspapers, magazines and online news
websites, the outcomes expected from these two tactics are to spread the information
to target audiences and appeal their participation to the events.
Social online media:
- New media including online forum and social networking site will be utilized in
gaining attention of target publics towards the High-tech Studying Environment
program in general and two events Customizing Your Dream Studying Environment
Contest and Mobile Internet Room sponsorship in specific.
- An online forum will be created on High-tech Studying Environment program’s
websites for the youth to discuss about studying skills, modern technological products
and current issues around two events of the program. Especially, it is also a good
place for the contestants in Customizing Your Dream Studying Environment Contest
to ask for comments or suggestions regarding their proposal as well as persuading
audiences to vote for them.
- A Facebook page will be also created for Facebook users to subscribe, check out the
proposals of contestants, update information about the contest and leave comments,
feedbacks.
- The outcomes expected from these tactics are to gain awareness of target publics,
increase their involvement in contributing the forum and encourage them to spread
the information about the events to other friends.
Organizational Website:
- A website, named www.high-techstudyingenvironment.com, will be the official
information center between Samsung Vina and target publics throughout the
entire program. Program’s purpose, company’s commitment to the youth
education, online forum, contatcs and products’ features of Samsung (which is
linked to Samsung Vina’s official website: www.samsung.com/vn) are the sectors
appearing on the website. 9
- During the Customizing Your Dream Studying Environment Contest, the website
will show the contest’s descriptions including competition regulations and prize
structures. When the contest starts, the information about contestants and their
video clip project will be uploaded for viewers to watch and vote.
- During the Mobile Internet Room sponsorship, the website will update the specific
schedule and list of the universities that mobile Internet room will come in each
day. Student who wants to join can register their name to reserve a laptop. The
detailed schedule of Mobile Internet Room is enclosed in appendix 3.
- The outcomes expected from this tactic are to provide adequate information to
target publics, deliver to them the company’s messages, and increase their
exposure to Samsung Vina’s brand. From then, the program can impulse their
brand recall as well as brand loyalty.
10
IX. Critical Path Plan
The High-tech Studying Environment program will happen in one year from 10/8/2010 to 30/8/2011. The detailed tasks are allocated in the below chart.
11
X. BudgetThe below table is the budget for High-tech Studying Environment CSR program. There is a
note that budget for the award of the contest is just approximate because it is up to the
contestants in customizing their proposal. They can use whatever Samsung products they
want so the total expenses are only known after the contest.
Item Fixed Cost Quantity Total
Press conference (150
guests) Catering + Venue
hire
120,000,000 VND 1 120,000,000 VND
Media release (writing +
distribution)
6,000,000 VND 2 12,000,000 VND
Website 20,000,000 VND 1 20,000,000 VND
Awards for the contest 1,500,000,000 VND 1,500,000,000 VND
Samsung laptop 18,000,000 VND 100 1,800,000,000 VND
Samsung Wireless LAN 15,000,000 VND 4 60,000,000 VND
Setting up expense per
university (transportation +
electronic fee)
5,000,000 VND 19 95,000,000 VND
Total expense 3,607,000,000 VND
XI. EvaluationIn order to gain the most effective outputs and long-term outcomes, evaluation
methodologies will be conducted throughout the program so that Samsung Vina can provide
the appropriate, urgent adjustments if there is any mistake or problem. Specifically, there will
be media monitoring (both online and offline) including media content analysis to manage
the information related to High-tech Studying Environment program and program’s website
analysis to keep track of numbers of visitors and information download. Finally, feedback
analysis will be implemented through a telephone and paper surveys, which are distributed to
students joining Mobile Internet Room sponsorship. The main purpose is to collect the
complaints, suggestions, complements and inquiries from target publics.
Word Count: 2,446
12
XII. Reference List
Harrison, K 2008, Strategic Public Relations – a practical guide to success, 5th edn, Century
Consulting Group, Australia.
Interbrand Corp. 2009, ‘Best global brand list 2009’, Interbrand Corp., viewed 10 May 2010,
http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx
Samsung Vina 2009, ‘Community activities in Vietnam’, Samsung Vina, viewed 9 May
2010, http://www.samsung.com/vn/aboutsamsung/citizenship/activities.html
13
XIII. Appendix
1. SWOT Analysis
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
- Ranked 19 out of 100 best global brands
in 2009 based on the annual review of
Interbrand Corp. (2009) high reputation.
- Understanding well the culture, tradition
of Vietnamese people as Korea’s value is
pretty similar with Vietnam.
- The majority of Vietnam’s population is
the youth, which is suitable with the
strategic target of Samsung, as a brand sells
electronics and digital products.
- Rich CSR portfolio and the positive
intention to focus on CSR in long term
an advantage to establish good brand image
in customers’ mind.
- Be diversified in community activities for
the unfortunate people in Vietnam: wide
range from social welfare, health, volunteer
and education such as From Heart to Heart,
Samsung Digital Hope, etc. (Samsung Vina
2009)
- Lots of experiences from the previous
CSR programs, exclusively for students
like Future Creation and University Tour.
- Having existent relationship with the
communication channels and journalists.
- Unlimited budget for CSR program as
long as it is justifiable.
- The previous large-scaled CSR programs
have paid too much attention to the events
themselves but not gaining many
communication benefits for the brand.
- Most of the CSR programs in Vietnam
focus giving advantages for only
unfortunate people, not for the mass youth
yet; meanwhile it is Samsung Vina’s main
target public.
14
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
OPPORTUNITY THREAT
- Vietnam is an education-hunger country
so with the program High-tech Studying
Environment to assist youth education;
Samsung can receive many supports from
the authority, local residents as well as
gaining public awareness.
- Recruiting talented students, who gain the
benefits from High-tech Studying
Environment, to work for Samsung Vina in
the future.
- The youth now pay much interest in high
technology and modernizing their lifestyle,
study and work High-tech Studying
Environment can aim at this desire to
attract their attention.
- To propagate for High-tech Studying
Environment, Samsung will utilize new
media and Internet like web 2.0, which is
very popular among the youth.
- High-tech Studying Environment takes
place at Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da
Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho, which are
five most populous cities of Vietnam.
- The unsuccessfulness in terms of
communication of the previous CSR
programs may lead to a pressure for High-
tech Studying Environment to achieve
positive outcomes.
- High-tech Studying Environment will be
started executing from August, 2010
whereas Samsung Vina’s long-term goal of
becoming the most preferred brand in
electronics in 2011 is close It may create
a pressure on timescales.
- Skeptical mindset of some people that
company doing CSR is just for to polish
their brand name or makeup for bad things
they have just done.
15
2. Force Fields Analysis
Driving Forces:
- Attracting lots of attention of the youth as nowadays, they are really interested in digital
products and desire to use the latest technology in their study, work or entertainment.
- Gaining support from the authority and local residents as Vietnamese people always have
big concerns in assisting youth education.
- Generating long-term outcomes for the brand image when showing the commitment to
social responsibility
- Promoting long-term profits for business from recruiting talented graduates, improving
relationship with local authority as well as creating brand awareness for potential customers.
- Increasing Samsung Vina’s value and reputation.
Samsung Vina is planning to execute the CSR program Modern Studying Environment in
order to assist the youth having a modern, professional studying condition.
Restraining Forces:
- Pressures about timescale and positive outcomes.
- Costing a lot of expenses but not generating immediate profit.
- Some people may have a skeptical attitude that the business just takes advantage of doing
CSR to polish their brand.
16
3. List of Universities for Mobile Internet Room Sponsorship
No Name City Date
1 Hanoi University of Technology Hanoi 28/3 - 4/4/2011
2 University of Science, VNU Hanoi Hanoi 5/4 - 12/4/2011
3
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU
Hanoi Hanoi 13/4 - 20/4/2011
4 University of Economic and Business, VNU Hanoi Hanoi 21/4 - 28/4/2011
5 Vietnam University of Commerce Hanoi 29/4 - 6/5/2011
6 Hai Phong Medical University Hai Phong 10/5 - 17/5/2011
7 Danang University of Technology Da Nang 19/5 - 26/5/2011
8 University of Da Nang Da Nang 27/5 - 2/6/2011
9 Danang College of Foreign Language Da Nang 3/6 - 10/6/2011
10 HCMC University of Technology HCMC 13/6 - 20/6/2011
11
HCMC University of Social Sciences and
Humanities HCMC 21/6 - 28/6/2011
12 International University, VNU HCM HCMC 29/6 - 6/7/2011
13 Univeristy of Economics HCMC 7/7 - 14/7/2011
14 Lotus University HCMC 15/7 - 22/7/2011
15 HCMC Open University HCMC 23/7 - 30/7/2011
16 Banking University HCMC 31/7 - 1/8/2011
17 Hung Vuong University HCMC 2/8 - 9/8/2011
18 Can Tho University Can Tho 12/8 - 19/8/2011
19 Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy Can Tho 20/8 - 27/8/2011
17