What Samsung should do to improve Samsung Fun Club

Members of the Cebu Blogger’s Society (CBS) were given the privilege to be invited and given VIP access to Samsung Fun Club Day in Cebu.  I arrived at around 7 p.m, went straight to the food court and looked around to see where the Cebu Blogger’s where sitting. Clarence of www.dahonglaya.com spotted me and led me to where CBS was standing by. I was then introduced to Hazel Javier. I forgot what her exact job title was, but I remember it has something to do with marketing. She gave us a jacket, tickets to the Parokya ni Edgar concert and some information about the event

I failed to get pictures, so I have to borrow from a fellow CBS member. Pictures are courtesty of Beejing of www.ibeejing.com.

Samsung Fun Club is an avenue wherein Samsung mobile phone users could learn more about their mobile phones in a very interactive and dynamic way.

Instead of asking people to merely visit the Samsung Fun Club website, Samsung is taking the web to the people “live.” This thought is encapsulated in the tag line “When the world visits the web, anything is possible. When the web visits the world, IMAGINATION LIVES.

Hazel Javier, describes what Samsung Fun Club day in Cebu is like:

“Visitors will be guided to every “live page” by our avatars from Magic 89.9, your courtside announcer Ms. Andie 9 with the Boys Nite Out. They can stop drooling over the images of the different Samsung mobile phones in the website because here they get the chance to feel and experience Samsung’s latest releases … Now who says life to the fullest is just a piece of our imagination?

The one who wants it the most gets the most, they say. So just hold on to your passport and you get a stamp every time you visit a page from the live website! And if the visitor completes all six stamps (Are these made of rubber stamps ? just asking)— tada!!! They will get a reward! From cool mugs, jackets and even a digital picture frame!

…Up for grabs as well is a Samsung F400 which will be raffled off later in the evening.

And to wrap it all up with a bang, one of the most prolific hitmakers in the local music scene today, Parokya ni Edgar, will rock the night away. “

It’s free to join Samsung Fun club. You don’t need to own a Samsung phone to become member. You just need to register at http://ph.samsungmobile.com.

So what’s in the website? Members get to enjoy Fun Pack & Premium content for their Samsung mobile phones. (Games, ringtones, wallpapers, screensavers) You can also get phone information and technical specifications. Samsung Fun club also spices up the website with exciting contest and rewards. To create an interactive environment, Samsung Fun Club also let’s users input their suggestions and how best they can be served.

The way I see it, Samsung wants to create a community of Mobile phone users that will serve as its strong consumer base, the same way that Apple created a “cultic like” community and following with it’s iphone and ipod.

This is a great idea and I think Samsung should vigorously pursue this idea and further find ways to improve Samsung Fun club.

I am not giving my suggestions because I think that Samsung did a poor job with Samsung Fun Club. On the contrary, I laud Samsung’s efforts in creating a strong community consumer base. However I believe in the saying that “There is always a better way. There is no better way than KNOWING WHAT THE MARKET WANTS AND GIVING IT TO THEM.

My friend has a Samsung Dual sim phone. He said Samsung is the first “branded” phone that offered this feature. I appreciate this move by Samsung. For me this is an example of listening more to what the market wants.

Samsung should continue with innovations such as this. These are innovations that are highly sensitive to what the market needs. Instead of creating the most sophisticated, ultra slick mobile phone, the process should be reversed. What should be asked first is what does the market want.

Here are my two cents on what the market wants and these are

a.) GREAT FEATURES AND GREAT PRICE – Generic Chinese made phones that have very poor quality are entering the Philippine markets and are surprisingly being bought by a lot of people. The phones are packed with features such as dual SIM, a Television, FM and AM radio with prices that are half that of branded cell phones. These Generic phones do not even spend a dime for marketing, yet they have snatched a certain percentage of market share. Sellers of these kinds of phones diligently visit offices and offer their wares with great discounts. They usually contact one person in an office and ask him to “recruit” other buyers and if he can recruit 5 or 10 he gets one free phone.

Now I am not saying that Samsung phones do not have great features. Of course they have some of the best features that can be found a mobile phone. The price is also great. But again, there is always a better way of doing things.

Perhaps Samsung might want to follow this lead and snatch the market away from these Generic Chinese made phone.

b.) FREE INTERNET ACCESS – 3G and mobile internet has not succeeded in the Philippines because prices are too high. Samsung should work out a deal with mobile phone companies and advertisers that will give free internet access to Samsung Fun Club members. I’m sure this is feasible as this is what Amazon is doing to its Amazon Kindle. This deal would make being a member of Samsung Fun Club so cool and would no doubt propel Samsung to become the number one mobile phone in the country.

c.) HARNESS THE POWER OF WEB 2.0 – Samsung Fun Club has done a great job with their website but again there’s always a better way. They can utilize Web 2.0 technologies and incorporate it in their website in order to make it more interactive. Samsung Fun Club Africa has a blog, I wonder why the Philippines does not have one.

Blogging has become so popular. Samsung can also increase its online presence by offering free domain and hosting services to qualified bloggers. (With Samsung claims a certain amount of ad space on their blogs.) Samsung can also create software in mobile phones that will allow bloggers to write and publish photos easily in their mobile phones.

Because Samsung phones have great camera features, they can create a photo blogging site, wherein photo bloggers can have their own free domain and hosting. The software in the Phones must allow photo bloggers to easily upload the photos they took on their phones to their photo blogging site using their phones.

The possibilities of harnessing web 2.0 are endless and when Samsung will utilize these to further promote Samsung Fun Club, IMAGINATION TRULY LIVES !

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