SAPPHIRE rozGRYwka – Golden Clip and Gold Magellan 2013 Awards

Client

SAPPHIRE Technology is a global computer hardware producer specializing in graphics cards – the key component that determines PC gaming performance.

Challenge

The main target group for graphics card producers are gamers. This group is changing dynamically. Younger generations of gamers are getting less and less interested in technical details of the hardware they use. Their basic requirement becomes simple – right upon start up, the hardware should work efficiently with a specific game.

Along with the changes in the target group, the media that have been the main communication channel for graphics card producers are also changing. Specialized technology media are losing their reach and significance. Also the number of journalists who deal with niche technology topics is decreasing.

In addition, products of different graphics card brands don’t differ too much between one another. Recognition and emotional attitude towards a brand are becoming crucial when reaching new customers.

SAROTA PR agency faced the challenge of extending and enhancing brand awareness of SAPPHIRE, taking the changes undergoing in the PC hardware industry into account. In order to adapt to this situation, the agency needed to find an alternative form of communication that would effectively reach gamers and create a bond and positive connotations between them and the SAPPHIRE’s brand.

Objectives:

– find a new channel to reach the group of gamers effecitvely

– enhance brand awareness

– create bonds between gamers and the brand

Solution:

– best gameplay contest

– combining the capabilities of Facebook and YouTube

– involving a popular vloger

Results:

– 960 entries, 91% positive opinions, 7,000 comments, 1,383,000 impressions

– the number of fans of SAPPHIRE Technology Polska fanpage tripled

– joining the group of Poland’s best IT/Electronics fanpages

Solution

The SAROTA PR team decided to take advantage of a popular trend among gamers that consists in watching and creating gameplays, i.e. videos featuring PC game scenarios with commentary.

We invited gamers to have fun with creating their own gameplays. The videos were to be submitted in a special app in the SAPPHIRE Technology Polska’s fan page on Facebook. Patryk „Rojo” Rojewski – a gamer and one of the most popular Polish YouTube vloggers – becasme the campaign’s ambassador and a judge in the contest.

The participants uploaded their videos to YouTube. Each video started with a special board including information on the campaign, prizes and the SAPPHIRE brand. Thanks to that, every video entry submitted in the contest contributed to the overall promotional effect.

Simultaneous use of Facebook and YouTube was aimed at bringing synery to our efforts.

SAPPHIRE rozGRYwka was provided with a media sponsorship of two Poland’s leading PC gaming and hardware websites – gram.pl and benchmark.pl.

A press release about the campaign was distributed among selected media.

Results

Gamers submitted 960 video entries which received 91% of positive feedback from viewers. During the campaign, videos were viewed over 530,000 times… and still counting.

The SAPPHIRE Technology Polska’s fanpage tripled the number of its fans from 7 to 23 thousand, thus becoming the Facebook leader among graphics card producers in the Polish market.

The campaign-related content was commented over 7,000 times, and its impressions totaled 1,383,000.

Since the campaign’s conclusion, the SAPPHIRE Technology Polska’s fanpage has been regularly rated in Sotrender rankings, which demonstrates the lasting effect of the SAPPHIRE rozGRYwka campaign. In April 2013, the fanpage gained the highest percentage of engaged fans in the category of IT/Electronics, outstripping pages of such brands as Samsung, Nokia or Intel. In September 2013 report, the page was ranked third in the ranking of interactivity, and fifth in the ranking of fan engagement.

The SAPPHIRE rozGRYwka campaign was awarded with Golden Clip 2013 in social media category. Golden Clips is the most prestigious award in Polish public relations industry, It’s organized annually by The Polish Public Relations Consultancies Association (PPRCA).

The campaign was also awarded with Gold Magellan Award 2013 in an international competition for best communication campaigns organized by League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). SAPPHIRE rozGRywka was also recognized as one of the best 25 campaigns of 2013 in the world.

Compliation of the best fragments from videos submitted to SAPPHIRE rozGRYwka can be seen at http://youtu.be/VRo1YRPmh1w

The campaign executed by SAROTA PR proved to be unusually effective. It has helped us to outdistance our competition in the social media space which has become an increasingly more significant field of communication in the IT industry. Due to our many years of cooperation with SAROTA PR – both locally in Poland and on global level, we are able to push out many result-oriented and innovative projects.

Adrian Thompson

Vice President of Marketing

SAPPHIRE Technology