Samsung has infiltrated iPhones with a Galaxy handset emulator. Samsung created a web app that turns Apple’s iPhones into Galaxy handsets, achieving 10 million global downloads.
The « iTest » program works from the Apple user’s internet browser and can be downloaded as a web app to their home screen, bypassing Apple’s App Store. Allowing all iPhone owners to experience its Galaxy interface and its myriad of features, from their Apple handset.
Samsung used text messages to guide iPhone users through its features and tools, prompting them to receive calls, change the phone’s background theme, play games and take photos. New Zealand travel influencer Logan Dodds even makes an appearance by showing the user how to operate the camera.
The web app was first launched in April 2021 for a small New Zealand audience via a single paid social ad. However after the app was reported on by the MacRumors news site, « iTest » went viral with coverage by tech bloggers, news publications and influencers. YouTube channel Unbox Therapy, which has 18.2m subscribers, was one of the outlets that reviewed « iTest », calling it « Cheeky in a good way ».
Samsung has since built on the campaign with ads for iTest targeting people who are considering switching smartphones – including search ads that appear when people are looking online for information about switching phones, and outdoor ads around phone shops.
This reported internal email from an Apple employee pitches the « iTest » concept quite well: « Hey team, Was just at our central store and saw an iPhone on our display shelf had been transformed into a Samsung. Hoping it was a prank I discovered with horror that Samsung has built a website that allows any iPhone user to try a Samsung from the comfort of their own iPhone. They’re using our own devices as a media placement. Samara, Apple Norway. Sent from my iPhone. »
Results
Samsung claims that « iTest » has been downloaded more than 10 million times, and that the initiative helped increase the number of people who chose to switch from Apple to Samsung, but that exact figures are confidential.
Awards
Samsung’s « iTest » campaign has won the following awards:
- D&AD 2022: Black Pencil in the Media category (Mobile sub-category), 1 Yellow Pencil, 1 Graphite Pencil, 1 Wood Pencil, 3 Shortlists.
- Spikes awards 2022: Grand Prix in Brand Experience & Activation.
- The Caples Awards 2022: Best In Show.
Credits
- Client: Samsung New Zealand.
- Agency: DDB New Zealand, Tribal Worldwide New Zealand.
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