Now Samsung is targeting a turnover of Rs 250 crore in the second quarter of 1999 -- which in turn is expected to help the company meet its stretch target for the current financial year: Samsung is targeting a turnover of Rs 900 crore, up from Rs 540 crore in 1998-99.

Credit for the performance goes to a planned, integrated strategy which started with Samsung introducing depth and breadth in its product range from early 1999. Samsung then spent a total of $7 million in the second quarter of 1999 towards advertising and promotion (A&P) costs which included the advertising for the new products launched in April, media sponsorhip onESPN & Star Sports, the Kapil Dev-tie-up, and the dealer and consumer schemes to England.

Samsung now claims that the most tangible benefits of the A&P spend for Samsung have come in the form of the tremendous increase in sales. Consider the returns. In the colour TV (CTV) segment, it sold 60,000 CTVs in May 1999, a jump of 193 per cent over its sales in May 1998. In the refrigerator segment, sales increased by 300 per cent in May 1999 over May 1998. In terms of market share, Samsung achieved a 12 per cent market share in the CTV market in May 1999.

In the pre-World Cup scenario Samsung had planned to score an 11 per cent increase in brand awareness--up from 74 per cent in late 1998, it had targeted to increase it to 85 per cent after the World Cup.

The company expects the brand awareness and recall, which will be tracked in the wake of the Cup, to have increased considerably on account of the increased visibility on ESPN and Star Sports, the print campaigns with Kapil Dev to support the new productlaunches and the promotions. Samsung tied up with Kapil Dev in March and introduced an ad-blitz promoting its top-of-the-line airconditioner, refrigerator and washing machine during the World Cup matches.

Samsung's World Cup promo included two schemes: one was the Samsung SureShot World Cup Bonanza consumer offer--launched on April 20 and to be continued till June 30, 1999--which offered free gifts with the purchase of any Samsung product. The cost of gifts for this promotion amounted to Rs 4 crore while the total cost of this promotion was Rs 6.5 crore.

The other scheme was the Samsung-Kapil Dev Dream Team contest with India Today, where the prizes were Samsung products and an all-expense paid trip to England for two lucky winners.

Apart from these, Samsung also pampered its 200 dealers by taking them to a five-day trip to England to watch the World Cup. However, to qualify the dealers had to meet stretch sales targets--on an average, a dealer was expected to ramp up sales by a whopping 80 to 90 percent during the second quarter of 1999, compared to the corresponding period last year. And in the final reckoning, it was Samsung who scored.