• by Aaron Baar , May 12, 2010

Samsung Electronics America has high hopes for its new DualView line of cameras. And it's attempting to make its marketing measure up.

"We think it's the camera that will catapult Samsung from our current market share to two to three times [what it is]," Peggy Ang, VP of marketing communications for Samsung Electronics USA, tells Marketing Daily. "The marketing of it has to be equally ambitious and hard-charging."

To create a maximum effect, Samsung has enlisted pop star Alicia Keys -- and her hit song "Wait Til You See My Smile" -- to promote the new line of cameras, which have imaging screens on both sides, allowing users to view self-portraits before pressing the shutter button. A television commercial featuring Keys dramatizes this action through the story of a fan, who gets the opportunity to take a picture of herself and Keys together. Using the front screen to preview the photo, she nabs the perfect shot of herself and Keys together.

"It's about picturing yourself in the fun," Ang says of the approach. "We said, 'Let's latch onto this idea of taking pictures that people want to see themselves in'."

Keys and Samsung have had a previous relationship, with the singer performing at the company's Four Seasons of Hope charitable gala. Keys' appeal to a younger demographic that is both technologically and celebrity savvy made her a natural fit for the DualView product, Ang says. The fact that she had a song that fit perfectly with the idea of snapping photos was a "lucky strike," she says.

The television commercial will run on broadcast and cable networks through May 27 and will be supported with online, social media and point-of-purchase elements.

The Dual View effort is the second in Samsung's "Dedicated to Wonder" marketing platform, which is intended to showcase consumer moments of wonder and delight through Samsung products. The first showcased the company's 3D televisions.

The next, Ang says, will highlight appliances. "It gives us legs that we are one brand in the U.S.," Ang says. "This [DualView] campaign is bringing to life the wonder of picturing yourself in a dream [scenario]."