Samsung needed a strong marketing idea to launch the ST1000, a digital camera that can upload pictures directly to facebook and other social networking platforms and is really easy to use. The budget available was less than USD 50,000. We wanted to prove the easy handling by giving the camera to Nonja, an orangutan in the national zoo to take and upload pictures.

The world’s first ape on Facebook became a world wide phenomenon. Over 80,000 fans joined her account in just six weeks.

The international press coverage was worth over 7m USD.

After consulting with the orangutan trainer in the Vienna Zoo we set the duration of the campaign to six weeks, since it was highly probable that Nonja would loose interest after that.When we looked at the first test shots made by Nonja in November we knew the idea would be successful. We continued as planned. We launched the Facebook account with the help of facebook ads and classical banners in Dcember 2009. We shot press pictures and footage for TV stations that were handed out in the second week (as soon there were enough pictures online).From then on no further adjustments or actions were necessary, aside from sending out press material upon request.

In just six weeks Nonja was followed by over 80,000 fans on Facebook. To give you an idea of some figures; after two years of heavy marketing the fan page of Ö3 (Austrias biggest radio station with a market share of 40% reach) has only 24,000 fans.The press coverage exceeded our expectations by far.

On a national base: every major TV-station and newspaper in Austria covered the story.

On an international base: within days Nonja made world wide headlines including coverage in the National Geographic, The Sun, Mirror, Bild, NBC, Reuters, BBC, Huffingthon post, ZDF and many more.Samsung's PR department evaluated the press coverage as being worth more than 7m USD.(If you have a look at the original facebook account now, please have in mind that the campaign finished months ago. Usually some people unsubscribe after a given amount of time).