LG has clearly been having a long hard think about how to get its much anticipated G4 smartphone off to the best possible start, and has come up with a rather intriguing marketing initiative.
In an effort to get regular folk talking about its new flagship phone prior to its official launch, which is expected to be toward the end of this month, LG says it’s going to hand out 4,000 G4 devices to consumers in 15 countries so they can “test drive” its latest handset.
The scheme kicked off in LG’s home country of South Korea on Wednesday, and will be coming in the next few days to lucky LG fans in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the U.K., and Turkey.
Details on how to apply for a chance to put the new G4 smartphone through its paces will be posted shortly on local LG sites, the company said. Participants will be selected based on “application responses,” and, perhaps not surprisingly, you can increase your chances of being chosen by sharing your “application experience” on sites like Facebook and Twitter. So you’ll probably have to be very nice about it.
If selected, you’ll be able to try out the LG G4 for up to 30 days, though you won’t be able to have it all your own way, as LG will be giving participants “various assignments to carry out over the course of their experience, with prizes awarded.”
Risky move?
It’s clear that LG is taking something of a risk by placing its faith in consumers and social media in an effort to generate further buzz for its phone. Should the handset turn out to be in any way underwhelming, 4,000 less-than-enthusiastic users making their feelings known on Facebook and Twitter could soon turn the whole effort into a messy damage limitation exercise for the Seoul-based tech maker. On the other hand, if they select the participants carefully, and the device impresses, the LG G4 could get just the start it needs as it goes up against high-end rivals such as Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6.
[Source: LG]
