Independent information site about the Samsung fan campaign of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Not affiliated with Samsung or CAF. About this site
Samsung’s AFCON 2012 campaign
“Our sponsorship of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations is about bringing the spirit of the game to our consumers,” said Sunny Hwang, Samsung’s Vice President for Global Sports Marketing, when the company announced its programme five days into the tournament. Here is what that programme looked like on the ground and online.
The five parts of the campaign
| Element | Where | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Football Fest | Stade Annexe du Complexe Omnisport Président Bongo, Libreville (Gabon) | Big-screen match viewing, performances by local celebrities, giveaways, product exhibitions, an inflatable mini-football pitch. More than 30,000 visitors. |
| Stadium giveaways | Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) and Libreville (Gabon) | Samsung T-shirts distributed to fans at matches. |
| Pop-up stadiums | Shopping malls in Ghana, Senegal and Angola | Large screens with terraced seating so fans outside the host countries could watch together. |
| Samsung Fair Play Award | Every match and the tournament overall | Awarded to the fairest player of each match and of the competition; two young participants from Ghana and Ivory Coast were invited to present awards. |
| Online and mobile hub | www.getintothespirit.com | Live scores, highlights, fan gallery, competitions and a mobile platform. |
The Football Fest in Libreville
The Football Fest was the physical centre of the campaign. Samsung set it up next to the Omnisport complex in Gabon’s capital rather than inside a stadium, so that fans without tickets could follow the matches on large screens. Samsung Korea’s newsroom reported more than 30,000 visitors over the tournament, with outdoor performances and mini-football games in between matches; Galaxy S II smartphones were handed out as prizes. The idea travelled: at the 2013 edition in South Africa, the same format became the “Samsung Fan Zone” in seven countries (see Samsung and African football).
Pop-up stadiums beyond the host countries
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are small television markets. The commercially important audiences for Samsung were in Ghana, Senegal, Angola and Nigeria, which is why the pop-up stadiums went into shopping malls there. Samsung had reported that the 2010 tournament in Angola was broadcast in 128 countries with a cumulative audience of 5.6 billion viewers, which explains the emphasis on shared viewing rather than on stadium hospitality.
The Fair Play Award
The Samsung Fair Play Award was part of the sponsorship package from the start and continued in 2013. In 2012 it was presented after every match and once for the whole tournament, and Samsung tied it to its youth football camps by inviting two young players from Ghana and Ivory Coast to hand over the awards. The camps themselves were part of Samsung’s “Hope for Children” programme in Africa.
getintothespirit.com: the online hub
The website gave the campaign its name. It bundled live scores and highlights with user-generated content (a fan gallery), competitions and a mobile version for feature phones and early smartphones, which in 2012 were how most African fans went online. The site was campaign-bound and went offline after the tournament; this page and the rest of this site now sit on the domain as an independent record.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 January 2010 | Samsung announces a four-year CAF sponsorship running to 2012 |
| 21 January 2012 | Tournament opens in Bata |
| 26 January 2012 | Samsung announces the “Show your spirit with Samsung” programme |
| 7 February 2012 | Samsung Korea reports 30,000 Football Fest visitors |
| 12 February 2012 | Final in Libreville, Zambia beat Ivory Coast 8–7 on penalties |
| 15 January 2013 | Samsung launches Fan Zones for AFCON 2013 in South Africa |
- Samsung shows its football spirit in Africa, Samsung Global Newsroom (26 January 2012)
- Samsung Newsroom Korea (7 February 2012, Football Fest visitor figure, Galaxy S II prizes)
- 삼성전자, 아프리카 시장 ‘축구 마케팅’ 강화, eToday (7 February 2012)
- Samsung signs 4-year deal to sponsor Africa Nations Cup, Telecompaper (18 January 2010)
- Samsung launches interactive fan engagement programs for Orange AFCON South Africa 2013, Modern Ghana (15 January 2013)
- Built for Africa, Forbes Africa (youth football camps, Fair Player Award)
Last updated: September 2026