Samsung: A New Way to Communicate

Samsung’s Note series has long been the phone for multitasking business types. But to find a way to grow Samsung’s user base, we had to reframe how people think about it.

Our goal was to get people to see the Note8 as more than a device built for productivity but also as one that’s relatable, personal, and can help express emotions in a new way.

To achieve this, we asked ourselves what the average young person is doing on their phone. And the answer is pretty simple: communicating.

Our phones are how we communicate with each other and express ourselves to the world. The majority of what we do on our phone is interpersonal communication. It started with voice and evolved to text. Now it’s photos, videos, GIFs, drawings, memes, and more.

“A New Way to Communicate” celebrates all the ways that the Samsung Note8 enables people to express themselves.

In broadcast, “I Love You” debuted during the Emmy Awards and expressed a new way to share how you feel, garnering 3.9 million YouTube views. Another series of spots featured Dez Bryant and Josh Norman taking their rivalry to a whole new level. It sparked a wellspring of social engagement, including playful banter between fans and headlines from the Washington Post, ESPN, CNET, theScore, and more.

An Instagram activation invited fans to DM photos to @samsungmobileus for the chance to have notable illustrators use the Note8 to draw on the photo and send it back. Over 1,650 DMs were received and 120 illustrated responses sent. Our social posts received over 5.5 million total impressions, 818,000 views, and 234,000 engagements.

Also, a Times Square takeover in New York challenged illustrators to be as creative as possible communicating simple messages that we all send just about every day on our phones, reaching over 138,250 visitors during its three-hour run.

All in all, the campaign had billions of Impressions and increased purchase intent by 18 percent. Most importantly, it helped to change the way people saw—and used—their Galaxy Note8.