How Samsung flipped advertising on its head

Context

No one likes ads. And for the launch of their new Galaxy Z Flip4, Samsung didn't want to continue to push ads in front of their target customers. So they found a way to get people actually seeking out theirs online.

Objectives

• Drive sales of the new Galaxy Z Flip4 at launch
• Drive consideration for the phone before it even launches

Strategy

Samsung's target audience is used to personalised ads filling their feeds. If they've watched a tech review, they're not surprised when a 6" YouTube pre-roll advertising a new phone pops up. But they also see these as invasive, since these algorithms work largely outside of their control.
So, Samsung created a competition. At the centre of it was a YouTube ad giving away a free phone. To find the ad, though, their audience had to go on a scavenger hunt, searching for Samsung products to influence their targeting profiles and algorithms. Samsung turned a perceived invasion of privacy into an enjoyable and possibly rewarding user journey of unbiased reviews, unboxings, tech breakdowns, comparisons and various other slices of content that Samsung didn’t have to pay for.

Results

Samsung achieved a 34% increase in sales thanks to the campaign.