While everyone’s experience of the pandemic was different, one thing that has united almost everyone in the UK, and many other countries, has been the time we have all spent at home over the past two years. years.
Even as freedom returns, there has been a permanent change in our expectations of life – a study conducted this year by the Foresight Factory found that across Europe, half (49%) of adults had it. plan to continue working from home once in a while, while a quarter (24%) planned to cook from scratch and 28% planned to clean their home more regularly.
These intentions present a ripe opportunity for Samsung, which – in case you didn’t know – makes refrigerators, washing machines, ovens and vacuum cleaners, alongside its best-known smartphones and televisions.
To make the most of the moment, the brand launched ‘Life Unstoppable: House of Surprises’, a 45-minute product showcase, an interactive digital experience that showcases all of its latest and most advanced products through ‘a virtual visit. around a breathtakingly designed house occupied by a curious family, the Unstoppables.
It follows on from last year’s “Life Unstoppable”, which took a more gaming-based approach, and once again features Samsung Europe’s chief marketing officer, Benjamin Braun, opening the show – this time taking his held up a notch with a yellow bow tie – before handing over to various Samsung colleagues to explain how the family is integrating Samsung products into their home.
Samsung worked with Smyle again, this time alongside Cheil, the agency partially owned by Samsung, on the experiment. The film was directed by Jel Groman on Free Turn, with the screenplay by public relations agency FleishmanHillard UK.
Talk to Campaign, Braun said the “Life Unstoppable” positioning was inspired by one of Hollywood’s most famous phrases: “life finds a way,” as Jeff Goldblum said in the 1993s. By Jurassick.
As Goldblum’s character Dr.Ian Malcolm spoke about the reproductive potential of a supposedly all-female dinosaur group, Samsung applied the thinking to how people have adjusted and found ways to thrive in recent exceptional circumstances.
“’The irresistible life’ is ‘life always finds a way,’ he says. “In 18 months with three children, the schools have closed, my wife and I are working from home, and we are very similar to many, many other people. But life always finds a way, and I think through ‘Life Unstoppable’ we were able to show that people invest in their homes, their schools.
Braun shares an anecdote of the daughter of someone he knows who recently had her bat mitzvah (the Jewish confirmation ceremony), and the remarkable technological setup used by the synagogue to broadcast the event live to many. people unable to attend in person, due to continued Covid restrictions.
“I am the father of three young children, I live in London,” adds Braun. “My office is next to Heathrow Airport, if I’m not traveling somewhere in Europe or Korea, the fact that I can take my daughter to nursery every morning is absolutely great – I couldn’t do it. do before Covid. So there is a silver lining in this very dark Corona sky. “
The film was shot in a “huge hangar” in Didcot, near Oxford, and stands out for its visual style, which combines Samsung products with tasteful interior design. Braun says there were “a few different inspirations,” but mentions Wes Anderson’s movie The Grand Hotel Budapest, which appears to have provided this production with its “planimetric staging” – meaning the camera is tilted exactly 90 degrees to the back wall of the shot.
When it came to choosing the members of the Samsung team to appear in the film, “we were very careful that we choose people who are the future of Samsung,” said Braun. “What you’ll see are younger people, not older people like me presenting – they’re the future and they’re also closer to Gen Z and Millennials. These are the future customers.
He adds: “We’re trying to shift our image a bit because, enough of this old-fashioned presentation, where someone goes on stage and talks for an hour” (a description that is somewhat reminiscent of a certain rival smartphone maker) . “As we innovate our products, we also need to innovate our presentation format. “
When Campaign talks to Braun over Microsoft Teams, he’s dressed in a Harry Potter sweater with a Gryffindor crest – a certainly fitting choice as it seems inevitable that the confident and colorful marketing leader will be split in the same house as Harry, Ron and Hermione.
In his introduction to the film, however, Braun is dressed in a jacket from H&M, the retail giant from his native Sweden – and he acknowledges that the minimalist design associated with his home country and increasingly revered around the world in recent years has been an inspiration to him.
“Of course, I’m influenced by my upbringing,” he says. “I like simple, clean designs. In general, it is [the] typical Scandi design approach. Scandinavian airports are great. I think they are beautiful, it’s just metal, glass, metal, glass and wood.
An idea presented in the film is reminiscent of another famous Swedish brand. Samsung’s bespoke refrigerators, which have a modular design, allowing owners to expand devices to meet their changing needs, are also available with a series of striking artistic panel designs, following a competition with the design publication. Wallpaper*.
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It is somewhat reminiscent of the approach taken over the years by Absolut vodka, with which Braun has another connection: in his previous role as marketing director of Audi UK, his agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, also worked on the brand. of spirits belonging to Pernod Ricard. .
When he says he “drank Absolut vodka in my day, especially when I was young” and finds the brand marketing “great”, Braun denies that it is a source of inspiration for refrigerators.
But he says, “Maybe the products are utilitarian… but if you look at our designs, you take any of our products, they become real aesthetic masterpieces. They must be visible in our living rooms and in our bedrooms and kitchens.
“I think in terms of product design, we do a lot of exciting things. But, listen, in order to reach people you’ve got to be creative, you’ve got to find new ways of storytelling, because we’re in marketing, branding, and PR. We are storytellers.
