Samsung’s campaign brief was devised not just as a global crisis was emerging, but also at a time when consumers, employees and investors were becoming increasingly vocal in their demands that companies operate in socially and environmentally responsible ways. Superimposed on such concerns was the new corporate vision that Samsung announced at CES in January 2020, that humanity stands on the brink of an age of human-centric innovation in which hardware and software combine seamlessly to create personalized experiences that make life more convenient, more enjoyable, and more meaningful.

The brief from Samsung was therefore to create content that intertwined Samsung’s vision with their mission to play an important role in creating a better world for all, post Covid-19 and well into the future. An important goal of this campaign was to help reverse the perception among some consumers that large technology companies, such as Samsung, are chiefly concerned with their bottom line and thus do not have the best interests of the world and its citizens at heart. Samsung genuinely has a powerful story to tell that effectively counters this assumption due to both the human-centric approach it takes to innovation and product design and the company’s many impressive CSR efforts aimed at building a more sustainable future. The challenge was to find ways to demonstrate how Samsung is harnessing innovation and creating products that enrich people’s lives through a powerful brand campaign to reach those likely to have the greatest influence on the future, including C-suite opinion leaders, millennials and Gen-Z.

Our objective of the brief was to generate trust in the Samsung brand and strengthen the perception that Samsung is a company that truly cares about human health and happiness, and that wants to use its power and know-how to foster a better and more sustainable future.

The solution we developed to achieve Samsung’s objectives was a multi-platform campaign that positioned Samsung at the helm of a global conversation about technology’s role in advancing human potential, revealing new paths to a meaningful life and a sustainable world.

Campaign idea:

At the heart of our approach was storytelling. We knew that, in order to cut through the ever-increasing volumes of information being published in response to the pandemic, the quality of our stories had to be of the highest journalistic standard. We developed all the campaign stories together under one theme – The Human Touch – which served as a lens through which our editorial and design approaches were conceptualized. To engage with Samsung’s broad target audience, we devised a program that brought to life compelling stories across a wide variety of formats, including written articles, videos, infographics, print advertorials and live custom moments at our conferences.

Engaging and shareable branded content:

We created an interactive online hub to unite all the campaign’s digital content, which included live articles, two videos and an infographic. This content was rolled out in two phases that served to highlight the different ways in which Samsung’s technology is helping to create a better world. The first phase explored how Samsung is producing technology to empower individuals – for example, through robotics that are increasing mobility for elderly or injured people – leading to happier, healthier lives. The second showcased how Samsung is building technologies that will benefit the world more broadly through its CSR efforts, with one of the examples featured illustrating how the company’s ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ program encourages students to use STEM ideas to resolve some of society’s greatest challenges.

Appealing to opinion leaders:

To connect with the hard-to-reach audience of opinion leaders we leveraged our print and live event capabilities. We converted three articles to printed newspaper advertorials and offered Samsung two speaking opportunities for their executives to share Samsung’s thought leadership and engage with peers at our WSJ events. The first event was our WSJ Tech Live conference, where Samsung conveyed how its technologies are helping people redefine how they live in their homes; the second was the WSJ CEO Council Summit, where Samsung led a breakout discussion with CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies about how mobile technology is helping companies solve Covid-19 era challenges.