SAMSUNG SMARTSUIT

Short List
TitleSAMSUNG SMARTSUIT
BrandSAMSUNG ELECTRONICS BENELUX
Product/ServiceSMARTPHONE
Category A08. Excellence in Brand Integration & Sponsorships / Partnerships for Branded Content
Entrant CHEIL WORLDWIDE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation CHEIL WORLDWIDE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement STARCOM Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
PR GLASNOST Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production CHEIL WORLDWIDE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Additional Company SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS BENELUX Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Norman Groenewegen Cheil Amsterdam Creative
Pepijn Spanjerberg Cheil Amsterdam Creative
Thijs de Boer Cheil Amsterdam Executive Creative Director
Mariska Kloezen Cheil Amsterdam Managing Director
Janita Veenstra Cheil Amsterdam Account Director
Matthijs van Schie Cheil Amsterdam Project Manager
Mario Piepenbrink Mario Piepenbrink B.V. Technical Director
Pirke Bergsma Pirke Productions Agency Producer
Roen Roomberg Roen Roomberg Strategy
Bob van de Gronde Eyeforce Director
Egon Feiner Eyeforce Producer
Aemilia van Lent Eyeforce Producer
Noel Schoolderman Eyeforce Lighting cameraman/D.O.P.
Arthur Neumeier Eyeforce Second cameraman
Johannes de Jong Eyeforce Editor
Charlie Feld Eyeforce Grading
Milan Scholma Eyeforce Online editor
Terry Devine King Terry Devine King Music
Woodwork Woodwork Animation
Jos Wabeke Brandspanking Post Production
Tomas Kamphuis Freewheel Stories Editor
Gerben van Walt Meijer Samsung Electronics Benelux Head of Marketing IMD
Roos Bulder Samsung Electronics Benelux Manager Marketing Communication & Channel Marketing IMD
Femke Koenen Samsung Electronics Benelux Marketing Communication Specialist
Steffany Sprong - van der Hout Samsung Electronics Benelux Social Media Manager
Starcom Starcom Nederland Media Agency
Glasnost Glasnost PR Agency

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Too often, sponsorship is more about quantity than quality. Mass reach. Brands are not concerned about whether there is any connection between who or what is sponsored and their business. For an innovative tech brand, we chose to be relevant and create true value as a sponsor. So when Samsung Netherlands asked us to develop an idea to claim sponsorship of two Dutch Olympic short track skaters, we injected creativity into Samsung’s sponsorship instead of just money. We developed an innovative tech contribution for the short track skaters.

Background

Samsung is worldwide Olympic partner of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang and Samsung Netherlands is sponsoring Sjinkie Knegt and Suzanne Schulting, two Dutch short track skaters. Although the Netherlands has excellent speed skating results at the Olympics (35 Olympic gold medals), short track is nowhere near as successful (1 bronze/0 silver/0 gold). The brief was to claim sponsorship and keep in mind that Samsung stands for: ‘Meaningful progress comes from daring to defy barriers.’ With the tagline: Do what you can’t.

Describe the creative idea

For an innovative tech brand saying ‘do what you can’t’, we didn’t choose to just put a logo on a suit. We invented a whole new suit. A suit that enables the skaters and coach to do what they can’t: measure in real time the height at which the skater is positioned above the ice. This height is one of the most important things in skating, because the closer you are to the ice, the faster you’ll go. Until now, this has always been judged on gut feeling. We developed the Samsung SmartSuit, equipped with sensors to measure with millimetre accuracy. The suit is designed to send data to the coach’s device, allowing him to communicate adjustments immediately to the skaters.

Describe the strategy

The athletes and coach trained with the suit in secret for months. Just before the Olympics, when the buzz about innovations in sports, tech at the Olympics and potential secret weapons in PyeongChang was at its peak, we brought it to the press. We didn’t invite them to come and see Samsung’s latest invention. No, we invited them to come and discover the latest sporting innovation just before the Olympics. And to find out about the ‘digital doping’ Samsung developed for the Netherlands in the race against the Korean medal contenders in their own country. In fact, we invited the press to one of the Olympic athletes’ official training sessions. After the press release, in no time more than 450 million people knew about the secret weapon. And – in the slipstream – about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor of the Olympic short track skaters.

Describe the execution

First we needed to know how to create value for the skaters. We met the national team coach and human movement scientist for the first time in March. As it turned out, one of the most important things in skating is the position of the ice skater. To measure this, we developed the suit equipped with 5 sensors that feed live body kinetic telemetry and location data to the devices, even when the athletes hit 50 kilometres per hour. The techsuit also needed to fit like a regular suit, and the data needed to be comprehensible at a glance for the coach so he could send a vibration immediately to tell the skater to adjust his position. Once the first prototype was developed in August, the technicians and skaters tested and trained with the suit in secret for months. Just before the Olympics, we brought the story to the press.

Describe the outcome

After the press release, in no time half a billion people knew about the secret weapon. And about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor. The tremendous appreciation of this unique sponsorship benefited the brand significantly; see below. Awareness: €830,000 in free publicity in the Netherlands and €1,410,000 worldwide. KPI: 10% growth of KPI Proud-to-Own brand value within 2 months, from 24% to 34%! (DVJ Insights). 48,100 article reads with branded content 4,765,194 impressions. 321% above benchmark. Total key engagement rate among millennials of 1.3% (benchmark: 0.44%). Average View Through Rate online videos of 20%, which is extremely good considering the length (60 and 30 sec.). (Starcom) No. 1 best scoring campaign in the Netherlands in terms of attractiveness, innovation and sympathy. (Motivaction) We literally proved ‘Do What You Can’t’. During the Olympics, Knegt and Schulting won the first ever Dutch Olympic silver and gold medals for short track.