Episode 72 - Samsung x Dr Denim Ad Reviewed by Virgin Media O2, Adidas, Betfair and AB InBev

This week’s Advertisers Watching Ads evaluates a new brand partnership between Samsung and Dr Denim… the Galaxy Z Flip3, or the return of the flip phone!

Chosen by Contagious, this ad is aimed at women and the younger generation, but is this new product even practical enough for them? Will they be attracted or unimpressed? How memorable is this collaboration and what return is it likely to yield for the otherwise techy brand?

Watch the latest episode and hear from our panel of guests: Laura Lesser (Culture & Innovation in Brand & Marketing, Virgin Media O2), Roy Gardner (VP Marketing - Europe, Adidas), Alex Taborda (Senior Media & Planning Manager, Betfair) and Michael Codd (Marketing & Innovation Lead, Solutions, Europe, AB InBev).


Transcript

The following transcript is automatically generated so may not be 100% accurate, but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.

Tom Ollerton 0:07

Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads and debate them. What's good? What's bad about them? And we are brought to you as ever by our partners, Contagious, go to contagious.com after this show, after. And check out the brilliant work that they are up to. But before we get to this week's ads, let's meet this week's guests.

Laura Lesser 0:33

Hey, I'm Laura Lesser. I look after culture and innovation at Virgin Media O2.

Roy Gardner 0:39

I am Roy Gardner. I head up brand activation for Adidas across Europe.

Alex Taborda 0:43

I'm Alex. I'm a Senior Media and Planning Manager at Betfair.

Michael Codd 0:46

And I am Michael. I work for AB-Inbev, and I cover data and technology for a global experiential team.

Tom Ollerton 0:52

What a panel and all ex-guests to the show. So I'm sure we are in for a best of episode ever. But anyway, let's get to it.

Right, Laura, what's going on there?

Laura Lesser 1:25

My initial reaction to this ad was, "What, what does 'bye bye big pockets' mean?" Because as a woman, we really struggle in this area. We don't have big pockets on our jeans as it stands. And this isn't a pain point for us. In fact, we we want bigger pockets, sorry. As an insight, it didn't really land for me immediately. When it put away the phone, I was slightly concerned that the phone didn't actually fit in the pocket itself and that it could be stolen because you saw a pop of color wherever it went. So I was sort of initially reacting as a, as a consumer would, I think rather than a marketer. But I think overall it really lands a fashion association for Samsung and targeting at women. So I thought they, they really did land that quite succinctly in a short time period.

Roy Gardner 2:19

Maybe they've got some music which could become an earworm. Communication of it's simple and it's compact as a, or foldable screen is interesting, and it's the communication helps bring that alive. And there's absolutely nothing else about that ad that is memorable and I've already forgotten it. Had we not been recording this show, I'd have already not to thought about that ever again. I think it's extremely average at best.

Alex Taborda 2:47

They obviously wanted to land the fun element. They obviously wanted to have a bit of online chatter about it. Ironically, I've looked on Twitter and I've seen very little online chatter about it, so it doesn't really seem to land much from that perspective as well. So, yeah, it was just, it's, it's just a bit random, really.

Michael Codd 3:01

I wasn't sure if it was an ad for jeans or for phone. So that was the first thing. And then I had to go and look online what the ad was about. And that's never a good sign. I thought 1500 dollars for a pair of jeans with a phone. Super expensive. Seems kind of impractical because, like Laura mentioned, very prone to theft, I think. And a lot of the comments that I read here in Brazil was also about that. And then also seems pretty impractical that, you know, the phone could easily fall out. So I I was confused by the ad. I didn't think the product was very user friendly and I would never buy it.

Laura Lesser 3:42

I think they're almost trying to hard here as well to appeal to that younger generation because there is a real trend at the moment for nostalgia and with Gen Z. I mean, they've even named the phone and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. I'm not sure if that's sort of psychological to appeal to Gen Z, but I think they've almost really tried too hard. It's a bit contrived. They're trying to subvert the usual stereotypes with having their female characters, the crafts person as well, and then sort of receiving a call while while they're doing their job and then showing the flip. It all seems like it's, yeah, it's just it's just trying too hard here.

Tom Ollerton 4:23

It's a striking image, right? It is unusual for the category, and Alex isn't the job to stand out?

Alex Taborda 4:29

I think there's a difference though between being unusual and being memorable. I think they've been unusual, but there's, there's that the memory isn't going to be on the products, which is, that should be the key thing. The memory is going to be on everything else in the ad. So I agree. It's in a way it's memorable, in a way it's completely different for the category, but I don't necessarily means it's good.

Tom Ollerton 4:50

They always market based on features, right? It's always a features race. And this, for me, feels like at least they've tried to go out into a more emotional territory. Fashion, perhaps? Trying to position themselves as opposed to just, "Hey, we've got, we've got even more megapixels in our camera." And I think that it feels like the smart move. Has it not been done in the right way?

Michael Codd 5:10

Yeah. If you look at it forming partnerships across different product lines, I think fashion and phones make sense. I think there's a big overlap in that target audiences between design and expensive phones. So in that way, the partnership could make sense, and the fan base of Dr. Denim could have a big overlap with with Samsung. So I think the idea had merit. I think that the execution of the idea probably could have been better.

Roy Gardner 5:41

Looking for the positives, maybe if what they now have is a systematic series of collaborations where they're borrowing interest from other fashion brands and you've got various limited edition takes on the Z series or if that's what they're going to try and do. Then, maybe as an initiative to differentiate themselves from the market, the obvious market leader. Maybe that is a way to try and get themselves to be a little bit more considered, a little bit more remembered because honestly, right now, there's no reason whatsoever to remember.

Alex Taborda 6:14

I agree with that, right? The insights, clearly again, it's about minimalism and it's about, you know, phones been getting bigger and bigger and look, here's something that you can fold over. I would assume it's all the same functionality as a normal phone, but again, that's not implicit in the ad. So if there's a number of these types of things they roll out or to me, they kind of had to do that around the same time. And it feels like they just drop this couple of weeks ago and then not really been any follow up that I've seen that kind of cements that, so... That's what makes it difficult, I guess, to judge.

Roy Gardner 6:43

If this was part of a systematic strategy. You might expect a throwaway line quote going, "This is the first of a series of partnerships. You can expect to us, to see us as we demonstrate..." You know, this is the desirable accessory for, you know, whoever you know, whatever. But that's not, that's not the route they've gone.

Tom Ollerton 7:02

Before we wrap up, what would have made this better, you're all creative directors. This has landed on your desk and you've, you've thrown the script in the face of the creative. What would have made this better?

Michael Codd 7:11

I would have focused a bit more on the utility of the products and being way clearer on what's the value proposition. So it wasn't clear that it was buying jeans and you get a phone with the jeans, and it's limited edition. All of these elements that are actually the key value proposition just didn't come through, so I would have been clear on the message and a bit more on the product as well.

Alex Taborda 7:36

I believe the price of the phone is $1,100 and with the jeans it's $1500. So that's a 400 pound pair of jeans, which again kind of makes me weep a little bit. But I think like if you're going to do this kind of thing, like, the phone has to be front and center and the, and the the brand partner has to kind of actually be able to elevate that. And that specifically, whereas it feels like all of the conversation again has been about the jeans and the practicality of it, and the fact that they're four hundred dollars in this, in this, in this value exchange. So I think trying to try to focus more on the, on the product and making sure that you get across that, yes, this is, this is what we're trying to do with it and it's minimalist and all the rest of it. But here is everything and you can still do with this phone that you do with our competitors, I guess.

Roy Gardner 8:21

If I was trying to rethink that, it would be, "How would you make it, make, make the phone look and feel more desirable to me?" And then make me feel something. Engaged some emotion as opposed to just being sort of flatlining.

Laura Lesser 8:36

The first one would be to create a bit more sort of hype and excitement in the ad that it's a limited edition because I read that only 450 were made, but there's no sort of no call to action or real conveyances at that point, and that could make it feel a bit more exciting. They could have invested to do a bit of a launch event and got endorsement from creators or celebrities to create much more hype around it. I know Samsung has had quite a lot of success working with celebrities, and I know the likes of BTS aren't cheap, but they could have gone first sort of a lower range of creators and influencers as well. And just to get the message out there a bit more and create a bit more conversation around this partnership, I think.

Tom Ollerton 9:23

Thank you so much. And to finish off, I'm going to get you guys to vote for how good you thought this ad was, I want you to vote on a scale of one to five. So, one, two, three... A one, one, a two, and a two. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining Advertisers Watching Ads. We'll see you all next week.

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