Cheil | Centrade Fills Bucharest’s Night Sky with Drones for the Launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S23

Cheil | Centrade and Samsung recently held the 'Share the Epic from Night Land' event, featuring an impressive drone show to mark the official launch in Romania of the Galaxy S23 series.

The new Galaxy S23 range enters the market with some remarkable advances: exceptional performance of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor developed in partnership with Qualcomm, the fastest ever installed on a Galaxy, compatible with a full gaming experience fast action and no latency issues, as well as camera accuracy capable of capturing the finest details in low-light conditions thanks to the new 200-megapixel sensor, which can combine 16 individual pixels into one larger one to capture more lots of light per pixel. To highlight these technical performances, the event was designed as an immersive and gamified experience, in an epic night universe.

This is how Night Land was born, a fantastic land, populated by spectacular characters inspired by the world of gaming and representative of the phone features, which offered a superlative brand experience. At the opening of the event, the guests were greeted by video mapping projections that presented the characters of the Night Land universe, inspired by the performances of the new Galaxy S23 series. The 'resident robots' in LED suits provided the entertainment of those present, leading them to the gaming area, Neon Park. 'The Storyteller', the voice of the Night Land, guided the participants to the missions they had to complete.

In Neon Park, guests participated in gaming challenges, launched by Night Land residents, including Jaxi and Alexa, both members of #TeamGalaxy. The innovations brought to the camera, as well as the Night Mode function, specific to the phones in the S Series range, were highlighted by the content creator Goguci who narrated the extraordinary photographic experience in San Francisco in the company of a Galaxy S23 Ultra, on the occasion of the Samsung Unpacked event held in The Golden Gate City.

For a truly epic and experiential event, the Galaxy S23 story was launched to the general public through the biggest drone show in the sky of Bucharest. On February 14, almost 200 drones turned the sky in the north of the capital into a virtual screen, visible in one of the busiest areas of the city, at rush hour. The spectacular drone choreography signed with the message #ShareTheEpic was filmed and photographed from countless angles, and then went viral on social networks.

The story told by the moving drones was that of a mobile gaming enthusiast character who enters the Night Land where he meets three heroes, each with different powers. The new Galaxy S23 series gives the hero the ultimate power – the technology needed to take his passion to the next level and become a champion in the Night Land universe. The end of the story brings to the fore the three new smartphones – Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra in three of the four colors of the series – Phantom Black, Cream, Green and Lavender.

Both attendees at the event and those online were encouraged to play with a dedicated AR filter to become a character in the virtual Night Land. The filter is available here.

The event ended with a concert performed by Inna, in which the artist appeared on stage as a character from the gaming universe and later transformed into a real one, under the eyes of those present.

"The launch in Romania of the best performing phones from the Galaxy series deserved a befitting event. Thus, we wanted the guests to feel that they are really entering a new and spectacular world. Night Land, the universe where virtual reality and game characters come to life at night, was a concept created by our partners at Cheil | Centrade, with whom we collaborated over time for numerous other projects anchored in the universe of video games and metaverse in general. The whole experience culminated with the most far-reaching synchronous drone show so far in Bucharest for a brand launch. We are glad that together with the partners from Cheil | Centrade and all those involved in this event manage to redefine, year after year, the brand experience for our consumers and partners," remarks Simona Panait, head of marketing division, Samsung Romania & Bulgaria.

"Samsung is the partner with which Cheil emerged as a network in the global marcomm landscape. We are an agency born from the intersection between tech, data and brand experience. That's why, through everything we build for this world leader as brand stewards, we aim to honor their unique legacy in the market. The Night Land experience involved not only a bold strategic positioning in the gaming territory that we have built very nicely together in recent years with excellent results at Effie and beyond, but also a massive effort, both creatively and logistically, alongside our partners to whom we also thank in this way. We can't wait to outperform on the next brief," adds Simona Costea, global business leader, Cheil | Centrade.

Mihai Gongu, executive creative director, Cheil | Centrade, comments: "Cheil means 'The First' in Korean, while Samsung is synonymous with leadership in innovation. So for every proposal in the last three years that we went with in the Galaxy launch pitches we sought to make history for the brand through a first. 2021 was the first interactive launch event developed right before metaverse experiences became cool. In 2022 it was the first original album signed by a brand alongside 22 videos shot entirely at night with the phone to dramatize the Nightography feature. And now, we are signing together the first large-scale drone show in the sky of Bucharest. Each time, Cheil | Centrade's proposal from the pitch became a reality and then on the stages of local festivals and beyond. This is, I believe, the best illustration of the "born to outperform" vision of Cheil Worldwide, a network dedicated to innovation in the brand experience. We thank our partners at Samsung for inspiring us to surpass ourselves year after year.”