How Grammy-Winning Musicians Amplify the Importance of Good Sound for Samsung

We Are Social’s recent campaign for the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro features three Grammy-Award winning musicians who used both expertise and creativity to explain the virtues of the earbuds. Rather than bog a viewer down with the product’s technical specifications, the campaign draws consumers in by letting the experts wax lyrical about how sound can and should feel.

As Ben Clare, executive creative director at We Are Social Australia, puts it, “So often, the category talks about how audio sounds through their devices. We wanted to focus on how the Galaxy Buds2 Pro make you feel. Moreover, we wanted to feature talent that would lend real credibility to Samsung’s latest wearables. Who better than the likes of Jay Versace, who recently won a Grammy for his work on the last Tyler, The Creator album, or Chris Gehringer, who’s won nine Grammys over his career, working with Rihanna and Lady Gaga to name a few.” 

Rather than overwhelm viewers with science and tech specs, the campaign brings a refreshingly human approach to the technical details, and did so with some of the most credible voices around.

To find out how they managed it, we spoke to We Are Social’s ECD, Ben Clare. 

LBB> What was the initial client brief from Samsung?

Ben> The initial client brief from Samsung was to use music professionals to create a creatively-driven social video that reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro earbuds. 

While we subsequently expanded from this brief, the original response needed to help address Samsung’s primary issue: Although the Buds2 Pro represented an elite listening product in such a portable medium, it still suffered from an awareness and consideration problem.

The output was to help establish the Buds2 Pro’s identity within culture to contend in a saturated space, while simultaneously highlighting its USPs.

LBB> How did you go about getting the likes of Jay Versace, Chris Gehringer, and Tony Maserati involved in the piece?

Ben> When looking to enlist talent for this campaign, the key criteria was music professionals that specialised in the creation of audio. They didn’t necessarily have to be the artists, but needed to play an integral role in either creating or refining the audio that is broadcasted to consumers. 

The talents were required to have credibility in the music industry, able to identify and communicate the nuances of creating great sound, particularly as the marketing message for the Buds2 Pro was “The ultimate Hi-Fi sound you can now hear wirelessly”.

Jay, Chris and Tony represented a great combination of different personalities who fulfilled unique roles in the creation of music. All are Grammy-winners. Jay is a producer of contemporary hip-hop; Chris is a mastering engineer for pop hits over the past three decades; and Tony’s notoriety came from his time as a mixing engineer for the golden age of New York hip-hop in the ’90s.

Each had their story to tell, a perspective to share, and a feeling that they emphasised in their specific profession.

LBB> Why did you decide to focus on how the devices made you feel?

Ben> The Feeling of Sound overcomes the inherent challenge of marketing hi-fi-enabled earbuds in a social-first environment where the majority of the audience will consume the content with entry-level audio equipment: How to make tangible key product USPs without offering firsthand experience with the device. By exploring the abstract principles that guide each music maker’s practice – texture, dimension and impact – we were able to visually and sonically render the client’s priority device features - two-way speakers, immersive 360 audio and 24-bit hi-fi respectively. 

The films employ a visual language that straddles the world of contemporary music and the rich local history which defines each of our music makers’ personal histories in everything from our locations to our original score and sound design. Rather than feeding lines to talent, we were able to solicit and capture authentic, qualified endorsements of the product, resulting in review-style content that feels rich and cinematic while still delivering on the promise of a creatively-driven product review.

LBB> What was the impetus behind the locations - studios, 5th avenue, Central park etc?

Ben> The locations were a result of concept and budget considerations.

Conceptually, to find the balance between a client-requested authentic documentary-style aesthetic and Samsung’s premium brand guideline, the combination of warehouse studio set-ups and real life locations was used. This led to dynamic visuals that kept audiences engaged throughout each video.

To optimise production budget, all talent were shot in New York City (Chris and Tony are NYC-based, so we flew Jay in from LA for this shoot), and from their core principles and back story we determined the appropriate locations for each.

Jay’s principle of texture had him describe the healing properties of music and his enjoyment of including natural sounds into his production. Central Park was therefore the logical choice, an iconic NYC location that represents an easy escape into nature for New Yorkers.

By focusing on dimension, Chris’ two locations of the Brooklyn warehouse rooftop and 5th Avenue reflected scale and perspective. These locations juxtaposed each other and helped communicate how the 360 audio feature in the Galaxy Buds2 Pro allowed Chris to embrace his feeling and sink himself into the activity of listening to high-quality audio.

Tony’s locations were his requests that harked back to his time as a mixing engineer for the likes of Puff Daddy and The Notorious B.I.G. During his legendary stint in the ’90s, Tony’s daily routine began at iconic Ukrainian cafe Veselka, then a jog around Tompkins Square Park. It was during these small moments outside of studio hours where he had the chance to listen to music through the mediums that consumers did, helping him to dissect how well his engineering aided the artist to impact a listener through their music.

LBB> Could you elaborate on your distribution strategy with regards to the campaign culminating in a 90 second video? How do you intend to build momentum over multiple spots?

Ben> We needed a video of all the talents to communicate the key product features as a hero film for the Galaxy Buds2 Pro. 

The objective was to increase awareness and consideration for the new earbuds, with a priority for YouTube as the platform is search friendly, and curious shoppers are easily able to find the film when looking for information on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro.

When concepting The Feeling of Sound, individual talent films were put forward to help tell a more comprehensive story for each. The thought was this would then allow a strong compilation film to derive from Jay, Chris and Tony’s, in a social-friendly 90-second duration. 

Also, the authentic documentary-style request meant that the idea of talent mentioning all key features in their solo films was discarded. Instead, talents aligned their principle to one product feature. Jay’s texture tied into 24-bit audio playback; Chris’ dimension was linked to 360 audio; and Tony’s emphasis on impact was brought to life through the Buds’ 2-way speaker design. Subsequently, when creating the compilation, all three features were then described by a different professional.

As a socially-focused campaign, the project resulted in four films (3x talent, 1x compilation), that were published across Samsung organic social channels Instagram and YouTube, and on talent channels.

Paid usage was included to extend the reach for each asset, with cutdowns created to drive traffic to both the final films and the product landing page on the Samsung website. 

Finally, the quality of the films garnered the attention and praise of Samsung’s CMO, who has since decided to extend the films’ usage into Retail POS.

The Feeling of Sound has to-date driven 4.4M video plays and close to 100K engagements, proving the concept’s success and its potential to make an impact with the key demographic. 

To leverage the success of this first series, we are now working on an extension to the campaign that covers a range of professionals around the world, encompassing different genres, languages and iconic locations.