The Olympic Rings Meet Samsung’s Galaxy Ring

The athletes may still be warming up for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but Samsung Electronics’ UK & Ireland marketing and omnichannel director, Annika Bizon, has been sprinting full pelt around the city of lights. 

Last week she was on stage in Paris at Samsung’s big ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ event, where the electronics giant revealed a suite of new products, including its slick new wearable, the Galaxy Ring, and also unveiled its vision for healthcare and wellness, and the next steps in its AI journey. At the same time, around the city, Samsung’s unique Olympic experiences and activities were starting to take shape ahead of the opening ceremony on July 29th. 

“I’ve been there for probably a week and a half, watching the whole city transform into the Olympics. It’s actually been quite cool to watch," she satys. "I was going to training for Unpacked, I walked past the Louvre and suddenly I saw ‘Open Always Wins’ blasted all over buildings. It’s quite exciting!”

Fittingly, given its setting, the Galaxy Unpacked event had a massive emphasis on Wellness, with the launch of its aforementioned smart ring and new models in its smartwatch line, the Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Galaxy Watch7. According to Annika, who wore the Galaxy Ring on stage, what makes this particular launch so exciting is the way it folds AI into the mix.

“Seeing it in real life and having it on your hand is quite incredible,” says Annika. “At the same time, the whole thing is around AI and how AI can help you have a healthier lifestyle, and how our devices all work together. That links directly into the Olympics as well because the Olympics is all about health and wellbeing and doing the best you can.”

The ring, Annika explains, is an example of ‘discreet health’ and answers a consumer desire for greater sartorial flexibility (not every outfit is a smartwatch outfit) and more intuitive technology. “We’re front and centre of the AI story. AI makes it better because it’s even more intuitive to your life and how you want to live… I spoke a bit about it at the Unpacked event, it’s about where you want your data to be, how you want your data to be managed so that all of these data points come together. As I said in Unpacked, you might want to miss your spin class in the morning because you could be physically or mentally in a place where it’s just not right for you. And Samsung will help you do that. It will give you tips on what you should be doing and how you should be managing your health.”

As the Samsung team told its AI story on stage, emphasising utilities like Live Translate, Samsung was also busy installing and building the Olympic tie-in experiences so that people can experience their story for themselves and get a taste of the products, whether they’re in Paris or not.

Annika can’t talk about what all of those immersive experiences in Paris will be, but one that has been revealed is the installation of 200 Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones around the city to broadcast live footage and give audiences around the world a completely new view of the Games. “Two hundred S24s are going to be broadcasting the Olympics, so you can feel like you’re immersed in the entire experience. For me, that’s game-changing thinking around opening up the Olympics to everybody in a different way. So, whether it be Ring, whether it be Watch, whether it be phones, all of these things have been thought through in a really intricate way. Not only are we there at the Olympics, we are actually part of the Olympics, and we’re bringing a better experience at the Olympics to the consumer, which is the bit I’m proud of.”

That sense of immersion is key for Annika, particularly when it comes to technology like AI which is still quite mystifying for a lot of people. “For me, it’s how you bring technology into a properly immersive space…. I’ve said this quite a few times, AI can mean lots of things to lots of people but actually, what AI really means is showing people that it makes your life easier or better, right? So simplifying it, demystifying the word ‘AI’ and going, ‘Do you know that you can ‘Live Translate’ on this phone?’, ‘Do you know you can look at your health in a completely different way by using the Ring?’ or ‘You can watch the start of the 100 metres line with an S24 right in front of you, and you could be part of the Olympics’. 

“I’m genuinely excited because I saw some of the immersive spaces they’ve got around how we bring technology into everyday life. That’s really cool and very different from what we’ve seen in the past.”

A real world trial is core when it comes to marketing innovative new products to consumers. It’s something that we’ve seen before with Samsung, for example in last year’s Galaxy Flip selfie competition which encouraged shoppers to try the hinged, foldable phone in store.

“I think you can tell people what a product is, but ultimately, on the consumer side, these are new, innovative products. You love them when you've got them in your hands and you know you love them when you can see what they can do. You love them when you can see how they can fit into your life,” says Annika, who’s a big believer in the fact that telling people something can’t beat simply allowing them to experience it for themselves.

From a messaging perspective, Samsung’s presence at the Olympics declares ‘Open Always Wins’, which not only emphasises the interconnectedness of its tech ecosystem but also a spirit of inclusion and immersion.

Samsung’s relationship with the Olympics goes back decades, having supported the Seoul Olympics as a local partner in 1988 before becoming a global partner at the Nagano Winter Games in 1998. And the innovation we’re about to see in Paris is something that can also be traced back to the early days of the relationship, when their ‘Call Home’ initiative allowed athletes to speak to friends and family back home. 

Speaking personally and reflecting on Samsung’s approach to its partnership with the Olympics, Annika has some powerful insights into how brands can really leverage their partnerships and sponsorships to make sure that they’re more than just a logo on a siding.

“There are key things across a number of levels. One is, you’ve got to make sure that you’re really providing the most enriched experiences to the consumer, and then with that, you’ve got to make sure that it’s creative and different. Have as many touch points as you physically can get into a space… This is a partnership we’ve had for 40 years. How do we make it different every single time we come to the Olympics?”

“Then you go to the next level, which is ‘what partners should we have? Who are our influencers?’. We’ve taken people like [British parasport athlete and presenter] Kadeena Cox, we’ve gone across to the Olympics and Paralympic Games with our incredible ambassadors and influencers. This is all around authenticity as much as anything else, so they can tell their story and we can give them a platform to tell their story.”

“And then, particularly with things like the content capture of the S24, there is ‘how do you make sure that it really, really speaks directly to our audiences?’. Everything has to link back to that openness. Open always wins. It has to link back to that because that’s the mantra of how you feel authentic in the space and feel interesting to our consumers.”

With the opening ceremony just days away, we’re about to see the culmination of a carefully orchestrated mega-event for Samsung in Paris. It’s been a lot of work and meticulous planning for everyone in the team, Annika included.

“I think if you get the opportunity to be gifted something, to work hard with something so incredible at the Olympics, you’ve got to make sure the plan that you put behind that is as incredible as the Olympics. Otherwise you’re not doing either yourself or the Olympics justice.”