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THE FUTURE

“Que será, será

Whatever will be, will be

The future's not ours to see

Que será, será

What will be, will be”

    Back in the 1950s, this is seemingly the only answer we could ever get when being asked what the future holds. However, as the world has entered a new era of innovation, Samsung refuses to rely on such fatalistic odes and brings in a bold vision in which the future is ours to shape.

Overview  

    In the spirit of aforementioned legacy, Samsung launches a sixty-second spot which lures people into a reality where we watch cartoons on a floor-to-ceiling window, design clothes on an interactive mirror and watch the baby image in utero with at-home ultrasound. That, to Samsung, is indubitably the future. The campaign aims to embark on a year that will both celebrate Galaxy's 10th anniversary and see the brand's vigorous transformation with new and groundbreaking technologies (Leo Burnett, 2019).

 

 

Thought on the campaign   

     Doris Day's classic song, to me, has done a phenomenal job in capturing people’s interest. From the beginning, the characters' voices easily endear childlike sense of mystery and discovery. The melody then takes the campaign’s futuristic theme and places it against the backdrop of booming bass and hi-hats. The synthesis of modern and tradition in the remix also matches the visual. For example, although the little girl is interacting with an advanced computer-generated animation, she still enjoys riding along on her analogue cycle. According to Neurosight, a tie-in between music's lyrics and graphics in an advertisement helps the audiences to remember the ad longer and will likely to recall the campaign (Gilliland, 2018). Moreover, good music sometimes is just merely a reason for people not to skip the commercial. Hence, It is safe to say that the director has succeeded in choosing the perfect song for their spot.

 

    In these recent years of Industry 4.0, Samsung and other big names in the industry have now and then launched ads like this one that show a glimpse of their smart home ecosystem. Personally, I always find it both exhilarating and uncomfortable; both miraculous and horrible. The innovation is indeed exciting. The triggered part is how we are going to live with it. Sharing personal data with devices remains a spooky prospect for everyone and people are now so scared of being spied on that a lot of us decide to cover our laptop webcam. Hence, imagine a home where every glass and screen which reflects ourselves is being connected with the outer world. Then, outsiders can look at us through the bathroom mirror or even behind the refrigerator's door. It scares me. As the commercial promise to empower people to be in charge of their own future, it also makes me stop to think whether we actually have the absolute control over these machines that we build? Or that artificial intelligence will be growing up so fast that the future will become their future to see.

 

 

 

campaign_spotlight-leoburnett_future.jpg

Drawback  

    As I mentioned, there are a rising number of ads which unveil abundant breakthrough technologies. Therefore, even when the video commercial is depicted in an enjoyable way and is easily catch people's attention, it is not likely to leave an astonishing impression in the audience's mind.

 

 

Suggestion for improvement

     The campaign builds on Samsung's philosophy of giving an opportunity for people to look into a brighter future. Hence, other than providing cutting edge technologies for the middle class and wealthy people, enhancing the living condition of the poor on occasions is another way to spread the “the future" spirit, making them feel that they also have a right to hope for the better. For example, in Vietnam, Samsung can help those who lost their houses due to natural disaster by committing a part of their profit to rebuild houses and supply appliances for these people. It collides with Samsung's human-centric lifestyle and manages to get the brand to become closer and personal to Vietnamese audience's hearts (Campaign, 2017). Besides, collaborating with KOLs in order to amplify the shareability is considered a great idea since Samsung’s recent KOLs engagement strategies have been proved to attract a high number of positive object mentions (Buzzmetrics, 2019).

 

 

 

Conclusion  

     In conclusion, with sentimental melody, the ad walks us through the allegory of the possible future and leaves us pondering about human nature long after all the screen go black.

Reference list  

Buzzmetrics 2019, ‘BSI Top10: Bảng xếp hạng social media tháng 02/2019’, Buzzmetrics, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://buzzmetrics.com/bsi-top10-02-2019/>.

 

Campaign 2017, ‘Spikes Asia names Samsung as advertiser of the year’, Campaign, 07 August, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://www.campaignasia.com/article/spikes-asia-names-samsung-as-advertiser-of-the-year/438740>.

 

Gilliland, N 2018, ‘Science of sound: How music makes advertising more memorable', Econsultancy,  07 August, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://econsultancy.com/science-of-sound-how-music-makes-advertising-more-memorable/>.

 

Leo Burnett 2019, ‘Samsung shares its bold vision for the future', Leo Burnett, 06 February, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://leoburnett.com/articles/work/samsung-shares-its-bold-vision-for-the-future/>.

Samsung Galaxy: The future, streaming video, Samsung, Youtube, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajD2WZioOOc>.


The future, n.d. Photograph, viewed 05 April 2019, <https://adobomagazine.com/campaign-spotlight/campaign-spotlight-leo-burnett-paints-future-samsung-and-promises-que-sera-sera>.

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