The Most Contagious Debrief: Having belief in your idea and product, will pay dividend in the end
OMD EMEA
4 January 2021

View our Most Contagious Debrief here

Most Contagious always promises to be an event full of inspiration, creativity and world-class campaigns, and 2020 didn’t disappoint in any area. Usually a one-day event, this year the festival ran over two days in a new digital platform, with guests able to ask questions, join virtual coffee rooms and feel as immersed as possible in the digital world we all find ourselves in.

We have pulled out the three key themes from the festival, the stand-out sessions that brought the theme to life, and the key takeaways to act on now. The first theme we explore is called: Having belief in your idea and product, will pay dividend in the end

 

Overview:

The talk-within-a-talk-within-a-talk saw Grace Dolan, VP Home Entertainment Marketing at Samsung, and James Rowe, adam&eveDDB NY, lead a conversation with the team behind the first-of-a-kind partnership between Samsung, Netflix and Aviation Gin.

Samsung started working with Adam & Eve in 2017, as they were looking for an agency to help them stand-out from the sea of sameness. Traditionally ads for TVs showed beaches, forests and far-away landscape scenes. Samsung wanted to own the “big movie moment” and set out on a four-year journey to reach consumers, through the emotional benefit of owning the best TV for movie-night.

Netflix had been evolving its partner strategy as well, doubling down on movies, and wanted the “big screen” to watch it on. Tick number one, a match made in heaven. Ryan Reynolds was releasing a new movie ‘6 Underground’ and the team were determined to get him on board. So determined in fact, they had written 40-50 scripts with him in mind. They brainstormed what would be the hook to get him to agree and positioned the idea of giving him a spot within the ad (within the ad) for his gin brand, Aviation Gin. Ryan loved it and signed-up, putting his spin on the script to make it perfect.

The crucial part now was to get the ad ready for Black Friday, the most important retail event of the year, which is notoriously hard to cut-through due to all the noise. After four years, the time pressure was now on.

Samsung originally passed on the idea of promoting alcohol during this crucial period. It was a risk, but everyone else wanted to make this campaign happen, including Grace’s husband. So, she took her final convincing argument to the top floor and the campaign was signed off.

Everyone was delighted with the results, which saw 2 million impressions on social, including banter between the brands and Ryan Reynolds. Samsung saw a record-breaking 8-point lift in market share over Black Friday, with brand health scores going through the roof.

 

Key takeaways:

  • Bravery can take some convincing, but if you believe in the idea, don’t give up.
  • The right partner is crucial for success, a mutual benefit, benefits all.
  • Trust and respect are critical amongst partners.
  • If something takes a long time, so be it. It’ll be worth it in the end.

 

How can OMD help?

As part of Omnicom Media Group, OMD has the connection and power of specialist groups to initiate best in class partnership across brands and verticals. For example:

Our brand partnership & experiences agency, Fuse, provides marketing and commercial services for brands and rightsholders. They specialise in partnerships and experiences across sport, entertainment, cause and culture and have negotiated over $1.1 billion worth of rights in the past six years across the biggest platforms in the world. Their mission is to deliver business impact for clients through the combined power of data & analytics, strategy, activation, content and first-class client servicing.

Our integrated eCommerce agency Transact is built for improving our clients’ eCommerce sales performance. By combining our strategic advisory, operational expertise spanning Amazon management, D2C and eRetail, we produce actionable recommendations which we implement using proprietary tech solutions. With scalable and efficient solutions, Transact helps clients pivot clients’ business to focus on new retail opportunities and eCommerce channels by improving their Digital Availability.

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