Samsung’s three week old video, The Training, is second in this week’s viral chart. Adidas’ The Dream by TBWA/Chiat/Day is no.!. Nike’s Risk Everything by W+K Portland is no.3. Football rules.
The Beginning, a 4 minute video launched mid-December last year was Samsung Mobile’s attempt to answer two questions in the affirmative: Does viral success translate to sales success? And will football save the planet?
It has achieved 13,906,062 YouTube views to date.
The Beginning‘s OTT follow-up by Cheil Worldwide and Psyop, The Training, is also 4 minutes long. This has achieved 40,302, 254 views in 3 weeks.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s share of the global smartphone market fell for the first time in four years in the first quarter of 2014, Samsung Mobile revenue fell to US$31 billion in the three months ended March 2014, the lowest since the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012.
So, what does the campaign achieve? It makes Samsung, the brand, cool. And it makes Samsung’s phones own futuristic.
If The Beginning created the team, #Galaxy11, from world’s best football players to save the world from by aliens [sigh], The Training, is where they “prepare for battle while using the Samsung Galaxy technology that will lead them into victory.” [ditto]
The video is visually magnificent, with its futuristic holograms and cinematic sci-fi genre effects. Samsung products, Galaxy S5, Gear 2, and Fit, are woven into the story with finesse. Psyop director, Laurent Ledru, noted, “Samsung is the on the cutting edge of technology, so I wanted to create a place that would highlight this visually, while heightening the drama leading up to the ultimate battle.”
The spot was shot over a period of two months in London, Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Prague and Manchester.
Ledru continued, “Because of the athlete’s varying schedules we had to shoot each player separately. It was very important that each performance felt authentic to that athlete yet interacted seamlessly with the others.”
Ledru first built a large set to plan the shoot segments and then filmed the body doubles performing the precise choreography. After building a rough edit, and extracting the shots to recreate, Ledru then met the football stars in different locales around the world, where they executed the acrobatic stunts and moves for the real shot.
“Each player was given instructions and guidance but we needed to capture them acting as naturally as possible in front of the green screen despite the CG elements that were to come later,” Ledru explained.
Psyop researched the strengths of each player, working with sports choreographer, Andy Ansah, to blend football stunts into the story without compromising the authenticity of the players’ individual styles.
Psyop managed the CG and VFX, and Cut + Run’s London and LA offices handled the editorial.
“When everything did come together the hyperreal design work, cutting edge Samsung technology, uniforms fit for superheroes the spot really resonated a fantasy atmosphere,” Ledru stated.
Of course, The Training has a cliffhanger ending. There are still two weeks until FIFA 2014.
The brand has also launched four new Galaxy 11-themed mobile games. “The Match: Striker Soccer Galaxy 11”, on Galaxy S5 and all Android devices, with weekly prizes. Gamers also have the chance to play against the Galaxy 11 team as part of a partnership with EA Sports FIFA 14 mobile game.
