Verizon - Unfolding Timbaland
Background
Samsung was launching their new slate of flagship Galaxy Foldable devices in August of 2021, and Verizon—arguably Samsung’s most important strategic partner in the US—wanted to help push these devices from from early adopters to the mainstream.
The Brief:
A ‘disruptive’ social concept that enables play, reimagines immersive experiences, and sparks joy. Success is determined by social engagement.
Situation
After staying indoors and attached to our screens (and not much else) throughout 2020, we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccine was rolling out across America and we were all excited—to paraphrase the internet—for a Hot Girl Summer 2021.
So…how do we get people excited about a new phone with a bigger screen when more screen-time is the furthest thing from their minds?
The pandemic clearly showed us that people want to be stimulated in immersive and memorable ways.
- Mintel Trends
Role of Verizon
When it comes to giving you the best, the network is just the beginning.
We needed to show customers that when they switched or upgraded their device with Verizon, it wasn’t just a screen with a cellular radio, it was a gateway to more immersive experiences.
Insight
To consumers, the last 10 years of smartphone and network improvements have felt like a game of inches.
People have set expectations for smartphone content consumption; they feel that they’ve seen it all, and that there really are no innovations.
Strategic Approach
Unfold a new world of possibilities.
Only Verizon and Samsung can break the constraints of yesterday’s form factors and yesterday’s network, to bring you the new world of possibilities.
Immersive experiences, on exciting new Samsung form factors, powered by the network of tomorrow, Verizon 5G.
Creative Idea
To show how the Samsung Galaxy Z Series’ innovative form factor remixes your online life, we had Timbaland, one of music’s most iconic personalities, write an original track, designed to be remixed infinitely. We built a music-composing A.I. bot, trained it on Timbaland’s biggest hits, and used machine learning to teach it to ingest, interpolate, and synthesize. Then, we gave our beat-making bot the keys to Verizon’s Twitter account.
Custom AI Remix + Original Timbaland Track
Everyone got personal shoutouts from Timbaland, custom beats, and location-specific music videos. The algorithm remixed unique tracks for thousands of fans as soon as they retweeted us. Each fan had their own epic drop – bringing Verizon and the Galaxy Z Series to top of mind, and Verizon’s share of conversation to the top of the charts.
All fans had to do was Retweet Verizon’s post and the A.I. would scan their profiles for public data to integrate into a piece of personalized, dynamic content. In reply, each fan got their own custom version of the song in a music video featuring personal shoutouts, bespoke beats, and location-specific callouts.
Fans who retweeted us got their own individual AI-created version of the track – and they didn’t waste any time sharing it across social media.
Results
It was a truly epic drop – bringing Verizon and Samsung Galaxy Z Series to top of mind, garnering 97% positive sentiment, #1 share of conversation for the first 48 hours, 6,000+ custom remixes and 99.6% of all mentions on @SamsungMobileUS at launch.
Awards
Clio Bronze (Artificial Intelligence)
Webby Award (1x nominee, 1x honoree)
Shorty Awards - Finalist
One Show - 4x Shortlist
AICP Next - Creative Data (Shortlist)
