How Amy Adams and Kevin Costner persuaded me to buy a Smart TV

Samsung’s new HD Curved TV ad is a huge success. I am curious on how they will translate this campaign to digital marketing as well.

Using snippets from movies and TV is an old trick, but it goes over very well when done right – which it is here.   The key learnings for how to do this take into account infotainment and Brand transference.   

Infotainment is rather simple, it’s when we are both educated and entertained with a message.  By using entertainment clips for a new product, this is done by default.

Two, brand transference employs that by seeing Amy Adams or scenes from Jurassic park, the emotional feelings from that movie are carried over to this new product launch for Samsung.  A consumer gets to transfer feelings from one experience to a new product, rather then having to start from scratch.

Using these two methods, they have crafted an effective and beautiful ad.  Im sure they had to pay a lot of licensing fees, but I assume they will have plenty of awareness for their product.  We will have to see if consumers flock to retail establishments to consider it for purchase.  The TV market in general has been undergoing fragmentation between which next smart features are needed for 2015 and beyond.   The curved form factor of the TV also may be problematic for families who wan  multiple best points of viewership.

ps. As an aside, I find it fascinating that TVs have gone from convex to flat to concave in the course of 10 years.  

 

 

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Masterchef as an optimized TV show

Here is an amazing formula for content:

3 celebrity judges

20 skilled artists

+ A season of creative content generation with storytelling engagement.

multiple episodes featuring product placement, great entertainment, and a parallel webisode to engage people in transmedia.  The final product of 12-20 episodes of quality television, a cookbook that I can buy and a call to action for next seasons show.  This is overlooking the obvious ad spends, and endorsement deals.

I love this show.  I think its great content. I get exposed to great recipes, I am entertained, and the filmmaking of the show itself is both entertaining and informative. I dont even mind the fact that I am watching a giant ad.

Reality TV has become a great investment for brands and channels.  Skilled labor becomes subsidized for the shot at a dream of the story of “Everyman.” A hero emerges, and the curators of amazing content and brands all rise in engagement levels and customer satisfaction.  I am curious to see how this format continues to grow.

-pd