#SubtlySponsoredPost: How Samsung overtook Apple in a-not-so subtle way

Samsung, an electronics brand, connected with an Australian audience that was tired of 'authentic' influencer posts through a comedic music video and a mocking sponsored post.

Executive summary

This is the story of unconventional thinking prevailing.

The convention within the smartphone category is that the product with the best specs, or best price, wins. The convention is that Gen Z is "hard-to-reach". The convention is that Apple is unbeatable.

Our campaign, #SubtlySponsoredPost, exceeded expectations and upended all conventions. It connected with an audience that had become cynical and tired of confected 'authentic' influencer posts and, in doing so, it helped Samsung overtake Apple to dominate the mid-tier smartphone category.

Challenge, objectives and strategy

What was the strategic communications challenge?

The new Samsung Galaxy A:...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands