The Catch-up Grant
Samsung
Issue 37 | December 2015
Agency
DDB Stockholm
Creative Team
Creative Daniel Mencák
Production Team
Business Director Jessica Morales Account Director Rebecca Jerndahl Tepavac Account Managers Ulrica Carlsson, Ulrika Sörensen Planner Patrick Wilkorsz PR Agency Wenderfalck
Other Credits
Digital Designer Erik Sigblad Digital Designer Martin Ruben Digital Director Andreas Fabbe Digital Account Director Katarina Mohlin Graphic Designers Tor Westerlund, Sebastian Reinbring, Steven McDonald Digital Production Company Acne production Production Company Mastiff Director Brennan Stasievicz
Date
September 2015
Background
Thanks to popular online streaming services, the way people viewed TV had changed considerably. Binge watching had become a cultural phenomenon, people watching several episodes of a TV series in one sitting. Indeed, it was not uncommon for an entire series to be released in one go to accommodate the bingers.
Idea
Consumers were not always able to watch as much TV as they would like to as they became increasingly time-poor.
So Samsung decided to launch 'The Catch Up Grant' to promote their new SUHD TV. The insight behind it was FOMO – the fear of missing out. Now, thanks to Samsung, one lucky person would be able to get completely up to date with what was going on in TV culture.
The recipient of the Catch Up Grant was to be sent to a temple in the Himalayas, where, in front of a 65-inch curved screen Samsung SUHD TV with advanced nanocrystal technology he or she could consume as much TV as they wanted.
While staying in the Buddhist retreat, the winner would also be compensated for the time off work.
Wannabe competitors had to upload a thirty-second video to a bespoke microsite, explaining why they deserved the grant. Eight were selected before a final competition to select a single outright winner.
Results
The campaign ran for one week in September and attracted 105,667 sessions on the site. There were 60 applications for the Catch Up Grant. As yet a winner has not been chosen.
Our Thoughts
What is interesting about this campaign is it used both curated content and created content to drive the competition. Banner ads and a video ad drove awareness of the microsite, where people could not only see the short films put up by contestants but videos about the contestants too. So, a psychologist interviewed candidates to discover how alienated they felt from society when they weren’t able to comment on the latest hit shows. In another video, they were subjected to a lie-detector test in case they were fibbing about how little TV they watched.
Today, you simply can’t just put out one piece of video and hope it goes viral. You have to create a whole series of different films, which weave together to create one total experience. As here.
Good work from DDB Stockholm.