On the unseriousness of the new Samsung Galaxy Watch6 ad

To tell your story in 60 seconds for a job interview or to snap up a promotion is incredibly hard. Now, imagine telling the story of a tech product and at the same time trying to make viewers consider and buy it whilst making sure the storytelling is arresting at the same time.

It is what Cheil India has done in a new ad for the Samsung Galaxy Watch6 series. Light, breezy, very unserious in its demeanour, and a catchy jingle to boot, it is, for the lack of a better word, fun. It's an alien ad in a world of boring CTA-driven technology ads than generate more yawns than sales.

We threw a few questions to Vikash Chemjong, chief creative officer, Cheil India about this ad, its making, its light-hearted nature, and more. 

Edited Excerpts

1. It’s a very young, not taking itself seriously kind of ad. What made you choose this creative route for a technology product?

Forget the creative route. Isn't it the reason why we chose the creative profession in the first place? But coming back to the question, sometimes the pressures of targets, budgets, click-through-ratios, ROIs and the likes of it, seeps down into the creative product [though a little inadvertently]. 

We just have to click on the TV to see the many examples of these serious ‘death by PowerPoint…’ commercials. Thankfully in our case, we had the Galaxy Watch6.

With features and designs that were young, trendy and cool. Quite like their potential target audience. Plus, an even cooler client. So, it’s no surprise that the ad turned out the way it did.

2. How much do you depend on consumer insights and data from your client versus going with your gut and life experience to make such ads?

Every bit of the communication jigsaw is important to have before you start piecing together the creative product. The information from the data is important. But inspiration has to come from life. More so when you have a cold tech product in hand [no pun intended!]. So yes, it’s the right mix of data, insights, and of course, gut feeling. Because no gut[s], no glory. 

3. What kind of communication did Samsung India have in mind when it briefed you?

To put it simply, they wanted a spot that was simply WOW! Because that’s what the product promised – a ‘world on (my) watch’. In fact, the Galaxy Watch6 opened up such a world of possibilities that it would require three minutes to explain them all.

From navigation to payments to streaming to calls to entertainment to health checks [BP/ECG]. All that without a phone. And if that was the body, the client wanted us to garb it and strut with it and the stylish attire of life and emotion.

4. The ad, by its look and feel and English jingle, feels very urban-esque. Is there anything for Hindi or the other national languages?

Nowadays, desi is cool in fashion, food and of course music. The best clubs I believe are grooving to the beats of some lethal bhangra and Bollywood. So, the jingle could have been in any language, even a South Indian one. Who knows, maybe it could have been even better? But given the timelines and the circumstances and yes, a bit of gut feel, we took a calculated call of going with English.

5. How did you go about creating the jingle for the ad? 

We had a reference track in mind for it. It was more about the music and not necessarily the lyrics. But as we were in the process of editing, we realised the importance of a voice to hold the mood and the movement in the film together. Therefore, we together with the music director added a layer of lyrics to complement the visuals.

6. How do you balance the urge to use influencers or very young film actors in ads versus young models? (Shanaya Kapoor and Rohan Gurbaxani appear in Samsung A55/A35 ads)

I believe the cast should always be dictated by the idea. But in this crazy ‘click, like & subscribe’ world of influencers and their gazillion followers, there is always an added attraction for brands to take comfort in the fact that their ads will reach the captive community of these ever-growing followers. So more often than not, the balance is a function of one simple thing – budget…

So, would our film have worked better with some star firepower? Definitely yes. But if there was a star [with their crazy schedule and crazier tantrums], would they be able to shoot at the location we did? Definitely not. So…

7. The Galaxy watches are quite expensive, and something young folks cannot afford without monetary help. It’s an aspiration-building ad, isn’t it?

Two things to that. One, there are some things we want and we will work/wait for them till we finally get one. Also, even if they (TG) reach the offline or online store to check it out, we have more than a few products that fit their pocket.

And two, these guys exert a decent amount of influence among their friends and family. So, they might not be direct consumers, but they could quite possibly lead us to a potential one.

8. Are you complementing this ad with other creative works, say a print spot or social media-specific activity?

Yes, we have an interesting campaign planned out for you. Hopefully, you will all be WOW-ed by it soon. 

Credits

Agency: Cheil India

Chief Operating Officer: Sanjeev Jasani 

Chief Creative Officer: Vikash Chemjong 

Campaign Director: Kapshin Cho

Chief Strategy Officer: Sourav Ray

Business Head: Saksham Kohli

Group Creative Directors: Manoj Pandey, Sachin Ambekar

DGM Strategy: Kunal Ghosh

Creative Director: Prabhjeet Singh Oberoi

Art Director: Aditi Baldha

Account Manager: Varun Mathur

Agency Producer: Revati Ahuja