Brief Explanation

We needed to prove to an audience who’ve seen many tech gimmicks come and go that Samsung’s Gear VR was a genuine gamechanger. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to comprehend just how amazing this product is without experiencing it for yourself. We needed to find a disruptive way to offer people this experience, and switch perception of VR from something that’s just for tech nerds, to a device they would want for themselves. So we created a one-of-a-kind product demonstration to prove that this technology really can make you feel like you’ve entered another world, and turned these personal experiences into content built to intrigue, attract and be shared by a wider audience.

Results and Effectiveness

Within just a few hours of launch, the film of the event was shared more than 10,000 times, showing that this remarkable story was relevant, surprising and something people genuinely wanted to share. More than 3000 people commented on the content, with 98% positive sentiment, and Samsung became one of the first brands to receive a 10/10 relevance score on Facebook globally as a result. The comments also feature frequent mentions of a desire to switch to Samsung or purchase the Gear VR. To date, it's been watched more than 1.8 million times in 194 countries, with 34% organic views on Facebook.

Creative Execution

The Dive Store opened its doors in Alice Springs, Central Australia, in October 2014. It was promoted through flyers, local radio and press, signage and event staff, while the out-of-place shopfront itself drew in curious locals and tourists. The store was open for a single day, with the Gear VR used heavily across an eight-hour period, giving us the opportunity to capture a wealth of authentic reactions to the Shark Dive. We then took these individual experiences and turned our unusual story into an engaging and highly shareable piece of online content.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Our target was young-minded smartphone owners who are early to mid adopters of technology. They’re heavy users of online media, which constantly exposes them to remarkable content and amazing technology every day. We needed to be disruptive enough to stand out, while convincing them that this device was something they wanted. Our strategy was to create a dramatic contrast between the real world and our VR environment. We chose a shopfront in the desert as an unusual channel to launch a diving experience for the Gear VR, creating a unique story that was perfectly suited to stand out and spread through the channels our audience uses and shares through every day – Facebook and YouTube.