Corporate
Samsung’s Creative Currency Shines at Cannes
7/3/2019
Samsung Electronics America’s marketing and creative communications executives arrived in the South of France in June ready to inspire and learn from their influential counterparts from brands around the world, at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The conference is an annual event where the marketing world’s best minds share key insights and learnings, predict future trends and are awarded for their most compelling work of the year.
In panel and roundtable discussions over the five-day event in the iconic city of Cannes, Samsung executives described the company’s shift from product-centric to experience-driven marketing, passionately spoke to the importance of fostering equality and diversity within a company and shared key observations on successfully communicating with Generation Z.
“If you want your brand to win with Gen Z, you’ve got to stop story-telling and you’ve got to start story-living,” said Michelle Crossan-Matos, Vice President of Strategy and Transformation at Samsung Electronics America, during the iHeartMedia & Publicis Media Lunch Panel with Ryan Seacrest. Gen Z was a hot topic of discussion at the festival, as brands look to capture mindshare of the youngest generation of consumers and creatives in the workplace.
“The next generation doesn’t want talk. They want experiences, and they want technology that helps them live life to the fullest,” said Crossan-Matos.
That ethos is reflected across many of Samsung’s recent award-winning marketing campaigns. Moving from targeting specific demographics and highlighting the products, Samsung’s marketing efforts of late have showcased a more holistic understanding of the role technology plays in consumers’ passions. The company’s focus on building communities around those consumer passion points has played a crucial part. Think gamers, creators and entrepreneurs, and even fitness-driven consumers.