Celebrating its 58^th year, the Clio Awards is one of the top three advertising award festivals along with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the New York Festival. It is judged by an international panel of advertising professionals and showcases work that pushes boundaries and establishes new precedents.

The commercial tells a story about an ostrich who learns to fly after donning a Samsung Gear VR headset and launching a virtual flight simulator. The campaign taps into the basic human urge to push beyond what is normal and demonstrates the company’s commitment to providing products and services that allow people to break boundaries and do the incredible.

In June of this year, ‘Ostrich’ took home 3 gold awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity under the film craft category for best direction, animation, and visual effects. This golden hattrick was complimented by 4 additional silver and bronze awards, bringing the final tally to 7 awards.

“The Ostrich, which has now won awards both at Cannes Lions and the Clio Awards, is an emotional piece that conveys Samsung’s commitment to defying barriers and making the impossible, possible,” said Younghee Lee, CMO and Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics. “As a human-focused lifestyle brand, we continue to focus our efforts on creating real human value and this commercial is a great example of this.”

The Golden Ostrich

Samsung Electronics’ creative efforts received top marks for its Galaxy S8 flagship ad, ‘Ostrich’, which took home three gold awards, as well as two silver and two bronze. Samsung collected the golden hat-trick under the film craft category for best direction, animation, and visual effects.

The ‘Ostrich’ commercial shows an ostrich who learns to fly after donning a Samsung Gear VR headset and launching a virtual flight simulator. The #DoWhatYouCant campaign and “Ostrich” ad tap into the basic human urge to push beyond what is normal and demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing products and services that allow people to break boundaries and do the incredible.

A Brand Evolution

The Galaxy brand continues to evolve from one focused on product and engineering prowess to one focused on providing human benefits for everyday people. To achieve this transition, a team of specialists first consolidated the brand image before later exploring creative campaign themes with people, not products, as the main focus.

Pio Schunker, SVP of Global Brand Marketing Group, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics(second to right), on stage at the Lumiere Theatre discussing the evolution of Samsung’s strategy to humanize the brand.

This change in direction resulted in the successful “Sink” advertisement released with the launch of the Galaxy S7, and was reinforced by the 2016 Rio Olympics campaigns, “Anthem” and “Chant”. The brand’s new trajectory culminated in the development of the “New Normal” and “Ostrich” ads, which were well-received by customers and audiences worldwide.

Atelier Samsung: A Creative Hotspot

Samsung Electronics showcased Galaxy S8, Gear VR, Gear 360 and various VR contents at Samsung Atelier during Cannes Lions.

Samsung’s Cannes 2017 presence also included “Atelier Samsung”, a collaborative space featuring interactive sessions and seminars that showcased the power of creativity and immersed visitors in Samsung’s mobile ecosystem.

Visitors to Samsung Atelier experience virtual reality with the Gear VR.

Atelier Samsung’s engaging slate of events included a session featuring YouTube sensation Casey Neistat, director Spike Jonze and visual artist Shantell Martin, who discussed the future of content creation and how Samsung’s products empower creators to produce dynamic material.

The creative space also hosted the premiere of Samsung and Vice Media’s ‘Beyond the Frame’, a new series that brings together musicians, artists and directors to produce content that utilizes virtual reality to foster immersive storytelling.

Alongside the events the studio allowed Samsung to showcase the power of the Creators – a series of films shot by YouTubers solely using the power of the Galaxy S8 video functions. Led by Casey Neistat with Karlie Kloss, Jesse Wellens, Marques Brownlee, Raya Encheva, Akilah Hughes and Davin Graham, these creators have been filming all around Cannes to capture unique content.

The ‘Creative Zone’ within Samsung Atelier offered guests the opportunity to see how various contents can be created with the Galaxy S8.