The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is the most innovative smartphone in Australia, a fully foldable device with all the capabilities of a cutting-edge smartphone. Our audience for this device were the internet trend-setters and online influencers that can drive a piece of tech from niche to mainstream.

This savvy audience is increasingly sceptical of advertising and often blind to its effects given their ad-free media consumption, use of ad-blockers and their desire to avoid anything that feels too ‘salesy’. So, to launch the new Galaxy Z Flip4 device, we knew we had to approach our challenge differently. How could we find a way for people to discover the benefits of the device without just shouting about it in ads?

‘Flipvertising’ was about flipping the traditional use of targeted advertising. We seeded humorous online videos with clues that took viewers on a series of searches in the hope of being retargeted by one ‘near-impossible-to-be-targeted-by’ pre-roll, which contained our hidden prize - a Galaxy Z Flip4.

To find the winning ad, clue-hunters needed to search three specific terms via Google that linked to our films. Each film was at first glance an amusing product demo but also contained a clue that drove to the next search term to enter the retargeting pool. Whoever watched all three films went into the final retargeting pool and was served the winning ad as a YouTube pre-roll.

The best part? As people searched to find the right keywords, they inadvertently explored tons of positive content and reviews –created by everyday fans highlighting the device’s benefits in a non-advertising way and all experienced in unique sequences.

Challenging a tech-savvy audience to engineer their algorithm into showing them only Samsung content seemed like a great idea in theory. But in reality, the data-driven strategy of flipping the Google ad targeting model on its head was a technical minefield: exactly how many unique users do you need in a combined audience to retarget on DV360? Is that number different if you buy YouTube via Google Ads instead? How long does it take for Google to review a low volume search term before it decides whether a keyword carries eligible impressions? What is the theoretical number of custom audiences you can combine?

For the technical aspects of the strategy, we worked closely with search platform partner Google to ensure the campaign strategy would work from theory into execution and to tightly control the data in the trading platforms at a manual level.

We know our audience hate ads. They’re savvy enough to spot sponsored posts. Furthermore, our research showed us that with product launches, Aussies are better influenced by real people creating content and reviews, so we wanted to drive our ad-wary audience to all the content that was already out there without clumsily serving them paid-for content. 

As the internet was flooded with positive reviews about the device, we needed a clever way to get punters Googling about the Galaxy Flip4, so they’d see all the organic content that everyday fans (who didn’t feel corporate) were making themselves. 

We were also aware of the growing conversations on Reddit and other platforms about algorithms and how to subvert them – so inviting punters to mess with their own and receive a reward felt very much of the zeitgeist. 

The theory was straightforward – but the execution was far from it. The planning and trading of this campaign really pushed our creative, digital media, technology and data teams to the limit.  

To launch, we used influencers and content creators to get the word out, and this content was then served through our paid media channels to promote the launch.  

Over the campaign period, clues as to what search terms people needed to search were seeded via social media channels and influencers. 

The first person each day for ten days to follow the clues, watch all three videos and be retargeted by the hidden ad won a Galaxy Flip4.  

As people searched for the winning ad, their algorithms were flooded with organic content about the Galaxy Flip4 – reviews, content and unboxing videos – leading them to inadvertently discover a whole world of brilliant, independent Galaxy Flip4 content, all experiencing this content in sequences that were utterly unique to them. 

Marketing science tells us that winning in search often means winning in market. The launch of ‘Flipvertising’ had 41% higher search interest than the far better funded ‘Unpacked’ global product announcement, driving 185,400 unique searches - with only $500K media support.

But how do we know that lift was for ‘Flipvertising’? Flip and Fold launched together but there was no corresponding lift for Fold, despite being the more popular device. So whilst Fold had 54% higher search volumes than Flip at ‘Unpacked’; at the launch of ‘Flipvertising’, Flip had 74% higher search volumes than Fold.

During the campaign, ‘Flipvertising’ was the top trending search in relation to Z Flip4. Engagement in search was 6x benchmark for paid and 2x benchmark for organic. Engagement in social was more than 3x that of all other Pre-Order creative.

Most critically, Z Flip4 sales lifted by a whopping 32% week-on-week following the campaign launch.