Following the launch of the Galaxy Watch3 last year that focussed on the wellness space, Samsung had already established a strong base of loyal users. And with circa 40% of the UK population using Samsung smartphones, Samsung had a primed audience ready to consider buying a smartwatch, or upgrading to a new one.

With the Galaxy Watch4 Samsung wanted people to know it enables the audience to have a holistic overview of their health by being the first to measure body composition, and biometrics data.

Yet Samsung needed to be sensitive to a time where health was a delicate topic, lockdown had resulted in anxiety levels rising and instead of the motivation of gyms and sporting clubs all the public had was streets, parks, and themselves.

To communicate the benefits of the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 we needed to help transform a challenging situation for many and make exercise fun again.

Our creative idea was to build on the health benefits of the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 to become the nation’s coach. Instead of exercising alone, Samsung would motivate the public by co-opting streets and parks to recreate the competition and community that so many were missing.

Samsung teamed up with the Strava running network, setting nationwide Strava challenges to kick-off the activity. Anonymised Strava data was then used to identify key routes throughout the UK that were the most popular with runners.

The route data informed where local digital out of home posters were placed, turning them into personal coaches with both media and creative, fuelled by real-time activity data.

More data meant more Samsung coaching and motivation for each community while feeding back its collective progress.

By highlighting local runners’ collective data from their Strava route times, Samsung could show how well each community was doing and spur them on.

Data sat at the heart of our idea.

With more people than ever using Strava, they were the perfect partner. We used Strava data to identify popular exercise routes throughout the UK.

The route data informed where we placed local digital out of home posters, turning them into personal coaches with both media and creative, fuelled by real-time activity data.

And the more data we gathered, the more we could coach each community on, by feeding back its collective progress.

By highlighting the local runners’ collective data from their Strava route times, we could show how well each community was doing and spur them on.

The campaign ran for a six-month period from the beginning of May to October 2021.

The campaign launched with social executions that showed how everyday athletes bring the key benefits to life, showing biometric data in the creative as they each engaged with their own challenge.

Samsung then partnered with Strava, the UK’s most popular fitness app, to launch a Samsung branded challenge, which encouraged users to push their limits and hit four hours of activity over the course of the month. This would ensure repeat engagement with the campaign and repeat exercise to help with stress management (monitored by the the Galaxy Watch4).

And our DOOH messages placed strategically along the running routes cheered each community on by feeding back its collective progress.

The challenge was amplified via Samsung’s CRM database and promoted through both Samsung and Strava’s social channels. As a result, Samsung engaged over 230,000 active

The response rate on the Strava challenge saw 230,000 people take part from 13th September to 10th October, racking up a total of 69 million kilometres, a total of 300km of activity per person!

Through the challenge Samsung were able to encourage participants by setting new targets and goals, which got a great response and saw people setting new PBs “Did 5 km in my best time of 33.45 minutes ??”

And studies showed an average 30% reduction in biometric indicators of stress and anxiety in those who participated (Source: Department of health).