In the United States, branded entertainment is becoming increasingly core to advertiser strategies. Brands are looking for innovative ways to appeal to and reach consumers beyond traditional broadcast advertising. Companies have increasingly limited media dollars to promote online campaigns. Advertisers are looking for new ways to tell brand stories that entertain and engage consumers.

Tapping into the explorer in all of us, we sent the SH100 on a road trip to create a living, breathing, social photo essay of America.

The journey relied on digital influencers, social media networks and real people along the way to shoot and upload photos, and to pass the camera from person to person. A documentary crew chronicled the trip from an Airstream trailer, posting live updates from the road via Twitter, creating a live conversation with a growing community.Trip photos were uploaded daily to an interactive geo-tagged Facebook application that offered fans a timeline or gallery view, the ability to vote on their favourite images, and to follow the Airstream on a Google map.

The trip concluded at its own gallery show in New York City where the press, influencers, the winning photographer, and hundreds of participants gathered to celebrate the journey.

The program lasted a total of 6 weeks. During that time, we created a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube community of over 100,000 fans. Our Facebook application averaged 84,000 monthly users, and our documentary videos had over 500,000 views. Total impressions including press coverage, social media reach, post views, and video views were over 16m, with campaign sentiment 99% favourable. Overall, the campaign garnered over 500 blog mentions; more than 1,000 Facebook mentions; 100,000 Twitter mentions; 25,000 interactions; and over 50 news articles, including a story in the New York Times. Most importantly, camera sales increased beyond Samsung’s projections.