The smartwatch market has rapidly expanded in recent years. There are so many options, it’s hard to stand out, even as a recognized brand.

Samsung needed a way to cut through the noise, target Gen MZ and showcase their sleep tracking tool, Galaxy Watch6 in the Dutch market. With the largest Dutch rave and dance event approaching, we saw our opportunity to get Samsung’s sleep technology in front of the public.

Our objectives were to:

∙ Increase sales of the Galaxy Watch6

∙ Create a connection between quality sleep and the Galaxy Watch6

∙ Increase purchase consideration for smart watches

With the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) coming up, the country was in line for five days (and nights) of sleeplessness. Samsung, who was not a sponsor, had to both celebrate this beloved annual event while promoting much needed sleep.

Introducing the Samsung Sleep Rave, an 8-hour set of newly created electronic sleep music that allowed us to track and collect participants’ sleep data – all on the new Samsung Galaxy Watch6’s sleep tracking tool.

We ran an event just days before the whole city would be dancing to help develop the ultimate Sleep Rave track, partnering with DJs Mr Belt & Wezol as well as neuroscientist Dr Els van der Helm, a sleep expert.

Our idea was to create the ultimate soundtrack for after ADE – to help everyone get a good night’s sleep.

Our brief for the Galaxy Watch6 was clear: make sleep sell.

The issue was that Dutch Gen MZ weren’t all that interested in how they were sleeping. We focused on something they did love, turning the enemy of Gen MZ sleep into an ally.

As the home of the largest electronic music festival in the world, we wanted to activate during what is often considered the worst week of Dutch sleep.

Without sponsorships budget, we hijacked the moment, introducing the world’s first sleep rave. Using a festival venue and headlining DJs (Mr Belt & Wezol), we rolled in beds and played an 8-hour bedtime electronic DJ setlist.

As attendees slept with their watch, they donated their sleep data to Dr Els, a leading Dutch sleep expert, to produce a track for Spotify, which we launched when the clocks changed.

The Sleep Rave was held at a well-known venue for dance parties: the Chapel of Hotel Arena in Amsterdam.

While the Sleep Ravers dozed off in comfortable beds and listened to the sleep-enhancing 8-hour DJ set, their sleep patterns were monitored throughout the night with the Galaxy Watch6 sleep coaching tool which measures sleep stages, sleep score, snoring and sleep consistency to understand and improve sleep. Participants included from journalists from key media publications in the Netherlands (Dutch Cowboys and LINDA).

The sleep data collected during the Sleep Rave was used to develop the ultimate sleep track. The binaural track is engineered to take you on a journey to a deep and restful sleep. We launched the track on 29 October on Spotify, the day when wintertime kicked in (when we the clocks changed), which is notorious for negatively affecting your sleep rhythm.

Through the Sleep Rave we successfully promoted the Samsung’s Galaxy Watch6 sleep coaching tool:

32% increase in consideration

36% increase in sales

866,520 minutes played on Spotify

30M impressions, generating 39 articles and 82 social posts across Instagram and TikTok

29.5M+ reach including:

∙ 22M+ in earned media coverage

∙ 1.8M+ in earned social content from media outlets

∙ 5.9M in paid social content from Mr Belt & Wezol, Spinnin (dance label) & Dr Els van der Helm