For more than 10 years, Samsung has been leading the way in transforming society through innovation and new technologies. Its "Technology with purpose" platform has contributed to improving the lives of many people and breaking down the barriers that separate us. The campaigns in previous years have in Spain reached people with dyslexia, ALS patients, young people suffering from bullying, and elderly people with cognitive impairment.

These projects were all organized together with widely recognised medical experts and health institutions in Spain, with the sole focus on ‘technology with purpose’ brand awareness, without any commercial objective. In 2023 it was however decided to go a step further and in addition to helping a specific audience group, it would also serve to increase sales of a specific product. One such device is the Galaxy Buds2 Pro, a product with little budget for advertising and with little differentiation from the competition.

This is how the idea of creating Unfear was born. A universal AI algorithm that would help more than half a million Spaniards with autistic disorder and that could also be useful for the 20% of the population that suffers from some kind of hearing sensitivity without being severe. The objective was to give a new use to a Samsung product and at the same time give it a much more social and useful identity beyond the more lifestyle-focused positioning of the competition.

The Buds2 Pro was seen as a "commodity" within Samsung products. The standard value offering was the same as that of the competition and there was no substantial value promise for its purchase. In fact, Buds2 Pro was sold as an accessory to mobile phones and rarely as a standalone product.

The challenge was to give the earbuds category a personality without changing the hardware. We exploited the power of software to give them new functionality that would position them beyond entertainment, making them an open solution to a problem that affects millions: Noise.

Objectives

●Increase the interest and value of the Galaxy Buds2 Pro wireless earbuds that had been launched in 2022 (within one year any technology product loses substantially invalue).

●Exceed Samsung's Brand Health KPIs achieved by previous "Technology with Purpose" campaigns.

●Increase sales of the Galaxy Buds2 Pro wireless earbuds by 20% (note: one year after its major launch).

●Doing so with half of the –advertising budget investment compared to the launch year.

·The ambition was for the social purpose to have a direct impact on the business through a concrete and direct link to the use of a product that the brand was already marketing on a large scale.

·Sales of Buds were falling exponentially due to their lack of differentiation in the market. We took the noise cancellation that was being sold as a “commodity” within the category and gave it a unique use over competitors.

·We moved from leisure to utility. We turned the product into a new one without changing its hardware. Smart noise cancellation using an AI algorithm enables to anticipate noise impact by filtering and reducing it through audio libraries and machine learning.

·We developed it for +9 months together with +10 Spanish autism associations, receiving the endorsement of Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health. After running +100 tests with our app with an average score of 4.9 among all participants.

·Unfear is a unique technological development based on real patients and people with sound sensitivity, which makes its modes so effective for noise reduction. This ANC tech was ahead of the competitors, creating a paradigm that has been followed by other brands in subsequent months.

Unfear was implemented in Spain and Portugal with media and sales acceptance, converting an unknown product into a purposeful earphone which allowed adding a new value to users. The first target, profiles with (autistic disorder) made an adult public organically see the advantages of having a "sound airbag" for their daily life, which made more general public open to try it and recommend it.

One of the most talked about cases was the real demo we did in the Fallas of Valencia, (Fallas is a Spanish festival where fireworks are thrown during a whole day reaching +120 db of noise) this experiment demonstrated the power of Unfear to the extreme and led people with sensitivity to its purchase and going viral (watch real experience in the attached material).

Unfear has been active in Spain and Portugal since 2023. Its acceptance by public and private organizations has been fundamental for its adoption by the public. Since October 2023, the app also has its Unnoise version, an Unfear light with more generalist functions for people with hypersensitivity. In 2024 we are already working to bring the app to more than 5 countries and more than 5 languages.

Business Impact:

+70% sales increase of Galaxy Buds2 Pro vs. previous year

+260% sales increase vs. previous month

60% of sales of the product on its own, In Samsung the wearables are usually sold as a part of a pack, as a bundle. This time the sale is Direct. (usually it's only a 10%)

Unfear Earn Media: €2,102,637.68

Brand Impact

Total Brand Awareness: 96%

81% associate the campaign positively with Samsung.

(exceeding the Samsung norm – 67%- and the Spanish norm -59%-)

+70% effectively captured the campaign purpose message. Also obtaining an excellent balance between messages of social commitment and reference to technology and/or product.

General results by Ipsos research – Unfear evaluation 2024

> 9 out of 10 correctly associated the campaign with the brand.

> 91% liked the campaign a lot or quite a bit (exceeding the norm for Samsung -75%- and Spain -71%-).

> 55% felt the emotional impact of the campaign (exceeding the Samsung and Spanish standards)