Samsung All eyes on S4: turn a product feature into a challenge

Raphael Hermann describes a billboard with an S4: look at it for an hour to win the phone. Actors provided distractions, including stunt motorcyclists and arguing couples. Attention recognition supplied the premise. [1]

Our reading is that this made a quiet technical feature dramatic. Recognising attention is usually something a phone does in the background. Here, the act of looking became the whole story. The player’s simplest response to a distraction — turn and see what happened — was precisely the response the rule made costly.

The prize also mattered creatively. The person was trying to win the same object whose feature shaped the challenge. Rule, demonstration and reward pointed at one product. That connection would weaken if the task became unrelated trivia or the reward became an arbitrary voucher. It is a useful test of a concept: can you explain why this challenge belongs to this particular product?

In November 2013, Samsung’s newsroom referred to more than three million YouTube views for the earlier Swisscom S4 campaign. The article discusses a later Note 3 and Gear event, so its other activities and results should not be assigned to S4. [2]

The format gave a spectator a different pleasure from the contestant. The contestant tried to ignore an interruption; the viewer could enjoy it and wonder whether concentration would break. That tension makes the idea easy to follow without learning a complex set of rules. Our interpretation is that the surrounding spectacle helped turn a simple test into something worth watching.

That creates two business questions. Did the film attract viewers, and did the experience help prospective buyers understand the product? The published view count answers the first, not the second. At a trade show, preserve the same distinction between people who watch a demonstration, try an activity and ask to discuss their own requirements.

The most useful element to borrow is the relationship between a feature and an action. For an exhibitor, that action can be a decision about a practical situation. A short quiz works when the answer teaches someone why a product detail matters to their job. It serves a different purpose from the original physical demonstration, in a format that fits a brief stand visit.

For example, an exhibitor selling packaging equipment could ask what material a sample package uses, which operating condition matters, or what the visitor should bring to a demonstration. These are illustrative questions, not claims about the Samsung campaign. The correct choices must reflect the exhibitor’s actual product.

Write an explanation after each answer. A wrong choice can become a useful discovery if the correction is short and specific. Avoid obscure trivia about the company: knowing its founding year rarely helps a visitor decide whether to speak to an engineer or request a quotation.

A quiz can open a conversation, but it cannot determine commercial fit from a score alone. A visitor may answer everything correctly and have no purchasing role. Another may know very little and still have an urgent operational problem. Leave qualification to an actual exchange with the team.

Make the invitation to continue concrete: bring a sample, describe a task, or request a demonstration at an agreed time. Explain what the person will receive and what information the team needs to reply. The follow-up should answer the invitation they accepted, not arrive as an unrelated sales message.

Keep the promised next step within your capacity. If a product specialist can handle only a limited number of demonstrations, agree how requests will be scheduled before promoting the offer. A generous prize description is not useful if the recipient cannot obtain the meeting or trial that was promised.

Before launch, ask a colleague to try the questions without help. Check whether the explanations teach something useful and whether the final screen makes the next step clear. This small rehearsal can catch ambiguous wording before customers encounter it in a noisy venue.

After the event, start with observable records: completed rounds, claimed offers, verified contacts and meetings that actually happened. The campaign dashboard is one part of that record; conversations and later orders belong in your normal sales process. Do not label a correct answer as a qualified lead or an associated order as proven additional revenue.