Samsung and BBH take selfies into space for new pan-European brand campaign

The quest to take the most impressive selfie can be exhausting, so Samsung has kindly stepped in to help by launching one of its phones into space, thereby providing the ultimate photo backdrop: planet earth.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s campaign reunites the agency with former chief Audi marketer, Benjamin Braun, who is now CMO of Samsung Europe.

Although budget doesn’t seem to be an issue, the #SpaceSelfie campaign will not feature TV advertising. The strategy is earned and influencer led, starting with Cara Delevingne, who is encouraging her 43.5 million Instagram followers to register for a #SpaceSelfie. Applicants will be randomly selected for the honour.

Braun said: “We wanted to bring consumers on our journey beyond the norm – to make them a part of our innovation story in a really fun and light-hearted way. We have brought the world a series of technological firsts in our products, and in #SpaceSelfie we’re bringing that pioneering spirit across in our marketing.”

Will Lion, managing partner, strategy at BBH London, said: “Phone advertising has become quite samey, all gleaming devices at beautiful angles with trendy photos. We wanted a break in series; something that would demonstrate how amazing Samsung’s phones are by helping people take the most epic photo of their life – from space – and maybe just break the internet and power up sales ahead of Christmas.”

For those who are interested, here’s the science bit: a super-pressure High Altitude Balloon half the size of a basketball court, containing a specially designed ‘rig’, is taking a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G up to 64,900 ft. into the stratosphere, where it will receive selfies transmitted from earth and layer them over real-time shots of the planet.

MAA creative scale: 8