Samsung's Celebrity Partnerships

Rising Above Market Competition

There are so many ways brands can attract potential consumers. It can be challenging to determine which should be their primary marketing focus. When it comes to high competition in the market, brands need to find what they can do that will make them top-of-mind.

What's a galaxy without the stars? I bet Samsung asked that question too (however maybe a bit differently) when they first embarked on their journey of celebrity partnerships. In this blog, Hollywood Branded discusses Samsung's recent celebrity partnerships to stand out from the competition. 

Samsung vs. Apple

Samsung and Apple. Two of the world's most popular smartphone brands.

In 2007, Apple released its first-ever iPhone. Two years later Samsung launched their first Android phone, the Samsung GT-17500 Galaxy, in retaliation.

Photos: Samsung | Apple

Ever since, Samsung and Apple have been neck-and-neck, utilizing different strategies to turn people's heads in their direction.

While Apple has opted to rely heavily on product placement and the design aesthetic of its phone, Samsung has decided to utilize other tactics. One of these primary tactics that Samsung has a history of using is celebrity endorsements.

Photo: Apple

Photo: Samsung

Sydney Sweeney

Best known for her role as Cassie Howard in HBO's Euphoria, which first came out in 2018. Her spot in people's minds was solidified as she appeared as Olivia Mossbacher in other hit HBO show The White Lotus.

Photos: HBO | Euphoria

Photos: HBO | The White Lotus

This summer, as one of Hollywood's hottest names, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Sydney inked a deal with Samsung to promote one of their newest releases: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5. 

Photo: Samsung

Sydney's promotion of the Galaxy Z Flip5 kicked off in June as she posted to a reel of her unboxing and using her Flip5 on her Instagram. 

As part of the campaign for the phone, Sydney did a video for Samsung speaking about the features of the Flip5 and why she loves it.

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube 

Sydney even attended Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea this year in July.

At the event, she demonstrated just how the flex window works as she snapped a few quick photos with IVE K-pop member Jan Won-young. 

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube 

By partnering with Sydney and having her interact with Jan Won-young, Samsung was able to display how brands can leverage their brand's international reach to have cross-cultural appeal. 

sabrina carpenter

While Sydney is exclusively known for her acting, Sabrina is well-versed in acting and singing.

Photo: Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Making waves and landing as Taylor Swift's opener for the Latin American leg of The Eras Tour this year, Sabrina first developed a following while on Disney Channel's Girl Meets World.

Photo: Disney Channel

Since then, Sabrina has starred as Cady Heron in Mean Girls: The Musical on Broadway (which was unfortunately cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and various films and shows such as Netflix's Tall Girl and Work It.

Photo: Instagram | Sabrina Carpenter

Photo: Netflix

Photo: Netflix

It's clear that Samsung saw a star in Sabrina as they teamed up with her in December 2021 to do a holiday promotion.  

As part of their "Life With Galaxy" campaign 3 lucky fans received a personalized song written and performed by Sabrina herself along with receiving a Samsung Galaxy product to compliment. These videos were then used as part of Samsung's TV ad run and uploaded to Samsung's YouTube with Sabrina sharing on her Instagram as well.

Doubling down on their initial partnership with Sabrina Samsung brought Sabrina back to perform at Samsung's Summer of Galaxy concert in 2022. The catch to attend, you had to own a Samsung Galaxy product. 

Photo: Alfredo Flores

Video Credit: Sabrina Carpenter / Youtube 

To top off her partnership with Samsung, at the end of her Emails I Can't Send North American leg Sabrina put a 5 minute tour recap filmed with the Galaxy Z Flip4. 

Photo: Island Records | UMG

Video Credit: Sabrina Carpenter / Youtube 

Samsung's partnership with Sabrina demonstrates just how brands can utilize a music artist partnership to strengthen brand loyalty and attract new consumers.

blackpink

Samsung prides itself as being a Korean brand and so naturally, they partnered with one of the biggest K-pop groups, BLACKPINK.

Photo: Samsung

In 2019 Samsung partnered with BLACKPINK. During this time Samsung products were placed in their "Kill This Love" music video.

Photos: YouTube | BLACKPINK

Shortly after the music video's debut Samsung released their Era of Live campaign with BLACKPINK to promote the new Galaxy A80.  

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube 

At the Samsung's Galaxy event, BLACKPINK performed for the lucky attendees and then returned to the stage for a quick interview about their favorite parts of the phone.

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube 

Video Credit: Chheng / Youtube 

To follow, more commercial videos including their song ("Kill This Love") were put out. Additionally, in the videos they highlighted the key features of the phone in various settings. 

Video Credit: Samsung / Youtube 

Samsung must have seen great success from this partnership with BLACKPINK, as later that summer it was announced there would be a limited bundle called BLACKPINK Edition (available in only select markets). This included the Galaxy A80, Watch Active, and Buds that were BLACKPINK themed.

Photo: Samsung

For Blinks (BLACKPINK's fans) who wanted to go the extra mile in expressing their devotion, Samsung also came out with Galaxy Friend x BLACKPINK which included additional branded accessories for the phone. 

Photos: Samsung

This was only the beginning of BLACKPINK and Samsung's relationship as it carried over to 2020. Live Awesome was the campaign theme this time where the K-pop group encouraged their fans to dance and celebrate the new Galaxy A71's features. 

Samsung then held an event where BLACKPINK appeared to choose winners of the dance competition held during the event that was then followed by an interview. 

What brands can learn from this partnership is how promotional events, product placement, and traditional advertisements can be used in conjunction with each other to create a powerhouse campaign that increases sales, brand awareness, and customer loyalty.

The Pros and cons

A celebrity partnership can definitely be glamorous for brand as they receive an influx of chatter and recognition among their target audience. 

The positive of creating a partnership with a celebrity is that they are given an increased level of credibility among the celebrity's admirers. Furthermore, brands can latch onto that person's loyal fan base and convert them to be customers of their own brand. 

Photo Credit: Sabrina Carpetner's Twitter

A major point to be aware of is that if a celebrity's reputation is suddenly tarnished the brand's could be too by association. It certainly doesn't mean that the brand's reputation is irreparable. It would  just require a bit of good old PR work.  

Photo: Adidas

Another challenge brands may run into, that has occurred with Samsung, is if the celebrities aren't organic users of the brand's products. There are measures that can be taken to make the partnership seem more authentic such as writing in restrictions into their contract and fully educating the celebrity on the product they are promoting. 

All in all, celebrity partnerships can be a ton of fun and even build employee sentiment in the workplace. It gives people something to talk about and opens the conversation to sharing about the brand they are partnered with.

Photo: Canva

Brands able to put together a well-thought campaign around a celebrity partnership will surely see their sales increase. It just takes some consideration as to what the target audience would want and how to have the activation feel genuine. 

Eager To Learn More?

Loved learning about celebrity partnerships? Check out these blogs below that share about how other brands have used celebrity partnerships to increase brand awareness and connect with their desired target market!

• HB Round-Up: Celebrity Brand Partnerships
• Top Fast-Food Celebrity Partnerships
• 5 Celebrity Brand Partnerships That Perfectly Harness Pop Culture Marketing
• How to Manage Celebrity Partnerships Gone Wrong
• Branded Celebrity Partnerships And Mistakes To Avoid

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