The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
Samsung made Gen Z hunt for the ad instead of avoiding it
Samsung launched the Flip4 in Australia by seeding clues that made people engineer their own targeting, lifting Flip4 sales 32% week-on-week on $500k media.
Samsung Electronics Australia
the move
Samsung's newest foldable, the Galaxy Flip4, had to break through to Australia's Gen Z — the cohort most likely to use an ad-blocker and to write off anything that feels 'salesy'.
Instead of buying more reach, CHEP Network flipped targeted advertising. It seeded humorous videos with clues; viewers had to search three specific terms to enter a retargeting pool, and whoever watched all three films was served an 'impossible to be targeted by' pre-roll that contained a hidden Galaxy Flip4.
The payoff was measurable: 185,400 unique searches on just $500k of media, 41% higher search interest than the far-better-funded global Unpacked launch, the top trending Flip4 search, and a 32% week-on-week lift in Flip4 sales. It became a winner at Caples and a One Show / Cannes-recognised idea.
why it works
- The audience had to opt in, so the ad felt earned rather than imposed.
- Searches took viewers through a trail of genuine fan content, so the message reached them as discovery, not interruption.
- People engineered their own algorithm into showing Samsung, which is exactly the behaviour the target already cares about.
- The tiny, intentional targeting pool made being 'targeted' a scarce prize, which drove talk.
what transfers
The hardest audience to reach isn't reached louder — it's reached by letting them opt in. Flip the funnel so being targeted is the prize, and the ad becomes a game people play.
what came after
'Flipvertising' became a standard reference for inverting ad targeting: it won a Caples Digital award, a One Show / ONE Asia Creative Use of Data honour and a Cannes Grand Prix in Social & Influencer, and is cited as an early example of treating an algorithm as a creative medium.
references
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