Samsung Malaysia put strangers' live reviews in its paid Google slots

When the Galaxy Z Fold7 launched, Samsung Malaysia bought search ads the usual way and the usual thing happened: almost nobody clicked. The reason is structural, not fixable by sharper copy. For a big-ticket item like a phone a person buys once every few years, shoppers don't listen to marketing. They read comments, watch reviews, dig through forums, and trust other people. A brand's own claim is, in that moment, the least credible source on screen. No amount of persuasive writing can compete with peer opinion at the instant of purchase intent.

The normal response is to keep buying search ads and sharpen the message — spend more on the same untrusted channel. Samsung needed a way to make people trust a paid ad, which the industry treats as close to impossible.

Instead of writing its own search ads, Samsung invited the public to post whatever they honestly thought about the Galaxy Z Fold7 on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and YouTube, then turned those live comments into the ads shown at the top of Google results whenever someone searched for the phone. Real reviews became the paid search headlines: the brand's paid slots published the measured record of what third parties actually said, updating as the conversation grew.

Turned live public reviews into paid search ads, broadcasting the crowd's testimony instead of brand claims, relocating credibility from speaker to crowd.

Shoppers distrust brand copy because it's self-interested and paid.

Live reviews from unaffiliated people read as evidence, not persuasion.

The ads appear exactly when buyers are weighing peer opinions.

Each new review refreshes the ad and signals scale, compounding trust.

When customers distrust your claims, hand the persuasive channel to the crowd: republish their honest words in the paid slot at the moment of intent.

It claims 94% Search Impression Share and 3.9x ROAS; independent juries recognised it: ADFEST Silver Media Lotus, Cannes shortlist. A template a brand with an untrusted claim can re-run anywhere: hand the persuasive slot to the consumers, let their honest aggregate be the ad, and spend creative budget on curation rather than copywriting.