‘Emily in Paris’ characters pitch Samsung’s Galaxy Z foldable phones in new spot

Samsung has made tech headlines in recent years with its flexible touchscreen smartphones, and now it’s pitting its newest foldable Galaxy Z devices against each other, with the battle being personified by two “Emily in Paris” characters in a new short film titled “Ze Choice” (pro tip: read it aloud with a French accent). In the first-person video, developed by Ogilvy, characters Luc and Julien welcome a “new employee”—the viewer—to the City of Lights, even name-checking Agence Grateau, the fictitious ad agency featured in the show. But as the film progresses, the men get less and less subtle about their preferences for the Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5 and the personas they exemplify, respectively. Walking along the Seine, suave Luc informs the new hire that Parisians appreciate “the grand things in life—films on big screens,” simultaneously unfolding his Fold5 to show a high-definition video that’s twice as wide as on a traditional smartphone screen. Conversely, fashionable Julien advocates for a “cool and chic” attitude à la the Flip5 while snapping a uniquely hands-free selfie. In the end, they leave it up to the viewer to decide which is best. Consumers have often failed to fully grasp the difference between the Fold5 and Flip5 phones, said Mohamed Diaa, group creative director at Ogilvy, but the brand positioning of the devices has historically been geared towards two distinct lifestyles. “The way Samsung likes to describe it is, they’re very different personalities,” he said. Seizing on the tech company’s close relationship with Netflix, the agency settled on Luc and Julien as the perfect embodiment of those contrasting appeals. “I think just having the dynamic duo trying to convince you as a consumer, as a fan, ‘This is the way to go,’ ‘No, this is the way to go’—that was just a way for us to talk to everybody,” Diaa said, adding that the campaign’s first-person POV was “intentional” to eliminate any perceived gender, age or other demographic-limiting factors. The Fold5 and Flip5 foldables were initially unveiled in July. The new campaign was created in close collaboration with Netflix and the “Emily in Paris” crew, including set and costume designers from the show, Diaa said, to ensure its visuals stayed true to the series. The marquee film, as well as 15-second cuts, will be running across digital and social media, along with five social videos, dropping this week, that follow Luc and Julien through their day-to-day professional lives at Agence Grateau. A pair of holiday-themed spots starring the characters, who are played by French actors Bruno Gouery and Samuel Arnold, respectively, are also planned for the coming weeks.

‘Emily in Paris’ characters pitch Samsung’s Galaxy Z foldable phones in new spot

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