Samsung Galaxy 11

One year before the 2014 World Cup, Samsung gathered together 13 of the world’s best footballers to participate in a new campaign. They wanted to create a story about an alien race threatening earth with destruction; the planet’s only hope resting with these players and their team: the Galaxy 11. 

But how do you tell this saga in a way that keeps the campaign exciting and fresh over the course of an entire year? How do you make people become fans of a fictional team and give them reasons to keep coming back?

You start by making people fans. 21 films were posted in social media by the players themselves, allowing people to follow the unfolding story of the team in real time, starting with a mysterious “selfie” video from Franz Beckenbauer and culminating in a 4 minute extravaganza that included every player.  Fans added their own opinions and films, and total views for all this content topped 151,000,000, causing Adweek to name Galaxy 11 to it's "Top 10 Brands that Nailed Social Video in 2014" list.

As the campaign continued to unfold, new films, products, and even mobile games were available on the ever-changing Galaxy 11 website.  A Galaxy 11 World Tour promoted both Samsung products and the team, and there was even a dance-driven Galaxy 11 music video that an Adage poll rated as the third best World Cup anthem for 2014 (easily beating the official FIFA song by Jennifer Lopez).

The campaign culminated not just with an amazing final match between Galaxy 11 and the aliens, but also with an amazing match between the world’s football fans. We posed the question “Which nation has the most passionate fans?”.  1.2 million fans showed up both online and at events around the globe to defend their nations’ honor. Using the heart rate monitors and microphones on the latest Samsung phones, Galaxy 11 street teams took careful measurements and proved once and for all which nation cared the most about football. 

1.3 billion (yes billion) impressions later, the Germans weren’t the only winners.