Samsung
Be There
Services:
Digital Advertising Services: Elevate Your Brand’s Presence
Contracted by
Leo Burnett
Insight
As part of Samsung Australia’s Olympic campaign, Leo Burnett commissioned me to design and develop a suite of interactive rich media advertisements promoting the Samsung Galaxy S III. Working from the global “Be There” campaign, I translated the television creative into engaging digital experiences that brought the excitement of the London 2012 Olympic Games to Australia’s leading news and media websites.
Idea
The objective was to extend the campaign beyond traditional display advertising by creating immersive HTML5 experiences that encouraged audiences to engage with the Galaxy S III rather than simply view a banner. Every execution needed to capture the energy of live sport while demonstrating the device’s advanced camera capabilities and reinforcing Samsung’s worldwide Olympic sponsorship.
Rather than treating each advertisement as a static placement, the creative unfolded as a cinematic experience. Olympic footage transitioned seamlessly into the Galaxy S III itself, with interface elements animating into place to showcase the device’s ability to capture, share and celebrate unforgettable moments. The advertisements blended motion graphics, layered animation and interactive interface design to create the feeling of stepping inside the campaign rather than simply viewing it.
Alongside the creative ambition came significant technical constraints. Every advertisement had to remain lightweight enough for commercial advertising networks while supporting smooth animation across multiple browsers, operating systems and banner dimensions. Strict file-size limits, production specifications and publisher requirements demanded careful optimisation without compromising visual quality or performance.
Responsible for both design and front-end development, I produced the campaign from concept through to production-ready implementation. Each execution was hand-built using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, balancing animation performance with commercial delivery requirements while maintaining complete visual consistency with Samsung’s broader Olympic campaign.
Impact
The final campaign was delivered across multiple rich media formats for Australia’s largest publishers, helping extend Samsung’s Olympic storytelling beyond television into highly engaging digital experiences. The broader campaign achieved exceptionally strong engagement, with campaign reporting showing users spent an average of 4.5 times longer interacting with the experience than the industry average, demonstrating the effectiveness of immersive rich media advertising.
