The Next Big Thing

For their year's Superbowl, Samsung knew they needed to create a larger than life advertisement. Their plan? Come up with the "next big thing".

In this commercial funny guys Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd compete for the attention of Samsung's head advertising executive and pitch their ideas for a commercial. The irony in and of itself is witty and fun to watch - the simple fact that they are not pitching the idea for a commercial, but actually creating the commercial using pitches. Watching this falsified "creative process" between an executive and two comedians provides plenty of laughter and intrigue. The best moment in the entire commercial is the climax with Lebron James talking to the executive on the tablet about possibly doing a cameo on a tablet for the commerical. This adds another layer to the irony being witnessed and really brings a smile to the face of anybody watching it.

At this point in the game, Samsung is a huge name and most people are well aware of the products they offer. The Samsung Galaxy S III, while their newest phone, was launched back in May of 2012 - about 8 months before this commercial. Many of their initial commercials discussed features in the phone and what sets it apart, but by this time people have become numb to those push advertisements. This ad pulls you in and makes you intrigued by the company itself, not necessarily just the single electronic it provides. As a huge competitor of Apple, both with tablets and smart-phones, Samsung used this opportunity to create a brand identity for themselves rather than exhaust the public with more talk of how great the phone is.

This commercial was about humor and wit and for once letting the tech-side of things take the back seat. While very small, there still is a call to action at the very end of the commercial, attempting people to follow and talk about Samsung on social media.

This does not however mean that Samsung completely neglects discussing the products. With this commercial, instead of telling you what it can do, while Seth and Paul are in the waiting room, they pull out their new Samsung Galaxy S III phones and do all kinds of cool stuff with them like search the web, take and edit pictures, etc. This type of demonstration I believe was well placed and became seamless with the humor in the commercial.