Step Into a New, HD Quality Era of Mobile Gaming

The mobile game marketplace is “8-bit” of a problem for players who want to feel high-quality experiences similar to those delivered by a console game. BBH London empathizes with them and, in a new campaign for Samsung, the agency invites users to discover a new era of gaming, one that is deeply immersive and that was previously available only via game consoles.

Using Samsung’s new Exynos 2200 ‘next-generation’ mobile processor, gamers are given the possibility to explore a new kind of adventure, available to them as a one-minute-long video. Directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen for MJZ, mobile gaming enthusiasts get to see a female character as she makes her way through the streets of a bazaar, which is actually a metaphorical representation of an online app store. Ahead of her latest gaming adventure, she goes for a shopping session in a mobile game market. Much to her surprise, the street vendors offer Samsung’s protagonist fruits or weapons, depicted as poor-quality, heavily pixelated, 8-bit gaming products.

Nothing seems to pique her interest, except for a rabbit which, pretty much like the one in Alice in Wonderland, lures her to a different kind of… (Wonder)market. Upon following the animal down an alleyway, the woman discovers this new place, where the industry based on pixelated graphics from the upper world is replaced with high-res images. Even the acoustic elements help the audience notice that this underground black market holds more than meets the eye: Teeming with dark creatures and vendors illegally trading guns and weapons, all depicted in full HD quality, this recently discovered underworld gives clues about the enhanced gaming experience players are about to enjoy.

The story was designed to speak about the next-generation processor and its ability to keep players entertained with the same high-quality gaming experiences as on a console. Implemented to create excitement ahead of the launch of the first phones equipped with the new processor, the London-based agency looked at the state-of-the-art mobile graphics processing unit (GPU) — developed by Samsung in collaboration with industry leader AMD — and decided to use it as a starting point to speak more seriously about mobile gaming. As such, the “Playtime is over” campaign theme and strapline was born.

Chang Wan Kim, Brand Manager at Samsung Electronics, explains: “We wanted to implicitly express how the Exynos 2200 processor will bring differentiated gaming experience on mobile, in a short-condensed fashion. We are very excited to see BBH’s creativity come to life in this adventurous hero film, and believe this project may be a big milestone that changes the course of how we promote semiconductor products in the future.”

Stu Royall, Creative Director at BBH, concludes: “This was a dream brief from our partners at Samsung. To launch a new processing unit, targeted at hardcore gamers is an incredible opportunity. Together, we’ve constructed an incredible, alternate universe full of rich detail, dangerous characters, and even more dangerous weapons. There’s even a few additional details hidden in there to reward the most eagle-eyed gamers.”

In bringing “The Marketplace” video to life, Van Heijningen worked closely with post-production house The Mill/Mikros MPC, which carefully created the short film’s lead CGI characters, the White Rabbit and Lizard. The music was composed by Goldstein Music, whilst 750mph was responsible for the sound effects. The spot runs until the end of February and is visible across YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and TikTok.