The future is unfolding
To promote the release of the Galaxy Z Fold + Flip devices, Samsung partnered with Google highlighting how the OS takes advantage of new Samsung hardware + Google ecosystem of applications. The work included over 200 assets created and delivered across the US and UK and ranged from animated GIFs to broadcast TV spots. I was involved early on to develop a creative style which would open and close each of the spots, as well as full product animation as seen in each spot. Throughout the campaign, I was responsible for creative direction + 3D/2D motion graphics. Scroll down to check out the creative process and watch some of the final deliverables. If you’d rather just watch the final videos, click here.
Case study video highlighting the work that went into ‘The future is unfolding’ campaign for Google x Samsung.
App Explosion: The Intro
Google wanted to show their ‘ecosystem’ of applications upon entry into each creative spot. The introduction to the apps would behave like an explosion, showing just how many there are. Below is the first motion exploration.
Because there are so many within ecosystem, it felt overwhelming. We wanted to tame it and focus on only the most important apps. The creative needed to open with the Google logo and also needed to have emphasis on one specific app to for each piece of creative. These next few are additional studies I came up with and featured YouTube in the first two and Workspace (Calendar, Drive, Gmail) in the third.
Ultimately it came down to a slightly slimmer animation with better pacing. This particular opening was featuring Google Workspace and had to include Calendar, Gmail, and Meet. Individual animations were created to feature Google Duo, YouTube, Shorts, Workspace, Play Protect, Photos, and Google Maps. The intro was used across TV, online video, social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter), out of home, and web.
The devices
The next thing was to begin working with the 3D models. Samsung supplied us with three OBJs in total and included the Flip, the Fold, and the Watch. The models were then rigged, lit, and textured before going into animation.
The content inside each device was first created in vector before going into After Effects to be animated. Once animated, the screen content was exported as PNG sequence and layered inside the 3D model to accurately pick up screen reflections and environmental lighting.
The same round-trip process was involved for the Watch and Fold devices.
Redshift was the render engine of choice for this project. When it came time to output animation, speed was on our side.
The EXR passes were then brought into After Effects for compositing and color correction.
End Card
The last piece before fit and finish was to create an end card. The animation needed to equally include both the Samsung and Google logo. There’s a pretty easy way to do this…
But how do we transition from device in full frame to end card without using a simple hard-cut? I decided to let the device flex a little bit and fold itself into the vertical pipe of the end card.
Final concept
Online video ads / broadcast spots
Over the courses of 4-months with the help of five other motion designers we created six different 15-second spots for the US and the UK, along with twenty 6-second cut-downs for Google + Samsung. The combined trafficked media resulted in a over 330 million views and final OLV lives on Google’s YouTube channel.
Google Duo 15s spot.
Google Workspace 15s spot.
Google YouTube 15s spot.
Google Play Protect 15s spot.
Google Maps 15s spot.
Google Shorts 15s spot.
Next Study:
Milwaukee Bucks
Celebrating 50 seasons of this NBA franchise, check out these six TV spots featuring the Greek Freek.