Samsung has been one of the biggest advertisers at the Oscars over the past few years. Just last year the company's 2017 Oscars ad featured popular filmmaker Casey Neistat and delivered a strong message that was meant to resonate with the younger generation. Samsung aired a new ad during the Oscars last night and it promoted the company's new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+.
Samsung’s Oscars 2018 ad
Samsung's new celebrity-filled ad encourages you to make things happen. It was directed by Dee Rees in collaboration with Rachel Morrison, her DP from Mudbound. Morrison's work on the film got her a nomination for best cinematography at this year's Academy Awards, making her the first woman ever to be nominated in this category.
The ad starts off with two women trying to decide that they want to make something using Samsung's new flagship smartphone but they're out of ideas. That's where some celebrities and influences jump in to provide them with suggestions on the things that they can make.
For example, director Taika Watiti advises them to “Make something big,” which references his own work on Thor: Ragnarok, one of Marvel's recent big hits. The ad also features actress and director Issa Rae who tells the women to “Make something awkward,” in reference to her YouTube web series titled The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl which was the inspiration for her HBO series Insecure.
Samsung's Oscars 2018 ad is part of its Do What You Can't media campaign for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ which bring enhanced features for content creators such as a variable aperture camera, AR Emoji, Super Slow-motion video and significant internal storage space to store it all.
