We’ve been long-time fans of Samsung’s experiential activations.
Last year, we covered their incredible experience at Vivid Sydney (the annual festival of light, music and ideas) called The Night. Reimagined – a multifaceted journey ‘to reimagine the night’ on the Sydney Opera House forecourt. It involved a spiraling aperture-inspired light show powered by the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. And for the big finale, visitors were given the opportunity to project a personalised AR Emoji onto the iconic face of Luna Park.
The tech giant was at it again this year with an activation called Electric Playground, touted as ‘their most ambitious Vivid Sydney spectacle yet‘.
Electric Playground, which ran from 24 May – 15 June 2019, invited festival-goers to release their inner child and lose themselves in a number of immersive and shareable Samsung Galaxy S10 inspired attractions – showcasing key product features like PowerShare, Super Slow-mo, Super Low-Light and more.
The activation featured a sky walk, illuminated infinity slide and more than 320 dynamic light poles, transforming 3,000sqm of Circular Quay’s First Fleet Park and Foundation Hall.
We’ve followed up with Jamie Skaltsounis, Senior Event & Experience Manager at Samsung Australia, to talk to us again about how this incredible experience came to exist.
1. Where did the idea for Electric Playground come from?
Samsung wanted to create a larger, more dynamic experience for Vivid Sydney this year – to offer something that would be engaging for people of all ages. We also wanted to make sure we showcased the key features of our Galaxy S10 smartphone in an authentic and interactive way to enhances people’s experience at the Electric Playground.
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2. This was your second year at Vivid Sydney. How was 2019’s brand experience different to 2018’s The Night. Reimagined campaign?
We learned a lot from our first Vivid Sydney activation, and we put those learnings into practice for this year’s project. Overall, we wanted to build on The Night. Reimagined by creating a more immersive and exploratory experience so people could discover the Electric Playground in their own way. We did this through our Galaxy S10 technology and with a huge event footprint of 3,000sqm, we could cater to larger crowds and appeal to everyone, from young children to the young at heart.
3. Do you see your events at Vivid Sydney being an evolution from year to year?
Absolutely. Each year we learn new perspectives on the best way to move and interact with a festival like Vivid Sydney. That’s why we included both an indoor and outdoor experience with the Samsung Electric Playground and the Galaxy Studio.
4. Electric Playground ‘showcased the next generation of mobile innovation, enabling visitors to experience the new features of Galaxy S10’. Can you tell us what some of those innovations and features are?
Certainly. With Wireless Powershare we are demonstrating how the Galaxy S10 can effectively share its own power to wirelessly charge other devices. For example, by placing a compatible smartphone on the Galaxy S10 situated on one of the Pillars of Light, visitors can both charge their device and create a unique light effect within the Pillar. We also curated a series of photo moments with Samsung experts, allowing visitors to both capture and share their experience with the amazing backdrop of the Electric Playground with the low light and ultra-wide capabilities of the Galaxy S10 camera.
5. The activation also featured a giant illuminated playground – what made this part of the exhibit so special?
The fact that almost anyone can take part in this interactive experience and unleash their inner child through a series of fun and playful activities, all brought to life in a giant wonderland of light and sound, is what makes this experience so unique. Whether it be by activating a Pillar of Light, capturing their own amazing selfie from the Galaxy S10, cutting some moves on our LED Hopscotch dancefloor, scaling the height of our Skywalk or taking a ride on our giant 6.5M-high Infinity Slide, there is definitely something for everyone.
6. Electric Playground is being called ‘Samsung’s most ambitious Vivid Sydney spectacle yet’. Can you tell us what makes this year’s campaign different to the last?
With both indoor and outdoor experiences and a footprint that is three times larger than last year, we really wanted to push ourselves to provide an experience that was unlike anything that people have ever seen before at Vivid Sydney.
7. You partnered with Instagram for this campaign to ‘help guests capture the ultimate shareable moment’. Can you tell us about this collaboration and why was it important to partner with them?
It’s been brilliant to partner with Instagram for Vivid Sydney as it authentically brings to life both the power of our smartphones and the amazing content that people capture and share from the festival.
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Vivid Sydney provides a unique opportunity for people to capture their night, so we wanted to bring the experts in to help visitors curate their own stories, using all of the amazing content that they captured at both the Samsung Electric Playground and the Galaxy Studio. Direct to Instagram is a new feature on the Galaxy S10, and the Samsung Story-Tellers were able to demonstrate the best ways to use this feature for people of all ages.
8. Samsung Galaxy Studio featured at Electric Playground. Tell us about the studio and how it helped support this event.
The Galaxy Studio is an immersive installation that really focuses on allowing people to create bespoke content that is completely unique to the individual and enabled by the features of our flagship smartphone. For example, in this space visitors are loaned a Galaxy S10 device which uses biometrics to capture heart rates and the human eye. Once captured, people can view these in a dynamic activation space utilising Infinity-style rooms and kaleidoscopic backdrops to represent their own unique patterns. We also partnered with a local up and coming artist, George Rose to produce a truly-Instagram worthy photo moment whereby people are able to strike a pose and share direct to Instagram.
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