Case Study

Samsung: launching OLED against a decade of LG

Samsung spent ten years saying OLED wasn't good enough. Then we launched Samsung OLED, and a million TVs sold in year two.

Role Director, Digital Marketing Brand Samsung Home Entertainment Years 2022 — 2023

Challenge

Samsung had spent a decade telling the market OLED wasn't good enough. Then Samsung built a better OLED. My job was selling that reversal without confusing shoppers, without cannibalizing the premium Neo QLED lineup, and against LG's ten-year head start in a category it invented.

Insight

Shoppers don't punish brands for changing their mind. They punish brands for being confusing. The launch had to treat OLED as an expansion of Samsung's premium family, not an apology, and give shoppers an honest way to choose between Samsung's own tiers.

Idea

Rebuild the digital experience around consumer benefits instead of panel jargon. One commerce strategy across sales, e-commerce, and product marketing, designed to help shoppers choose the right Samsung, even between Samsungs.

Execution

UX, SEO, content, and paid media rebuilt as one system, a strategy I presented directly to Samsung's board. The lineup launched at Unbox & Discover with Martha Stewart and Rosario Dawson putting the TVs in a life people wanted, not a lab. And when a reporter's TikTok of Martha sipping her margarita from a measuring cup took off, our social team stitched a response inside 24 hours and rode the Martharita to the brand's biggest post of the year.

Martha Stewart, Carl Nassib, and Rosario Dawson at Unbox and Discover: More Wow Than Ever
Martha Stewart's kitchen demo with Carl Nassib at the Samsung launch
Cole Moir backstage with Rosario Dawson, Martha Stewart, and Carl Nassib
Martha Stewart with the Samsung lineup

Results

The numbers

1M
Samsung OLED TVs sold in 2023, hitting the year-two target (Omdia)
22.7%
Of global OLED TV revenue, 14% in North America, in the first full year against LG's decade head start (Omdia, Q1 2023)
+12%
Product consideration from the digital repositioning
#1
Samsung US's top post of 2023: the Martharita response, +195% TikTok impressions vs. benchmark, ~9K followers in a day, Shorty Awards recognition

Learning

Trust converts better than persuasion.

Helping a shopper choose the right Samsung, even between Samsungs, grew the category entry without cannibalizing the portfolio. And when culture hands you a measuring cup, you have 24 hours to say yes.