Samsung released the latest online video in its "Winner Takes Earth" Galaxy 11 campaign featuring Lionel Messi and other football players, and the four-minute video is the "longest thus far," according to Andrew Adam Newman of the N.Y. TIMES. The video shows clips of TV anchors announcing an alien invasion, and of a team of players "being gathered from all over the globe." It ends with the team "suited up in black astronaut uniforms in a hangar before a title card, 'Football will save the planet,' and the address of a microsite for Galaxy 11." Creative duties for the campaign "were shared" by R/GA, S.F., part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, and Seoul-based Cheil Worldwide. The videos are "shot in a moody, otherworldly style reminiscent of 'The Matrix.'" They are not considered commercials, "but rather what is known in marketing parlance as branded content," with the players and actors prominently using Galaxy devices. Among others on what Samsung is "calling its dream team" are MLS Galaxy player Landon Donovan and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. The players, who "according to Samsung have nearly 200 million followers on Facebook and Twitter, are contractually obligated to post comments about the Galaxy 11 videos, which has lent to several going viral" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/19).
