Growing Up Means Moving On from iPhone in This Samsung Ad

I have an iPhone. My dad just got a Samsung Galaxy. I honestly can’t tell you which is better. To me, they’re both small computers that operate under the guise of phones. Neither is as smart as they purport to be, but you’d be amazed at how loyal people are and can be to phones… well, to a point.

Samsung has long built its ad name on dissing Apple and so it continues, this time by stealing a loyal customer in Growing Up. Erik, the ad’s protagonist, has long been an Apple customer. We watch him get the first iPhone in 2007 and wait in numerous lines over 10 years to get a new generation.

But over the course of those 10 years, we also witness all of his phone’s shortcomings and the various trials and tribulations that result from them. Then, right before the release of the iPhone X, Erik has a change of heart and Samsung wants you to believe Erik’s life is all the better for it.

As for the ad, well, I guess it depends on what side of the aisle you’re on.

Some Good

Here are the aspects of this ad that had me glued to my screen…

1. Pace – This ad moved. It covered 10 years in 60 seconds and didn’t miss a beat. It kept me hooked, maybe not sold on its message, but it had me paying attention. Furthermore, believe it or not, I had a rough idea whenever the year changed, not because of the phone model or subtitles, but because of the detail in the ad, which leads to my next point.

2. Details – You knew this was a phone ad from the get go. The opening shot included an iPhone line for 2007, but while phones were a focal point of the ad that was not the detail I noticed. For this viewer, it was the attention given to the subtle changes through the past 10 years in fashion, hairstyles and the age of the protagonist. In 2007, he’s a high schooler, like I was and it felt like 2007. Come 2010, he’s going to college and it feels like 2010. In 2013, he’s in college and that shot of him and his future GF on campus had me fondly remembering those campus nights. As each year progressed, they were captured beautifully in quick fleeting seconds and that left me nostalgic and that deserves applause. Well done, Samsung.

Some Bad

Here’s the glitch that almost caused the whole thing to short circuit…

1. Haircut – I know the haircut moment in the ad was a dis, but man, that Apple customer’s haircut. Wow. That was bad and really, was it even necessary? It was a good visual dis, but when I’ve heard people talk about the ad, they were more focused on the haircut rather than what the ad was about—which I think is a sign that Samsung may have lost some of it’s audience by dissing when they should have been branding… and it all started with a bad haircut.

The Takeaway

Samsung continued its platform of throwing shade at Apple (while ignoring its own problems … explosions anyone?) and it is up to debate if that is actually working in the long run. But in the end this particular ad was well done and, for covering 10 years in 60 seconds, it did remarkably well at transporting its viewer. Now, if its vision of the future contains that haircut, well, we may have something to really worry about.