Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Unpacked: The Human Impact of AI on Display

London’s County Hall and the London Eye were taken over by Samsung to celebrate the release of the new Samsung Galaxy S25 series in a monumental display of dramatic 3D visuals, cinematic animations, and complex interactive sequences celebrating the power of invention, tracing the march of technology from the Stone Age to the age of AI.

Broadcast live across Samsung’s social channels, the event utilised the latest projection mapping and hologauze technology – the first time the two technologies have been combined. 

The display was commissioned by Samsung to celebrate the launch of the new Galaxy S25 series which marks an evolution in AI-enabled devices looking to change the way users interact with their phone – and with the world around them. 

The show took audiences on a breathtaking visual spectacle through the key milestones of human evolution from early man through to the age of invention to the dawn of the Information Age and the transformative power of AI. 

The performance ended by marking the new frontier of human innovation where technology, like Galaxy AI, evolves to help everyone interact with their devices more naturally and effortlessly. Creative comms shop Taylor Herring devised the show with production from sister agency St Marks studios in collaboration with Pixel Artworks.

“We're all trying to find ways of getting time back in our lives. Life is crazy, and the to-do list is getting longer. So this is genuinely a monumental step forward in terms of how your phone works to help your life,” explains Annika Bizon, director of mobile experience at Samsung UK & Ireland. “It's like a PA in your pocket.” Seamlessly bringing together all the apps on your phone, Galaxy AI can perform complex tasks from simple commands, whether vocal or text-based.

Annika gives an example from her own life: “I would have loved to have had an S25 meeting a friend for lunch recently. I panicked because she's gluten free. I'd not booked a gluten free restaurant. I don't know the area. I probably spent 10 to 15 minutes trying to find a restaurant. If I had an S25 I could just say, ‘Could you find me a restaurant that's gluten free in this location?’ It would send me back recommendations. I then could have gone as far as emailing that recommendation to make a reservation and send a diary invite to my friend. That's seamless – it has my back.”

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series uses AI agents with multimodal capabilities enabling the device to interpret natural language, images and video helping to change the way we interact with our phones – such as being guided through the day with Now Brief or removing sound or movement from video with Audio Eraser.

Now Brief, says Annika, gives users a daily rundown of their schedule, guided by data on things like how they slept. “It'll tell me the meetings I've got, my time to check in [for a flight]. It'll put my boarding pass into my daily Now Brief. It will also tell me if it's raining, so I know to take an umbrella[...] If I'm sat in a meeting and I know that I've got to get to pick my daughter up an hour later, it'll tell me what the traffic's like and when I need to leave. So it's got my back at all points, and it's sort of really intuitive technology that's helping you find better ways to control your life.”

The marketing efforts around the S25 are both feature led and brand led, but the focus for Samsung is to demonstrate how your life could go more smoothly with this new technology in your pocket. While Annika loves the storytelling, it’s important to show off the new phone’s capabilities. “We can't forget that we have got on the phone the fastest processor, the best battery. To have great AI, you've got to have the very best technology behind it.”

Cameras are, of course, one of the most important factors in a purchase decision, so Annika and her team have been focused on communicating the S25’s ultra wide zoom of 50 megapixels. “I've got a big family,” she says. “And trying to take a photo, you end up with my mum sitting on my sister-in-law's lap. It all looks a bit weird,” she confesses. “Now you can get that full photo. Plus we've improved our low-light technology [adding it] into videography, which is just game changing. And it's got Audio Eraser, so you can get rid of sounds on video that you couldn't do before.”

So how will Samsung communicate all of that? The ‘Unpacked’ light show projection over County Hall and the London Eye focused on how this AI agent will help you in your life. “Then we'll move through to everything from our TV campaign, [which is] quite a different space, talking about the software and how the software works for you – Again, leaning into that AI personal assistant element and speed.”

Work with content creators is in a different vein again, she promises – centred on “a day in the life” content to show, rather than tell, us how we can use this technology for our own benefit. “We know that you've got to be a lot more transparent with the consumer on how it works, because everyone will have a different reason they want to use it,” says Annika. Then Samsung’s ambassadors, the likes of Hannah Fry and Fearne Cotton, will lean into that conversation around how they're using it to make their lives easier too.

“What we are doing more and more of is [to] take the big, hero moments and pull them through so they make sense to people,” says Annika. “One of the key things around AI is you've got to touch, feel, and experience it.” So Samsung will have experience buses travelling around so people can try the tech for themselves.

“In retail environments, we're really leaning into that conversation around, how do we show this versus just tell,” she adds. “And then also, how do we make it fun? It's got to be fun, otherwise, why?”

There will be a brand campaign and a product campaign that will run together. The brand campaign leans into quality of life, Annika reveals. “I'm very proud of this actually. So somebody who's going to meet friends and actually they take their phone and put it in their pocket. That's a very strong statement to make as a brand,” she says. “We're going to give you time back so you can do the things you love.” 

Recent Samsung research shows that people using AI say that they are twice as happy with their quality of life. “We want to show that by using these tools, they're there to have your back and help you. But at the same time, it means you can do other stuff that's actually more fun than life admin, or all of the stuff that never seems to go away,” says Annika.

Samsung already has 4.7 million people using Galaxy AI on a regular basis. The job for its marketing is to explain what's next, simplifying the technical. 

Allaying fears is key too, says Annika, “leaning into the security and privacy conversation with a responsible heart[...] We want to make sure we reinforce that message that Galaxy AI is where Samsung is, we are leaders in this space, and you can feel safe with us.”

When it comes to the product-based marketing, the key is to bring relevant parts of it to relevant audiences. The business space isn’t interested in low-light photography at a gig, whereas that’s something Annika suggests might be more appealing to her daughter.

The Galaxy S25 is Samsung’s flagship launch, but it’s not everything for the tech brand. “You saw last year that we brought AI to everybody,” adds Annika. “It didn't matter which device you're on. We future proof people with the fact that they had it available on whether they had an S22 or S23 we gave them that technology so that they feel like they’re with Samsung, on a journey with us, and we all we've got their backs.”

Going beyond phones alone, health and wellness is going to be a fascinating space for Samsung to look at this year, she says. “I think it's so important, and I think there's some incredible tools that we've got and that we can start to bring together.” She goes back to how an AI agent can work in this space, by suggesting a 5k run instead of the scheduled 10k run if that person has had a poor night’s sleep. “Bringing those pieces together, that's where the magic will happen, and that's where it really does start to help your life,” says Annika.

As the marketing around Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Series rolls out beyond the launch, we can watch to see the brand playing its role in how we all view AI. “Our job is to demystify AI and make it simple,” says Annika. Last year the focus was on search and Annika was particularly satisfied with how things progressed. “I like the fact that it levels the playing field. People that are using AI have a competitive advantage. And I like the fact that that cuts across all social demographics. It doesn't matter who they are. That’s something she’s keen to bring into Samsung’s marketing. “You can start to be more playful, more authentic, talk to people that are genuinely using it and start to build case studies around what the benefits are. I find that, on a personal note, very, very satisfying. I'm quite proud of that.”