Samsung’s Latest Campaign Smells Like Gen Z Spirit

Samsung and Great Guns director Tal Zagreba continue their collaboration with a punchy new campaign, ‘Way Out’. Aimed at Gen Z, the film showcases Samsung’s ecosystem range - launching the teens through a portal of escapism and self-expression.

Set to the track of ‘No Way Out’ by Escapism, the spot from Leo Burnett Israel and Gigi Productions features a series of vignettes exploring Gen Z life. As teens hunt hungrily through a supermarket, experience first loves, and wreak havoc at a party, Samsung’s ecosystem products are integrated into each situation seamlessly, highlighting their racing heartbeats, showing them the way to their next rave, and letting them share intimate moments through music - or get lost in a world of their own. The common thread through it all is a palpable atmosphere of youthful energy, uninhibited and uncompromising.

In approaching Great Guns’ Tal Zagreba, Samsung knew they wanted to appeal to Gen Z but allowed the director free reign to take it in the direction he wanted. Opting to convey a feeling rather than overtly selling a product, Tal decided to craft an authentic depiction of the target market without flattery or exaggeration, capturing on film the impulsive essence of the new youth as dark, passionate individuals. As they make their core memories, Samsung’s products are there all along, fitting comfortably by their side and enhancing the experience.

In terms of camera work and aesthetics, the film aims to show the world through the characters’ eyes - not to judge, but to simply experience. To do so, Tal combined retro, grainy footage with a chaotic, boundless camera, staying as close as possible to the visual language the protagonists themselves would use.

Carrying this authentic approach forward to the casting process, Tal sought actors that truly reflected the characters they would represent. Enlisting electric, mysterious, carefree individuals, Tal’s deepest intention was to create intimacy between them and the camera by getting to know them as people first. The result had the actors feeling confident to utilise the film as a platform to express themselves and the essence of a generation, without filters or censorship. 

Director Tal Zagreba comments: “With this campaign, I really wanted to depict the powerful truth of an isolated generation that doesn’t give a fuck. I’m a huge fan of their gritty aesthetic and wanted to capture it authentically, so I had several conversations with the actors beforehand to better understand these charming and mysterious, beautiful and savage, impulsive and lost individuals. The aim was ultimately to celebrate that Gen Z feeling, with Samsung’s products shown as a portal through which to amplify their self-expression, and I believe the target audience will appreciate that.”