Dispatches from Dreamland: It's 72andSunny in LA

In the second instalment of his new bi-weekly update from the West Coast, here shots' US Editor Simon Wakelin blogs about continuous conversations in advertising with 72andSunny's Glenn Cole.

As many agencies buckle under the pressure of client expectations, smaller shops are beginning to pop up on the American landscape. In the past year we’ve seen Gerry Graf open up Barton. F Graf 9000 in New York and quickly nab clients Kayak and Dish Network.

Other agencies such as Camp + King, Mutt Industries, VIA, Made and Odysseus Arms are also being unveiled, and all feel like a Darwinian response to the pervasiveness of holding companies in the advertising sector. We also wonder where former Goodby partner and executive creative director Jamie Barrett’s new venture will turn up in the near future.

More and more we see the most successful work plug us directly into relevant and controversial conversations happening in our culture.

Take the Galaxy S III, Samsung’s latest Android smartphone that played a major role in boosting the company’s record profit during the second quarter of 2012.

The phone was also the “iPhone killer” that turned Apple sour, causing a high-profile lawsuit against Samsung for infringing on company patents. A Californian judge agreed, ruling in favour of Apple and causing the South Korean giant to fork out a staggering $1 billion in damages.

Yet the Galaxy S III continues to flourish stateside and is currently outselling the iPhone. This is due in no small measure to agency 72andSunny who were brave enough to take the cultural moment and embed it into the advertising (above), again spoofing iPhone enthusiasts with subtly provocative Apple language to sell Samsung’s flagship device:

“It’s a very relevant discussion right now,” explains 72andSunny co-founder Glenn Cole on the dynamic of the Samsung account. “This is a cultural conversation. Commercials don’t live and die in 30 seconds. It’s a more robust world today where brands have an ongoing conversation with their customers, a dance where the music just doesn’t stop. We always aspire to create something with enough faith in it to be followed.”

The account is a great example of how tapping into the cultural moment and aligning it to the work pays dividends for the client – and, in this case, a curious yet trend-conscious demographic who saw the only truly viable option to the iPhone.

With over 20 million Android units sold since June it would seem that “the next beat thing” is, indeed, already here.

Echoing real life events has kept the Galaxy brand alive. Authenticity will always entice consumers no matter where, or how they get the message.