Product Showcase - Tech
Samsung
GEAR S2 LAUNCH: "DIAL IN"
Overview
Role: Art Director
Samsung launched the Gear S2 smartwatch in fall 2015 with a revolutionary feature: a rotating bezel that allowed users to navigate without obscuring the screen. Working with R/GA as Art Director, I helped create a hyper-stylized product demo video that showcased the watch's capabilities through a series of vignettes set against stark black backgrounds. The spot featured real people interacting with the Gear S2 in imagined scenarios — checking texts, tracking fitness, receiving calls, navigating — each scene designed to demonstrate a specific feature while maintaining visual consistency and editorial pacing. The goal was to make wearable technology feel intuitive and human rather than technical and overwhelming.
Approach
The commercial aired as cinema pre-roll in theaters nationwide and ran during prime-time television, reaching millions of viewers during the critical holiday launch window. Seeing the work projected on a theater screen — watching my family watch something I'd art directed — remains one of the most surreal and rewarding moments of my career. The spot emphasized the circular UI and rotating bezel as the product's key differentiator, positioning the Gear S2 as both functional tech and premium design object. The campaign successfully communicated complex smartwatch functionality through clean, confident visual storytelling that let the product itself be the hero.
