Every Samsung digital camera can detect a smile. And will then automatically take a picture. To advertise this feature, we did the first market research ever based upon the use of a digital camera as a technical measuring device. On busy streets - market-researchers, camouflaged as construction workers, used Samsung digital cameras in order to count how many of all pedestrians were actually smiling.Doing this, we identified Vienna, traditionally known for its grumpiness, as Austria’s most friendly city. This fact led to a broad discussion that was instantly picked up by the national media. Samsung was pictured prominently in the press.

We hired Austria’s most well known market research institute to conduct the research. In order not to distort the counting by obviously taking pictures of the pedestrians we needed a cover. So in order to stay low key we borrowed some equipment from construction sites and some hamster cages to camouflage the cameras.On August 26th at exactly 3 p.m. the counting started in every major city in Austria. At every location two cameras were put in place. One Samsung camera was set on Smile Shot mode, actually taking a picture every time it detected a smile. The second Samsung camera was set on video mode. So that later on, the total amount of people could be counted to calculate the index.

The results: The research delivered a huge surprise. Out of all cities, Vienna came out first as the friendliest city in Austria. That led to a broad discussion that was picked up instantly by the national media. Radio broadcasters asked their listeners to phone in and discuss the outcome of the research, including Ö3 the country’s no. 1 station. And since the Samsung digital camera had played a fundamental role in the research it was pictured prominently in the press. The media coverage succeeded the ATL budget of the entire year worth $200,000 - and Samsung's new feature was anchored in the consumer's consciousness.