A largely unknown phone brand was the first to release a folding phone, beating every major phone brand in the race to be first to market with this breakthrough technology. Samsung was not ready to officially announce or release their plans for a foldable phone, but wanted to own the conversation surrounding this breakthrough. The brief at hand was to tease and build anticipation building upon online speculation without revealing too much. With the objectives to stay top of mind for audiences in the context of foldable phones and own the conversation.

The first foldable phone was the most anticipated and talked about innovation over the past months. It was the biggest mobile innovation after a decade of iterations.

Samsung's revolutionary Galaxy Fold is about to change the category forever and the brand needed to own this breakthrough.

So, to signal the arrival of a device that breaks the laws of physics, we broke the most important rule of design: We folded Samsung’s logo.

On November 4th, without any kind of explanation, Samsung changed all company’s social media profile images to show their logo. Folded.

And the internet got the message: In just 24 hours, and with 0 $ spent, every major media outlet was talking about it.

For the first time in a decade, Samsung started to be seen as the innovation driver that it truly is.

As with any highly anticipated device, the internet was churning out leaks and speculative designs for a foldable phone. Samsung's revolutionary Galaxy Fold was about to change the category forever and the brand needed to own this breakthrough. It had to be the brand for foldable phones—before ever even introducing the device.

With a diverse audience, from early technology adopters to luxury consumers, we needed to send a message in a universally captivating way. Like the brand, it had to be premium, differentiated, and bold.

The brand needed a simple but powerful visual metaphor that could capture the essence of the Galaxy Fold and the disruptive nature of its innovation. The Folded Logo is a strong symbol that brings to life the very bold attitude that made the foldable phone possible in the first place. It was perfect for a global audience.

Samsung’s folded logo is a powerful visual metaphor that captures the essence of the Galaxy Fold and the disruptive nature of its innovation.

It is a strong symbol that brings to life the very bold attitude that made the foldable phone possible in the first place. This was a statement that only Samsung could made.

To amplify the message, we used all the online speculation in our advantage: we changed the profile pictures of Samsung’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) to show the folded logo for 24 hours. With no explanation. The internet did the rest, spreading the message across the world.

The Folded Logo is the simplest expression of the message we needed to communicate:

Samsung is about to announce the arrival of the first foldable phone.

We had to deliver this message at a global scale which made Samsung’s logo, a universally known design icon, the perfect starting point. Bending it gives any viewer in the world all the information needed to decode the message.

Regarding craft, we chose a very simple black and white execution while adding lot of attention to details in the bending and shadowing of the typographic elements.

In just 24 hours, and with 0 $ spent, every major media outlet was talking about it, with more than 500 million earned impressions worldwide.

But more importantly, we made a symbol that defines a crucial moment in mobile history.

And Samsung’s logo was all over it.

The brief was answered in a powerful and effective way that was able to deliver the message across the globe in a quick and impactful way.

In just 24 hours, and with 0 $ spent, every major media outlet was talking about it, with more than 500 million earned impressions worldwide.

But more importantly, we made a symbol that defines a crucial moment in mobile history.

And Samsung’s logo was all over it.