For an innovative tech brand saying ‘do what you can’t’, we didn’t choose to just put a logo on a suit. We invented a whole new suit. A suit that enables the skaters and coach to do what they can’t: measuring in real time the height at which the skater is positioned above the ice. This height is one of the most important things in skating, because the closer to the ice, the faster you’ll go. Until now, this has always been judged on gut feeling.

We developed the Samsung SmartSuit, equipped with sensors to measure with millimetre accuracy. The suit is designed to send data to the coach’s device, allowing him to immediately communicate adjustments to the skaters.

First we needed to know how to create value for the short track skaters. Because this had to be the key to our success. In March 2017, we met the national team coach and human movement scientist for the first time. As it turned out, one of the most important things in skating is the position of the ice skater. To measure this, we developed a suit equipped with 5 sensors that feed live body kinetic telemetry and location data to the Galaxy S8 (data) and Tab S3 (data/video/charts). Even when the athletes on the ice hit 50 kilometres per hour.

On top of that, the tech suit had to fit like a regular suit, and the data had to be comprehensible at a glance for the coach so he could immediately send a vibration to the skater to adjust his position.

Once the first prototype was developed in August, the technicians and short track skaters secretly tested and trained with the suit for months. Just before the Olympics we brought the story to the press.

- After the press release, in no time more than 450 million people knew about the secret weapon. And about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor.

- Free publicity value: 1.411.778 Euro

- Total campaign key engagement rate of 1,3% (295% x benchmark, source: Starcom January 2018);

- 48,100 read articles containing branded content and 4,765,194 impressions obtained via the article. This scored 321% above the benchmark!

- Increase in Proud-to-Own brand value of 6%, up from 24% at the end of December 2017 to 30% at the end of February 2018;

- The skaters won the first Dutch Olympic silver and gold medals for short track skating ever!

- The Dutch and Korean sport federations are already keen on implementing the Samsung SmartSuit for short track and speed skating themselves. Even the federations of other sports (windsurfing, swimming, etc.) are interested in implementing this innovation.

Innovation in sports is always a hot topic just before every Olympics. Who’s got a new invention? What is the latest development in sports? When Samsung asked us to develop an idea to claim sponsorship of two Dutch Olympians, we developed an innovative tech contribution for the skaters. The Samsung SmartSuit.

The athletes and coach secretly trained with the suit for months. Just before the Olympics, when the buzz about innovations in sports and PyeongChang was at its peak, we brought it to the press.

We didn’t invite them to come and see Samsung’s latest invention. No, we invited them to come and find out all about the latest sporting innovation just before the Olympics.

After the press release, in no time more than 450 million people knew about the secret weapon. And in the slipstream about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor of the Olympic short track skaters.

Samsung is worldwide Olympic partner of the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang. Samsung Netherlands is sponsoring Sjinkie Knegt and Suzanne Schulting, two Dutch short track skaters. Although the Netherlands has excellent speed skating results at the Olympics (35 Olympic gold medals), short track is nowhere near as successful (1 bronze/0 silver/0 gold).

The brief was to develop an idea to claim sponsorship of two Dutch Olympic short track skaters, and to keep in mind that Samsung stands for: ‘Meaningful progress comes from daring to defy barriers.’ With the tagline: Do what you can’t.