At the end of 2016, Samsung was coming off of a bumpy year. The holidays were the right moment for us to bring joy and remind people what makes Samsung a likable technology brand. We also wanted to encourage holiday sales for the Gear VR headset and the Galaxy S7 phone, while also making people more familiar with Samsung’s entire suite of mobile products. ?

Samsung promoted the experience and its Gear VR in New York and L.A., allowing people go on a virtual sleigh ride with Santa.

“The Night Before” is a 360º video experience allowing viewers to ride with Santa in his magic sleigh on the biggest night of his year. Viewers were able to check out the full VR experience anywhere in the world with Samsung Gear VR, YouTube, and Facebook, or in person while riding in an interactive full-sized hydraulic sleigh at the Grove in LA or the Samsung 837 building and Herald Square in NY.

There is a universal truth about the holiday season: through the eyes of a child, it’s a magical time. We needed to make people feel the power of the season by letting them experience it through the eyes of youth. Our target was Millennial families with young children, who embrace the latest technology and create family experiences around it.  ?

To help promote the purchase of the Gear VR headset and Galaxy S7 edge for the holiday season, we created a 360º VR experience in which viewers were able to ride with Santa in his magic sleigh on the biggest night of his year.

For the first time, Samsung gave everyone the opportunity to experience what Santa sees as he travels around the world while his little helper, Pepper, tries to keep him on a tight schedule.

Over the course of two weeks, almost 18,500 people participated in the in-person 4D activation through December 31 in New York City and Los Angeles. ??On YouTube, the video we created garnered 274,218 views, and on Facebook, the video earned over 271,000 views, with over 7,600 positive interactions.

Through Q4 of 2016, over 4.51MM Gear VR headsets were sold. That gave Samsung the lead in VR headsets market share at 70%. Samsung is at the forefront of VR, and “The Night Before” helped pave the way by demonstrating its merit.