Samsung has created a smart surfboard.
The internet-connected sporting gear is the focus of a new ad from Leo Burnett Tailor Made, featuring Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina.
Obligatory footage of crashing waves give way to Medina striking out into the ocean, under supers lamenting the solitary nature of surfing. Meanwhile, the champion's shaper—aka, board maker—Johnny Cabianca, labors over a new slab of wood, painstakingly planing and painting it.
The Samsung Galaxy Sufboard prototype, powered by a Samsung Galaxy phone slotted into a special drawer on the side of the board, uses LEDs to display wave conditions to the rider, as well as tweets from fans and directions from Medina's coach (and father).
It's a nifty idea, an on-brand addition to Samsung's broader successes advertising around surfing. The presentation is a little melodramatic, and what's essentially a lighthearted invention might be better served by less serious framing—the lonely plight of the pro surfer doesn't quite rank as a world tragedy, even if a digital surfboard has some utility.
But it's still pretty cool as a novelty item, and perhaps serves as a glimpse of a dazzling future where all sports equipment is loaded with microchips and flashing lights. Just imagine some future Super Bowl, where the football spirals into the end zone during a winning touchdown pass, all the while flashing an ad for Wilson. Hey, they've already done it for basketballs.
CREDITS
Advertiser: Samsung
Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made
Co-president and Creative General Diretor: Marcelo Reis
Creative Director: Marcio Juniot, Pedro Utzeri, Rodrigo Jatene
Art Director: Breno Balbino
Copywriter: José Arnaldo Suaid
RTV: Celso Groba, Maria Fernanda Moura, Noemi Marques and Dudi Ciampolini Bourroul
Account Services: Fabio Brito, Renato Broggin, Sandra Sales
Digital Project: Denis Gustavo, Pedro Rais, Andrea Faccio
Planning: Tiago Lara, Gustavo Zilles
Approval: Loredana Mariotto
Hardware and Software Producer: Media Monks
Production House: SAIGON
Direction: Rafa Carvalho
Director of Photography – Drone: Will Etchebehere
Surfing Scenes: Lucas Pupo
Executive Producer: Marcelo Altschuler
Account Services: Fernanda Gomes and Karina Bueno
Film Editor: Paulo Augusto Miranda Rosa
Finished Artist: Fabio Abreu
Post-Production: Mosh Post Production/ Saigon
Post-production Coordinator: Virgini Fares
Sound Production: Antfood
Production: Pedro Botsaris / Lou Schmidt / Wilson Brown
Account Services: Lou Schmidt / Sean McGovern