How to stand out in the attention economy: Samsung US CMO takes 3 Pressing Questions

0:00Now that all of tech has gotten really incredibly good, the thing that I think sets us apart is how we play to the human side. And I think we're all people, we're all humans, and that's what's going to capture your attention and break through in this algorithmically driven marketing space. Today's guest is Allison Stransky, Chief Marketing Officer of Samsung Electronics America. Everyone knows Samsung as one of the world's top tech giants, from smartphones and TVs to chips and services. But Allison's job is translating that global scale into something that resonates with U.S. consumers at a time when tech brands are being forced to rethink how they show up.

0:37We're in the era of brands don't get to control the whole narrative anymore. As a former leader at Google and L 'Oreal, Allison has worked on brand storytelling, performance marketing, and now leads the charge on what everyone can't stop talking about, AI-driven experiences. Sometimes we forget is that it's actually, it's still a tool. But how do you win attention in an increasingly fragmented online world? What mistakes do brands make when trying to hook consumers today? And where does AI fit into all of this? I don't think there's a brand that actually is like, I got it, I figured it out, I know exactly how to use AI.

1:07We are trying to find the healthy balance of...

1:17Alison, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me, Michelle. It's great to be here. Okay, so just to start off, let's go back to the early days, if you will. What first sparked your interest in marketing and storytelling, and how did that evolve over time? You know, I actually found a journal entry from many, many years ago, where in high school I said I wanted to go into marketing. and I don't think I had a clue what marketing was. I think in high school to me, marketing was creating ads because I've actually always loved watching ads, which I don't know how normal that is, but I think a lot of people in my industry have probably felt the same way, that you grow up feeling excited about what you did not realize at that time was actually short form storytelling in predominantly 15s and 30s.

1:59But was very fortunate to get to try out various internships and roles along the way. And it was a co-op at Johnson & Johnson in college that solidified that, one, I know what marketing is now. It's not just advertising. It is this really holistic driving of the business using art and science and bringing it all together. And, you know, since that time, I was hooked. I've had the pleasure and the honor of working at some really amazing, really large companies who in different ways are all the best in their industry and have brought all of that with me to really value marketing and storytelling in what the new world of marketing looks like now.

2:40Yeah, you know, it really seems like just early on, you kind of had a sense of what path you were going to take. And I was going to say you spent a decade at L 'Oreal and then six years at Google, if I have it right here. What guiding principles did you kind of pick up there? And what pushed you to leave, you know, two highly successful companies to start something new? So L 'Oreal, I think, is one of the best storytellers out there. And in beauty, it is fast and emotional and exciting. And so for that reason, I felt like at L 'Oreal, I really worked on, focused on, dare I say, perfected. I don't know.

3:13There's always a journey and there's always an opportunity to do it better. focusing on storytelling and resonating with consumers in a really, you know, emotionally led or exciting or passionate way. So that's really what I think I picked up and have carried with me from my L 'Oreal days. The reason from L 'Oreal to Google was when I made the switch, we had all kind of felt like here comes digital. Like when I started in marketing, we were very much in a linear TV era. And then here come the social platforms. And then here comes search and YouTube have become so much more important. So I was personally really curious.

3:48I do tell people all the time I did get bitten by this digital bug. When I had the opportunity to go see life on the inside at Google, I had to give it a try. And what I found from my Google tenure was how to use data and really data at scale for uncovering insights and learnings. And we focused on YouTube creative effectiveness in particular and what that meant for brands and driving business results. And along the way, I've found and I feel that I've been able to put together little pieces of each of these experiences, which was really a special background that I got to bring to Samsung. Because when Samsung gave me a call, I was thrilled because it's actually a brand that I've always used, always admired, have had longtime Android owners, Samsung Galaxy phones going back to the S3.

4:40And so was really also honored to get to take over a really special brand that also has a big opportunity for storytelling and data-driven insights. Can I ask, how did the Samsung opportunity come about? It sounds like they reached out to you. They did, yes. Okay. Yeah, tell us more about that story. It was really exciting because, you know, when your first call, I was actually on maternity leave at the time. I had a two-month-old at home, and your brain wasn't totally in – my brain wasn't totally in that space yet. And when Samsung called, I was like, okay, this sounds interesting. But as I learned more about the role and the team and the opportunity by the end, I was like, let's do this.

5:18This is so exciting. The team that I run at Samsung, we call the corporate marketing team. And our responsibility is the Samsung brand, which means everything that we do is either cross product or product agnostic. And that leads to really special storytelling as a marketer. And then, of course, within the team, it's not just about the brand and the storytelling. It's an amazing team that big data sits within our org because we really believe in the power of using data to uncover insights to make better marketing. And all of this, I think, is a really special team that I've really been lucky to be a part of for three years now.

5:57And it's quite a big remit you have, I must say. Was that ever daunting at any point? I know you had already worked at some pretty big places, but I mean, you know, this is a big job. True story, yes. Because going into it, it was absolutely the biggest role that I've had to date. You know, we all get a little bit of me. Can I? Those kinds of questions come. And I'll be honest, I spoke with a lot of great, honestly, female mentors before I took the position to say, what do you think? And a lot of people said, what do you mean? What do we think? Like, go do it. This is so amazing. Just jump in and figure it out.

6:31And so when I got over a little bit of that, I did. And I haven't looked back. and it was definitely the right choice. I was curious, you know, throughout the years, was there a specific light bulb moment in your career that kind of changed how you think about reaching audiences? Since I grew up with a lot of amazing CPG and beauty companies, we talked about J &J and L 'Oreal. I had Unilever in between those two. And so was really trained to think about the consumer in everything that we do. However, I think a light bulb for me along the way was it's not only the consumer. In marketing, we have stakeholders everywhere.

7:04and understanding all of your stakeholders' needs, especially if we use Samsung as an example, different teams are responsible for mobile phones and TVs and appliances. And in our work, we sometimes bring it all together. But I need to know what they all individually need on top of what my consumer needs, on top of what my leadership needs, what my counterparts in Korea need. And so it's a lot of, it's a very complex system of stakeholders. And I don't think that's Samsung unique either. I think that's a lot of big companies. And so a light bulb moment for me was understanding it's great. Your consumer as a marketer always needs to be first.

7:43So you need to understand their needs. You need to attract them relevantly, but they're not the only ones who have a seat at the table. And so understanding who those other stakeholders are, what matters to them has made a big difference. Well, I want to get to our three pressing questions for today. First, I'd love to talk about obviously marketing in today's digital age. We are currently in a time where attention spans are shorter and more divided than ever. With how algorithms are increasingly taking over and seemingly more competition than ever, how are you thinking about building connections with consumers?

8:14Is experimentation here more important than ever? Absolutely. So we're thinking about this new challenge of the attention economy and how you have to break through when you're playing to not just, like I said, the consumers, But here comes another stakeholder, the algorithm itself. So for us, it's really been about remembering humanity and what makes our brands human. And that has shown up in our case in a couple of different ways. Last year in our Smart Things Meets AI Home campaign, which is this year under the platform of AI Living, we have talked about how not just our products are great, but our products are enhanced by AI.

8:53And all of those things bring you benefits like saving time, easier meal planning, resolving real tensions in your household that you as a human struggle with every day. And we believe our role is to make those things better. So that is one way that we've talked about it in our product messaging. All the way over to we have this amazing program called Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, which is a platform for middle school and high school students to use STEM to solve problems in their community. And this is something we're 16 years in, so it's not a new program, but we've made it better and better every year.

9:30And using this platform, this opportunity to humanize how amazing students are using tech today has just also been incredibly inspiring. And we just came off of the finale. So we're going to be buzzing about it for a while now. But these are the types of initiatives that we think, you know, the specs, the tech, all of that is really important. Like I am really the reason I've been a Samsung owner forever is because I do truly believe we make the best cameras and have the best capabilities. And so that brought me to the business. But I think now that all of tech has gotten really incredibly good, the thing that I think sets us apart is how we play to the human side.

10:12And I think we're all people. We're all humans. And that's what's going to capture your attention and break through in this algorithmically driven marketing space. It's so fascinating that you talk about the importance of humanity coming as a tech leader, because, you know, like that might seem counterintuitive at first glance. I'm curious, are there any brands or platforms that you think have cracked the code when it comes to winning attention online? I hear that you're fascinated by avenues, obviously, like YouTube, where I think your kids might spend a lot of time. We love YouTube. Feel good about loving YouTube from my years there.

10:41There are a lot of brands that I think are doing it really well. One of the brands that I look to is Elf because they have such fun, quirky personality and actually loved Elf back from their early days where their platform was made on bringing products accessibly to people and everything used to cost a dollar. And whether or not that's the case anymore, they've held on to this. We're for everybody and also celebrating humans and humanity and their quirky, different kind of Elf way. So that's one that I look to. And we talk about it at work sometime because, of course, we look at the other tech companies.

11:17We have to because that is our peer set. But I think it's also great to look outside of the category at what other brands are doing to be a little bit bold and different and creative. I think I did see with Elf specifically, they really won attention with the, was it Road Beauty, Hayley Bieber's brand. So do you feel like that was also a big push? And are you guys looking to kind of like influencers and celebrities to help with, you know, the digital game as well? Yes. Yes to all of that. So amazing acquisition of Rode by Elf because I think this is what they're hoping for too. But I really truly believe you put a big powerhouse like Elf behind something that got really fast, really incredible.

11:58fandom, organic love, all of those things that is road. And then I kind of can't stop following everything they did at Coachella. Yes. Beaverchella. Beaverchella for sure. But checked a lot of great boxes in that bringing experience to consumers, bringing fun, also accessibility. And so I think that's another brand that so many ways to do it. But to bring it back to us, yes, we absolutely are looking to our team of influencers and creators to also tell our story because we're in the era of brands don't get to control the whole narrative anymore. And you kind of don't even want to as a marketer because I'm not going to feel authentic to my vastly unique and different array of consumers and households.

12:47Samsung is in 76 % of US households, which is something that we're also really proud of. But in that many homes, a lot of different consumers who have a lot of different interests. So working with influencers and creators absolutely helps us connect with a wide array of consumers and fans in different ways. I'm curious, how does that actually show up in terms of the marketing plan? I'm thinking about all the founders out there that might be listening. How do you then divide or divvy it up when you're literally carving out budget and things like that Without getting too specific, obviously, does that mean giving a greater share than you typically would have in the past to people like influencers and whatnot and those kind of partnerships that you want to make sure that you're reaching?

13:28So the whole space of influencers and creators actually continues to evolve, too, because we've always, I shouldn't say always, for a number of years now, we've had a great roster of influencers who we work with who, of course, you have tiers. You have much more mega with larger followings down to your nano micro who have connect with audiences in different ways. And so, you know, for a brand the size of Samsung, we've worked with all of them. They've run the gamut. So that has kind of been our foundation. but now we're always looking to what's coming next too so here comes affiliate creator and there are some really great partners out there who specialize in that type of content and you could look at the whole creator space through the lens of the traditional marketing funnels like you get reach and awareness from somebody who's very upper funnel and tells a great story that's great that makes me think about the brand and connect with the brand but then as I get down the funnel I can find that person who is going to help me make the decision.

14:29So it is really important. Why this camera? Why right now? Should I upgrade my S24 to the S26? Let me work with somebody who's going to tell me the differences so that I can help make that decision. They get into the affiliate space. We're experimenting with TikTok shops. We're trying all of it because it is trying to keep up with our consumers is really important too. As soon as their consumers are curious about something new. We want to be there. So would you say that one big shift perhaps in recent years has been, you know, splitting up the budget across different avenues, perhaps more than you would have in years past to, let's say, more linear TV and traditional avenues, obviously?

15:06It will not be surprising, I think, if we say it continues to get increasingly digital. Then within the digital space, which of course is everything from online video to creators and a whole lot of other facets, Yes, it's going more in that direction. But then, of course, year on year, marketing is art and science. You're going to look back and say, did this work? How much more can I invest there? How much should I invest there? And play very much the put more where it's working. And then that needle of what's working is going to continue to move. So you have to continue to keep a pulse on what working means.

15:43Go there as well. Constantly monitoring and iterating. The Super Bowl is typically a must-buy for major brands, but Samsung skipped it this year. I saw an interview you did on this. Can you tell me why did you guys decide not to necessarily, you know, obviously go out on what's typically known as the world's biggest stage? Did something tell you that your marketing dollars would work harder somewhere else? We talked about it. Who doesn't talk about should you or should you not in the Super Bowl? Well, I guess I should say we're fortunate in that we have the ability to talk about it because we could have made the choice.

16:13The reason we decided not to is because a couple of things. One, our big moments kind of lead into the Super Bowl. We need you to get your Samsung TV before you watch the big game. And the phone launch is in that timeframe, but not perfectly aligned with the big game. And so as we think about it, we need to tell a story on our own timeline, which is kind of a little bit pulled forward from the big game. Additionally, we have really high brand awareness. We have 97 % awareness, which is something else that we're really proud of and don't take for granted. And so using the big game for – it's a lot of different plays.

16:54It can be your awareness play. We've seen some creative brands do some very different things that have driven a lot of, if you think Coinbase, for example, signups and engagement. But for us, we really said we kind of have to win before the game comes. And so we're going to take a different approach.

17:14This year has gone by so quick for me. It's almost the end of the year and I've already come up with some New Year's resolutions. But I thought, why wait? Everything else starts in the fall. school, football kickoffs, the newest season of that TV show you're going to binge. And while everyone is catching up on that latest episode, you're missing out because you're trying to win a customer bag because you missed their call. And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the phone system built so you never miss a call. Quo is the number one rate of business phone system on G2, trusted by over 90 ,000 businesses who rely on it to stay reachable and look professional every day.

17:50All your calls, texts, voicemails live in one place, so anyone on your team can pick up a conversation, see the full history and respond fast. Don't wait until the New Year to make better changes. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com. That's Quo.com. slash BTV. Curious to see what are some of the most common mistakes you see brands making when they're trying to reach consumers today? Is there anything that comes to mind? Without calling anyone off. Thank you. I appreciate that. I will say I didn't have a specific brand either that came to mind, but I think a couple of things.

18:31One, we're in the age of AI. And I think that Gen AI for Creative is doing incredible things in that if you imagine all of the startups that are one and two people, and you are wearing all of your hats as a founder, creator, all of the things, AI is going to help you create stuff that you couldn't have created before. But there's a wide range of what good looks like in this space. I think we're seeing an increase in brands using AI for AI's sake. And it's a tool. It is a tool to get you. It's great if it gets you better, faster, all of those things. We are also finding our own way for the best way to use it.

19:15But I worry for brands that think sits about cutting corners or making the wrong tradeoffs. So I think that's some of what I've worried about right now is there seems to be an insatiable appetite for content between consumers and the algorithms and the LLMs. But it is you can't trade off quality. And so that is something that we are I don't think there's a brand that actually is like, I got it. I figured it out. I know exactly how to use AI. So it's a learning phase that we're working through as well. So that is one that I think is a potential misstep that I've seen. I so appreciate your candor on that.

19:57And this segues really well to our second pressing topic, because I was going to ask, obviously, about something that's surely taking up a lot of your time, which is AI. In recent years, we've seen some companies, to your point, rush to roll out their AI capabilities, at times leading to, you know, we've all kind of seen like the botched product demos on stage or uneven results among users. What do you say to those who might be skeptical, who say that using AI for some of these new capabilities is persistently buggy right now? One, I think AI is amazing. It's come so far since 22 when ChatGPT came on all of our radar and came into the lexicon.

20:36So we're not that far away. So it is on an incredible acceleration curve of quality and accessibility. But what I think sometimes we forget is that it's actually still a tool. And we do actually spend a lot of time thinking about AI, talking about AI, marketing AI, because we are telling the AI living story of how it's on all of our products. And so I think the biggest thing to not forget in this space is that just like the internet at one point in time, just like Microsoft Suite at one point in history, all of these were tools that were going to make working a little bit better, but you have to figure out how to use them.

21:13And so we are trying to find the healthy balance of, of course, we need to create more content. Of course, we need to get more out there. But we also respect that it is a tool. And it's just that. And it's a tool that's getting better. But we can't expect too much of it or the brand reputation, the brand look is also at risk. It's refreshing to hear about because, you know, I was going to ask about kind of the balance between seeing, recognizing where AI is overhyped and where it truly adds value. I'm curious, do you think we are in an AI bubble? No, I don't think we're in an AI bubble right now.

21:51But I think there still is a lot of hype that I think we're going to see where it kind of all shakes out. One of the things that we're really excited about when we talk about AI as a tool is I'll come back to our students in the Solve for Tomorrow program. Increasing year on year, we're seeing more applications, including AI solutions. And this year, one of our national winners had a cancer screening app that is using AI to read RNA for earlier cancer detection. And I will let this sink in because that is a high school. A high schooler came with this idea, which is just so incredible. But if you think about the principle that it's this tool that we're going to use to solve problems, do things differently, I think this is a beautiful example of that in that it was not a project because of AI, but it is a project that was achievable and envisioned by a high schooler using AI because the awareness and the understanding, which is also happening at a much earlier age.

22:54So that's why I'm optimistic that we're not in a bubble, is I think there are going to be a lot of incredible solutions. But is it going to solve everything? No, not everything. And that's a good example. I was going to ask about this initiative, because I know it's very dear to you. Is this the one, the high school from West Virginia you just mentioned? This is, and that student is from San Jose, California, with the AI cancer screening. Love our students from West Virginia as well. They created a water purification system that doesn't need electricity and takes you from, you know, pretty contaminated water, which is a problem in their community because of abandoned mines having water runoff.

23:33And, you know, they believe, I think we all believe that in America, for sure, we wish globally everybody had access to clean water and that clean water was not expensive the way bottled water can be. So in this particular project, they were the ones that I think, as a middle school team that I will add to really won a lot of our hearts and minds for the empathy and the way that this is going to be a solution that's going to help their neighbors literally right now as fast as they can build these filtration systems and get them out there. So, yeah, this is like we were last week in Washington, D.C.

24:09with our 10 finalists and ultimately our top three winners. And we're really inspired by incredible work that these students are producing. Yeah, must have been such a special week for you and probably more fun day at work for you. It was the best. It always is the best. Yeah, I understand this is an annual competition, but I feel like it must be so timely right now, given all the fears and fascinations around the new technology. How do you think young people today can use AI to their advantage beyond what you've kind of outlined just more broadly going forward, right? Let's say like if they're studying or looking to level up in the workplace, maybe starting their careers to safeguard their futures and stand out in this new age.

24:45So one of the things that we've found that's interesting in our research is that students are ready for it. They are so excited. My kids are playing with it on my phone. So like there's no fear. There's no concern. But 81 % of teachers are worried that if not taught properly, it will kind of become this lazy tool or lazy resource. And so we feel optimistic that students are ready to embrace it. And I think that they are going to find, honestly, that they'll get so much farther ahead than the rest of us by using it early and often and finding their own uses. We talk a little bit about how now I think critical thinking is going to take on a new meaning.