Most Creative Marketers: Benjamin Braun

The best marketers have an intuitive nose for brilliant creative ideas. But not many of the best are garlanded creatives in their own right. Benjamin Braun is.

Samsung’s European CMO has been hung in the Tate: 24 black and white photos of a naked mannequin shot in different locations around London.

And this wasn’t his first critical creative success. Back in his homeland Sweden his design for a glass plate featuring a drawing of a naked woman won a national prize from the Royal Swedish Glass Company. In the darkest days of lockdown this year, he was to be found in the back garden with his three sons and 12.5 kilos of clay making a bust. And if you care to take a look, you’ll find that my own profile picture on Instagram (claire_beale) was taken by Benjamin, on a Samsung of course.

Benjamin wishes he had more time for his own creativity. But art’s loss is marketing’s gain. You don’t have to spend much time with Benjamin Braun to understand how his name has come to be attached to some of the most interesting and creatively provocative marketing initiatives of the last few years. He’s a relentlessly curious thinker with a genuine aesthetic sensitivity. When he was the CMO at Audi he created the truly glorious, Gold Lion-winning - and effective - 'Clowns' commercial with Bartle Bogle Hegarty. And at Samsung Braun has launched creative innovations such as the selfie in space and a live digital experience that fights poaching in South Africa .

For Benjamin, creativity means “daring to be different”. “My concern is that in the creative industry we try to constantly optimise the existing.” And it frustrates him - really frustrates him - when the industry loses sight of the power of creativity to shape emotion and drive business growth. He remembers walking round the Cannes Lions festival a couple of years ago: “All these different platforms - the Googles, the Facebooks etcetera - were all telling me about how we can optimise, ‘we can change this and get another percentage point here or there’. And for me, that's great and we should probably have teams focusing on that, because of course it can be worth millions. But you need to take that leap of faith or informed gut decision to create something different and compelling. Otherwise Comparethemeerkat, where I used to work, that campaign would never happen; at Audi, Vorsprung Durch Technik would never happen. All the research said those ideas shouldn’t happen. But you have to dare to be different otherwise you do not cut through the noise.”

Selling “different” into the boardroom requires more than creative passion, though. “My trick over the last few years is to use econometrics. As long as you are scientific and you remove emotion from the conversation with people who are numerically driven - like the CFO or CEO - and you instead start talking about the incremental revenue, the increased profitability etcetera, they are on board very quickly. And if you can prove it scientifically or econometrically you stand a better chance of being taken seriously in the boardroom, it removes all the argy bargy with the CFO because you can say 'give me X and I’ll deliver Y'.”

The same clarity is important when it comes to getting the best out of creative agencies, Benjamin says. “You need to be utterly clear about what the business objectives are for the company. That is the brief. The creative agency finds the creative solutions to deliver those goals. I’ve seen too many times where people brief an agency on an idea but don’t tell them what the business objective is. And I’ve seen too many times a marketing team try to come up with a solution when we should really rely on the brilliant lateral thinkers at creative companies like BBH or Freuds to do that thinking.”

This sort of clarity of focus speaks to another of Benjamin’s loves: technology. He’s a self-confessed tech nerd, as happy discussing the evolution of the mobile phone or his obsession with Snake2 as he is talking about art. It’s a wonderful combination of passions for someone who finds themselves responsible for encouraging us to love Samsung. And with so many different Samsung products to market - from smart fridges to dry-cleaning wardrobes and next-gen mobile devices - Benjamin is not short of creative opportunities. Watch this space.

The Way I See It

What do you enjoy most about being a marketer?

It is about creating a positive point of differentiation between your brand and your competitors. It needs to be so strong that customers instinctively choose your brand.

Throughout my career, company culture has intrigued me the most – and taught me the most about marketing. To be successful as a marketer and to genuinely push boundaries, you need a culture that is centred around innovation – that’s what I enjoy the most, but this can take many different forms. At Samsung, we have a strong Korean culture – it is fast-paced and success-driven. The whole company empowers and enables staff to do their best work and is constantly looking ahead to the future. It is very inspiring.

I love that at Samsung, we believe this requires an approach to innovation that taps into a human’s most straightforward joys and needs. We’re focused on creating experiences and opportunities that take people somewhere they haven’t been before – be it a new mindset or a new way of living.

I’m proud that as a marketer, we’ve been able to show people the future with products that do more, that genuinely spark interest and change behaviours. As an example, we have developed foldable screens so phones can fit in your pocket but unfold to give you a big screen view. Or a TV that shows art (or your photos) when it is switched off rather than being a big black box on your wall. Or a dishwasher that opens the door automatically when it is done to let the air dry your dishes.

We create products that fulfil an emotional need as much as they do a practical one – because whilst consumers’ brains are governed by complexities that data cannot fully explain, engaging one’s emotional intelligence makes them simple.

We have the opportunity to be part of innovation that makes a real difference in the lives of millions of people worldwide. And that’s why I love what I do.

What makes a good creative agency partner?

An agency that understands that we run a commercial business and that creativity is used to solve business objectives. It’s all about being bold and different. I truly value agency partners who are courageous, have the ability to clearly articulate what the business change is, write a brief, then just push forward full steam ahead.

And what frustrates you? 

This is a good question! I’m frustrated by the traditional notion of the ‘marketing arm’ within a business. The pandemic has shifted this mindset but there is still a way to go. There is often an established way of doing things when it comes to a big business – and that’s the idea that different teams across marketing, sales and operations are driven by different goals.

Business siloes were set in stone. Everyone was running in several different directions! I think this is still the case sometimes, but we’ve seen a massive improvement. The pandemic changed the way we do business – it pushed mass digitalisation.

With stores closed, every single thing moved online. And marketers were needed to help keep the business afloat. We’re all working together across the business more than ever, it’s pushed us forward at a fast, collaborative, and exciting pace. I hope those siloes remain broken as we return to ‘normal’, and that more people invest in a more holistic approach to consumer engagement and business growth.

What excites you about the future?

COVID has been the catalyst for much needed change. It has proven that video meetings can substitute a flight and that working from home can be as effective as from the corporate office. I am excited to see how we build new solutions to foster new working cultures and ways of doing old things in a new and better way. The world has moved on and so must we.

There’s so much unknown about the future, especially right now, but I do know that we are all tapping into the people around us – in my case, my own team, to create authentic content.

Last year, Samsung launched its ‘Gen Z Lab’– a programme which empowers a group of creatively-minded Gen Z and Millennial employees from across Samsung to come up with authentic social media content that resonates with youth culture and passion points. The Lab’s initial success means we’re now ramping up this approach in the future.

I’m really excited to see how this continues to build, and I’m passionate about tapping into talent all right around me to inspire, collaborate and create for the future. 

Which of the new generation of marketers or agency creatives has impressed you the most?

I don’t think there is any one agency or marketer that is impressing me. I think it’s more the fact that marketers are pushing forward their own agency.  The content creation process has changed. The next generation is intertwined with the brand – and I’m seeing pure talent help brands become production houses in their own right.

I’m impressed that companies are driving creativity from the inside. There is an increased need for authentic storytelling from brands.

As I said above, this is our approach at Samsung too – we recently launched our own content centre, which is currently creating content for 143 products. We’re using our original content across our social, e-mail and website and retailers’ channels. As the pandemic continues, we can expect this to be a key source of sales conversion.

I’m not predicting the death of the agency here though. Far from it. For big brand moments, launches and ground-breaking innovations, agency expertise remains vital for reach and impact.

I’m super impressed with how we’re pivoting in our own right at Samsung – and young talent is driving this forward.

Who is your creative hero or favourite piece of creativity?

This is like asking me which of my children I prefer. I cannot choose one. They each bring different sides of me out and inspire me in their own way.  I do get excited by the new generation of content creators. GenZers that have the power of an entire creative studio in their phones and a global audience. 

What’s been feeding your imagination lately?

I have been teaching my young kids how to film and edit at home during COVID home schooling. Everything from paper airplane tutorials, product reviews to pranks. They share their clips with their friends and family. Loads of fun together and I hope I have given them a skill that is not taught in primary school but will be a skill for life.

Personally I enjoy photography. I am proud that some of my photos have been exhibited at the Tate Gallery in London, and I have received the Royal Swedish Glass design award – which as a proud Swede, was a really nice moment.

So, I am always keeping my eyes on what is going on in the photography world. It is a huge passion of mine and a great source of inspiration. I use my Samsung phone as a camera and the snaps are unbelievable good. And if you have a Samsung Frame TV your photos become art on the wall in your living room when the TV is switched off.

I am particularly interested in the role that photography plays in our society today and how it’s been embedded into all pockets of our culture.  I’m noticing more focus on photography as a form of self-expression – not just by professionals but by the general public and all ages. It’s in beauty, selfies, food, anything and everything, and intrinsically tied into what we do on a daily and even hourly basis. It’s beautiful to see.

What do you think has been your boldest creative play?

Most recently, it’s definitely been our newly launched Wildlife Watch. The campaign uses technology to help fight back against poaching in the African Bush and to enable those at home to still enjoy these incredible animals. Have a look at wildlife-watch.com

It’s bold. We launched in the middle of a global pandemic – but it was absolutely the right timing for this critical cause. When you stop and think about it, it’s no surprise that poaching has surged during the pandemic. Illegal hunters are taking advantage of the sudden fall in tourism – and without ‘extra eyes on the ground’ that tourists provide, the task of monitoring millions of acres of remote wilderness rests solely on the shoulders of a few local rangers.

We needed to do something. We needed to help the animals, use our tech for good, and provide a way to ensure that we’re being creative and purposeful to our consumers who are looking for entertainment and purpose during the lockdown.

We’ve always believed in the power of technology to drive positive change, and this campaign gives so many people the tools to connect and participate in a programme that would otherwise be out of their reach.

I’m proud of this campaign – at its core, it’s Samsung doing what it does best: using technology to help make the world a better place.

How did it pay off and what lessons did you learn?

Wildlife Watch has reminded us of the power that brands like ours have not just to raise awareness of important causes, but to actually help create a way to fix the problem.

We’ve also provided improved tech to help the local rangers in their day-to-day duties, raising donations and awareness – so the legacy of the campaign will run far beyond the pilot stage.

I’ve learned that as our lives have become more virtual, the power of technology continues to push the boundaries of what is possible. I think the pandemic has showed us that big brands can take it even further, as the benefit to do good has never been clearer.