CASE 253 / Samsung / 2017
Ostrich / Do What You Can’t
An impossible fictional ambition gives a technology platform an accessible emotional story
AI-assisted research and analysis for the SNS Creative Fieldbook; published by SNS Media Tech. No named human reviewer is claimed.
Sources reviewed 2026-11-05
Campaign credits belong to the original creators. They did not write or endorse this analysis.
Credits: The ADC archive credits Leo Burnett Chicago and MJZ for Ostrich, with MPC for post-production. Samsung’s newsroom identifies the surrounding Galaxy brand campaign.
Recognition: 2018 ADC Awards: Silver Cube, Advertising, Television / Film / Online Video Commercials / Online Commercial – Single.
Launch / edition: 2017. Award years: 2018.
The problem. The idea. The experience.
Ostrich translated a technology brand’s promise of possibility into a simple fictional ambition. The central obstacle was immediately understandable: a flightless bird wants to fly.
How the idea came to life
After encountering a Samsung Gear VR flight experience, the ostrich persists in trying to take flight. The story uses an impossible outcome as a parable of inspiration, not a literal claim about virtual reality’s physical effects.
How it reached people
Samsung’s April 2017 release says Ostrich was introduced at its 29 March Unpacked event. It also states that the Do What You Can’t message had appeared during the 2016 Olympics, so the film is not treated as the slogan’s first-ever use.
Supporting sources: Primary award archive → Primary brand source → Primary brand source →
Read the data in context.
The numbers below describe different kinds of outcomes. Their date, scope and reporting source are part of the result.
The ADC archive verifies a 2018 Silver Cube for Online Commercial – Single. Samsung separately reports 2017 Cannes recognition; neither source supplies a controlled estimate of product demand caused by the film.
The creative mechanism.
An impossible fictional ambition gives a technology platform an accessible emotional story
Choose an obstacle that needs little explanation
A clear mismatch between a character and an ambition can make a story travel without lengthy dialogue. The challenge is to keep the metaphor meaningful rather than merely cute. Identify the human limitation your product actually helps address, then choose an original fictional situation that illuminates it. The connection should survive a viewer asking why this brand belongs in the story.
Make the product a catalyst, not magic proof
A technology can inspire a new perspective without guaranteeing an extraordinary outcome. In a metaphorical film, distinguish the imaginative leap from supported product capability. Provide a straightforward demonstration elsewhere in the journey. This protects the emotional idea from becoming a misleading promise and helps prospective customers understand what they can actually do after buying or trying the product.
Earn optimism through effort
An aspirational ending has more meaning when the story includes attempts, adjustment or persistence. For an adaptation, show a credible sequence of progress instead of claiming instant transformation. The effort should remain appropriate to the task and the participant’s circumstances. Avoid implying that people who face structural or physical barriers simply need more confidence or a new device.
Keep the platform and the execution distinct
A memorable film can be a strong expression of a longer-running belief without being its origin. Preserve dates and scope when learning from it: the platform supplies continuity, while the particular story supplies a fresh illustration. This distinction also helps teams avoid relabeling every annual execution as a new strategic breakthrough or counting the same audience relationship repeatedly.
The intended behavior loop
- 01Recognize the obstacle
- 02See a new possibility
- 03Follow the effort
- 04Connect inspiration to a real capability
Growth job: Awareness → Consideration. This is an interpretation of the mechanism, not an audited attribution model.
A direction to take into the room.
Original editorial interpretation and proposed adaptation. This is a proposed adaptation, not historical campaign execution or a forecast.
The transferable principle
Use a clearly fictional, original story to express possibility, then connect it to a realistic and supported product use.
Keep these boundaries
Do not suggest that VR changes physical ability, encourage unsafe headset use or imitate the bird, soundtrack and visual treatment.
Turn the lesson into a test.
Illustrative adaptation, not a historical campaign fact
A small-team experiment
A small illustration-software company shows an original animated character learning to arrange shapes into a useful design.
Build the test
- Link each step to a real tool capability and label the animation as a metaphor.
- Provide a short ordinary-use tutorial beside the film, with accessible controls and text.
- Test whether prospective users can distinguish the story’s aspiration from the software’s actual functions.
Measure the right thing
Compare accurate capability recall and completed tutorials with a feature-only presentation; record unsupported expectations separately.
Know when to stop
Revise if the story promises instant expertise, obscures meaningful limitations or encourages risky behaviour in an attempt to copy the character.
How this reading fits your brief
Start with the useful part.
Best for: Awareness → Consideration
What to adapt: Use a clearly fictional, original story to express possibility, then connect it to a realistic and supported product use.
Prerequisites: An original concept and substantiated product claims; Rights, accessibility and participant-consent review; A defined comparison and outcome measure.
Smaller-team route: A small illustration-software company shows an original animated character learning to arrange shapes into a useful design. Constraint: Do not suggest that VR changes physical ability, encourage unsafe headset use or imitate the bird, soundtrack and visual treatment.
Budget: Not established by the cited sources. No cost-fit claim is made.
Trade-offs and evidence: Read the limits below before choosing a test. There is no guaranteed reach, sales lift or ROAS.
Questions for your next brief
- What useful customer action would this mechanism enable in your category?
- Which evidence would distinguish attention from the intended outcome?
Sources & further reading.
Brand and award-entry results are attributed claims, not independent causal audits. Source links open the original third-party pages.
- The One Club / ADC: Ostrich →Primary award archive · Supports: Creative premise, production credits and 2018 Silver Cube in Online Commercial – Single.
- Samsung: Galaxy brand campaign launch →Primary brand source · Supports: March 2017 Ostrich introduction and explicit prior use of the platform message during the 2016 Olympics.
- Samsung: Cannes 2017 recognition →Primary brand source · Supports: Brand-reported Cannes recognition and Gear VR narrative; not a business-effectiveness study.
Independent educational analysis of external campaigns. These are not SNS client projects, endorsements or claims of involvement. Campaign facts and reported outcomes are attributed to their sources. Explanations, adaptations and test plans are original analysis and hypotheses, not proven causal findings.