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Samsung puts smartphone switching into therapy with Dr Orna Guralnik
Key Takeaways
Samsung’s Switchers campaign stars clinical psychologist and Couples Therapy expert Dr Orna Guralnik.
Seven light-hearted films explore the emotional reasons people remain loyal to a familiar smartphone brand.
The campaign features Ciara Miller and Dylan Efron, Carl Schmidt and Aniya Harvey, and former NFL players Nick Foles and Clay Matthews.
Samsung says 30% of Galaxy Z Flip8 customers have moved from a competing smartphone brand since its launch.
Switchers also includes a Spotify playlist taking listeners through the different emotions associated with making a change.
Buying a new phone should be a fairly straightforward decision, but years of photographs, messages, familiar routines and very opinionated group chats can make changing brands feel far more complicated than comparing cameras or battery life.
Samsung has taken that idea into the therapy room for Switchers, a new campaign starring clinical psychologist and Couples Therapy expert Dr Orna Guralnik. Across seven films, she sits down with familiar faces to discuss the loyalties, habits and concerns preventing them from exploring a different smartphone, treating brand attachment with the same seriousness usually reserved for a relationship that may no longer be working.
Created and produced by Chromista, the series promotes Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z foldables through conversations about change instead of relying on a conventional demonstration of their features. Dr Orna is joined by pairs who have existing relationships, including Ciara Miller and Dylan Efron, Carl Schmidt and Aniya Harvey, and former NFL players Nick Foles and Clay Matthews.
Their sessions gradually move from apparent disagreements between friends or partners to the real subject under discussion: whether one of them is ready to leave their current smartphone brand and try Samsung.
Dr Orna helps familiar faces work through their complicated relationships with their phones
The films borrow the familiar format of Dr Orna’s televised therapy sessions, with each pair discussing the fears, habits and social pressures that have kept them loyal to the same smartphone brand. Those barriers range from the disruption of moving years of personal information to concerns about how changing operating systems could affect group chats, giving Samsung a natural way to introduce the Galaxy range and the services designed to make switching easier.
Dr Orna is joined by pairs who already know one another, including Ciara Miller and Dylan Efron, Carl Schmidt and Aniya Harvey, and former NFL players Nick Foles and Clay Matthews. Their real relationships allow the conversations to include the teasing, disagreements and shared history that make the sessions entertaining, while Dr Orna encourages them to question whether they are staying with a familiar phone because it remains the best fit or simply because changing feels more difficult.
Once those concerns have been raised, Samsung provides a practical answer through their Smart Switch service, which transfers compatible contacts, photographs, videos, messages, apps and settings from an iPhone or another Android device to a Galaxy phone.
Samsung has supported the campaign with sales data showing that the audience it is trying to reach already exists. Since launch, 30% of Galaxy Z Flip8 buyers have moved from a competing smartphone brand, while switchers account for 23% of Galaxy Z Fold8 customers and 12% of those purchasing the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. The company also says both Fold8 models are attracting a higher proportion of customers from rival brands than the previous Fold7, suggesting that more people are already becoming willing to look beyond the devices and operating systems they know.
Why The PR Insider loves it
We love how Samsung has found a creative way to address the real reasons people hesitate to leave a competing smartphone brand, using Dr Orna and the therapy format to turn those barriers into something entertaining and recognisable.
The campaign is also well timed, arriving just after Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro range and its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. With consumers already considering whether to upgrade, Samsung has entered the conversation with a campaign encouraging them to consider switching brands altogether.
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