• by Aaron Baar , November 8, 2017

In this age of putting one’s best foot forward on social media, it can often feel like people’s lives are all perfection and smiles. But the reality is often very different, and LG is looking to crack the veneer.

In advance of the launch of its V30 smartphone, the brand has launched “This is real,” a new digital campaign that encourages people to share both their inspiring and uninspiring everyday moments. 

“Everybody has a unique story, and this campaign is a way for us to celebrate what 'real' looks like and all of its varying definitions,” Chang Ma, president of LG Electronics MobileComm USA, tells Marketing Daily. “It's not glitz and glam 24/7; it's hard work and resilience, and this honesty is exactly what we’re highlighting in this new campaign.”

To kick off the campaign, LG has created a video series that features a montage of people making their own promises to be authentic and real. Using a diverse cast of characters, an introductory video elicits promises to not fake happiness in exchange for getting likes, to both create and consume content, and to show off successes and failures. The stories of each of these people (including an actress with alopecia and a deaf dancer) will be explored in greater documentary-style depth in further installments. 

“We wanted to make this phone the leader in smartphone videography, so it allows people to capture what they want, when they want—now better than ever,” Ma says. “Our approach to capturing what ‘real’ moments look like will ideally inspire people to tell their own story, from the extraordinary to the everyday moments.”

The series will be featured prominently in social media, which has become the go-to platform for people to use their phones and share their lives, Ma says. “We know social media plays a huge role in documenting our lives and how much time people spend trying to publish the perfect post,” he says. “But with ‘This is real,’ we hope people will own their most authentic moments, promise to stay true to who they are and tell their real-life stories in fresh new ways.”

In addition to the video series, LG is rolling out a series of V30 pop-up events around the country. The events, which will begin in December, will celebrate people demonstrating their creativity while using the V30 to show off their true selves.