Samsung Is Eyeing a Future Where TV Ads Have Facebook-Like Targeting Capabilities

Christina Bechhold is a principal at Samsung Next Ventures, an investment arm that focuses on finding cutting-edge startups to keep the Korean tech giant ahead of the curve. To do just that (not to mention battle Apple), in January, the division revealed a $150 million off-balance sheet fund that's worth keeping an eye on, as Samsung looks to further its fortunes by expanding business in all areas, including advertising. [kickout id="1"] "We've been recently looking at some really interesting OTT [over-the-top television] technologies around advertising and being able to personalize advertisements across platforms," Bechhold told Adweek in Austin, Texas, where she's hearing startup pitches at South by Southwest. "[Imagine] being able to share that data so the experience is seamless, whether you are seeing something on your OTT app, on your TV or something on a linear delivery." Bechhold declined to state which OTT-minded companies she was speaking about, but revealed a few other intriguing thoughts on the topic. "There are a few companies figuring out how to serve advertisements based on behavior at just the right moment with just the right content," she remarked. "Sort of like Facebook has done a really good job being able to micro-target demographics—[think of] being able to do that with [TV] display." The tech exec has been in her current role for a couple of years, and she pointed to LoopPay and SmartThings as two of her team's better acquisitions. We sat down with her at the Cedar Door restaurant in the heart of the Lone Star State's capital city on Friday morning to learn about the processes she uses when seeding startups or buying them outright. Adweek: Tell us a little bit about Samsung Next Ventures. Christina Bechhold: It's meant to be an early-stage gateway for software-as-service companies to work with Samsung. Particularly, [the focus is] on mobile, consumer electronics and [TV] displays. ... We give them access to resources to build their idea into a product. ... My team does investments anywhere from $250,000 to $3 million per round. We do reinvestments and follow-ons; we don't just do investments and then step away. We've done 42 investments so far. What are you looking for when it comes Series A? Series A companies, the way I think about them, are more than three-to-five guys working at a WeWork. They are sort of at a place where the product ideally has found some kind of market fit, and they are looking to scale that. At that point, we can come through [with] an investment and collaboration opportunities that we can help facilitate with our business units to really impact that product. They are at a point where they can really work with a Samsung. Seed-stage companies, when we do those investments, are typically [done] to stay closer to a technology or a team that we really like. But they are often not equipped with working with a big company and need to focus on their product and what their market fit is. Big companies swallowing up startups sometimes reminds me of the 1990s, when, post-Nirvana, major music labels signed any loud band they could find, hoping that one or two of them have hit songs. Just throwing you-know-what against the wall to see what sticks. Does that analogy at all jibe in your world? It's a very thorough process. We are not going out to buy someone because it's a cool name, and we want to be associated with it. We're looking for teams and technologies that align with the long-term strategic goals of the company. We believe finding that outside innovation and talent is going to dramatically accelerate our ability to get to market. And sometimes that means bringing in a team or acquiring a company that's very small or maybe we let them grow a little bit longer before we bring them in and help them grow their product. Sounds like things can take awhile. We brought in a company called LoopPay out of Boston, an investment my team made a few years ago. They had some very interesting technology around payments and being able to let you pay with your phone [without stores needing special checkout equipment]. It was very cool technology with a really smart team, and Samsung at the point wasn't really thinking about fintech payments. [kickout id="2"] But it was something we thought was really innovative and interesting; it was something that we wanted to stay close to. Then just a few months later, Apple Pay came out, and we said, "You know what? We've been thinking about payments, and we haven't done anything yet. LoopPay could dramatically accelerate our time to market." That was done in a matter of months. Do they always have to snugly fit Samsung's strategic needs? Or is the technology sometimes so appealing that you buy it and figure out how to use it later? It's a little bit of both. It could be something interesting like a food-delivery company—Samsung to them isn't going to be likely super helpful because that's just not something we can be additive to. But we obviously want to pay attention to Samsung decision-makers, particularly in Korea, their products and roadmaps, we want to know what they are thinking. At the same time, a lot of our job is figuring out what Samsung isn't thinking about, and what we should be paying attention to and getting [those decision-makers] to pay attention. ... Our product makers may be thinking three to six months ahead. We need to be thinking three to 10 years ahead. What's new in mobile advertising? We are trying to figure that out, to be honest. I think both mobile and [TV] advertising is a segment that's changing very rapidly. Obviously, Samsung sells a lot of smartphones, and we sell two TVs every second. We have these screens and platforms to access. We are trying to figure out what's the best way to delight those consumers in a way that's going to be least invasive to them. When it comes to mobile and [TV] advertising, it's about consumers responding to ideas that are sharp, funny, witty, interactive or personalized—or some combination therein. So we are looking at a lot of interesting new technologies that are trying to make it easier for brands and advertisers to serve up that kind of content to consumers at the right moment. Any good examples? Eko is a good example of that. They have this [content-based] product called Sparks, which basically allows brands to have a moment within their storyline. It's effective for that brand and the emotional connection it is trying to make with consumers. Eko lets brands have a 5-to-8-second moment, and it's very clearly an advertising moment, but it fits in the storyline. On mobile, we have been looking at some really interesting companies around interactive advertising. There's an interesting company out of New York, for instance, InMoji, that does interactive emojis. ... They create emoji packs for brands, and the emojis interact with the consumer. Well, we're here in Austin ... tacos or barbecue for you? Barbecue, all the way! Dallas style, specifically.