Behind the scenes of Samsung commercial

Nowadays we meet pole dancing as the main concept in several ads. As the ad for Samsung Galaxy A “Touch of Power” that aired mainly on the Polish market and online. The two dancers Berenika Nienadowska and Łukasz Świrk with their astonishing performance, gave us a reason why pole dance is a form of art. Which is why we came in contact with the director and the two dancers so as to find out the reason behind the concept and to bring you insights from the video shooting. We would like to thank the director of “Samsung: Touch of Power”, Camille Marotte and the pole dancers Berenika Nienadowska and Łukasz Świrk for this exclusive interview!

Tell us a bit about yourself so we can get to know you better

I was born 24/06/1989 in Zielona Góra and I now I live in Wrocław, Poland.

I used to practice acrobatic gymnastics. I am a Pole dance instructor and photography model.

• I placed 3rd place during the First Polish Pole Dance Competition in 2011
• 1st place as a solo debut at Polish Pole Dance Championship 2013
• Finalist of European Pole Sport Championship 2013
• Finalist of Pole Art Poland 2015
• 2nd place in elite women category at Open Polish Pole Sport Championships 2015
• Finalist of Poland’s Got Talent 7th edition where I achieved 2nd place

I come from Wadowice (Poland). I am a graduate of the Academy of Physical Education in Krakow. For the last 15 years I have been into sports climbing, a passion of my youth that has turned into a profession. As a member of the national team in the years 2004-2014 I represented Poland in international competitions. My greatest achievements in this field were winning the World Cup in 2011, the Polish Championship twice and winning the Polish Cup four times.

In 2014, I took part in the seventh edition of the Polish “Got Talent” TV show. As a man I presented the flag artistic gymnastic-strength show on the tube vertically. I received the audience’s award for my participation, whoever won the most votes from viewers via telephone voting. Eventually I came in 4th place.

1. How long have you been pole dancing?

Berenika: Wow, it’s been quite a long time; I started when I was 20, so it’s been 6 years now.
Łukasz: I’ve been training on various elements of pole dance for about one and a half year. Before that and for the last 15 years I have been in sports climbing. I won the World Cup in 2011 in this competition. Thanks to my strong hands, learning new elements that require strength come easily to me.

2. How did you get into pole dancing?

Berenika: After I finished high school I decided to move to a bigger city. I used to practice rhythmic acrobatics and I really wanted to continue that way but unfortunately I couldn’t find partner to train with. At the same time an actress from the Polish Theatre asked me if I could help her during her rehearsals in a theatrical play because she needed some acro dance which included simple moves on the pole. That was something new for me but I thought “why not”. It was harder than I expected. After a couple of weeks the first pole dance studio was opened and they asked me if I wanted to be an instructor. That’s how I started.
Łukasz: It all began with the Polish version of “Got Talent”, where I got to the final and took fourth place. This year I gave the German version of the show a try – das Supertalent. I started training in pole dance because I wanted to take part in the show and also make my debut performing in front of an audience. Now I’m doing my own shows upon request!

3. How did the proposal for the commercial come about?

Berenika: It was quite unexpected; after the Polish version of the Got Talent series where I achieved 2nd place one of the managers from the polish branch of Samsung called me and asked if I would agree to be a part of something new. I had no second thoughts, if someone offers you something big like that you just cannot refuse.
Łukasz: After the finale of the Got Talent show I accepted a proposal to be part of Samsung’s advertisement. It was a really nice surprise for me; it was the first time I performed on a real structure like a lamppost for example instead of a standard dance pole.

4. Did you have any difficulties during the shooting of the commercial?

Berenika: It was very professional. I had a physiatrist behind the scenes, lots of fruits and water, they took care of everything, even the temperature of the pole! The only problem was that I had to wake up very early because we started at 5.30 a.m.
Łukasz: I didn’t have any difficulties during the shoot. It was a great adventure and a new experience for me.

5. How many hours did the shoot last?

Berenika: It lasted from 5.30 a.m. up to 10.30 p.m. A long time but it was worth it!
Łukasz: The shoot took all day, I was repeating the same elements plenty of times but I felt like I was doing a workout. Everybody enjoyed my movements; it was nice to feel like a movie star just for one moment!

6. How do you feel that such a large company chose pole dancing as a central theme for their advertisement?

Berenika: Well, it wasn’t only me that had doubts. The directors, producers, costume designers – they were all afraid of showing something new as a sport but still controversial as a part of nightlife entertainment. Before we started we had couple of meetings when we chose the project of costume that would be sporty and comfortable but not erotic, music that will be energetic but not sensual, etc. In the end, when the directors showed us some close ups we knew that we took the best decisions!
When the ads came to TV it was strange to see my face for example in the cinema before the movie but thanks to that lots of people understood that pole dance is not only the part of the night clubs – it is something bigger, harder and more complicated than they thought. I was and I’m happy when people write to me and thank me that I explained and showed that pole dancing is a beautiful art.
Łukasz: I thought it was really great because I know that not everyone has this kind of opportunity after being on “Got Talent” or any other programs. Who knows, maybe I’ll take part in a pole dance competition one day!

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Now is the time for the director’s view. Camille Marotte is from France and graduated at the E-art Institute in Paris.

In 2011 he shoots his first commercial for Maybelline and starts collaborating with renowned worldwide agencies. His passion for photography shines through his soft delicate beauty style and this together with a great care for lights and colours has brought him to the attention of international luxury brands such as Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss. Calvin Klien, Garnier and Samsung amongst others.

1. How did the concept idea come about?

The concept was developed together with Leo Burnett Warsaw and Samsung. They wanted a film with the keywords of “performance” and “metal” so they had this idea about showing pole fitness (and they watched the TV show “Poland got talent”) related to the performance and metal case of the new A3 and A5 phones. They also wanted 2 different films, one more about the beauty and elegance of the phone and one about the speed and performance so we had the idea of having one film with the girl and one with the guy and do two different edits. I just wanted to have both athletes in my personal director’s cut.

2. What did you actually know about pole dance fitness before the commercial?

Well I actually knew it was a real sport, and not just a sexy dance like some people think (I know more than most people, really). But the client was concerned that it will really look serious and sporty, and not too sensual. So that was the main topic to discuss during the preparation. Of course it was easy with Łukasz because he’s really muscular (I tried to do arm wrestle with him and it was like trying to punch a ferry boat with a toothbrush!) and he’s performing very physical moves with a quite slow rhythm. With Berenika we had to be sure she would be showing off elegance and beauty, and she was (easy).

3. What was the biggest difficulty you faced at the video shooting?

Well the biggest difficulty was to pretend to laugh at my DOP’s jokes for 12h, but I don’t want give more details about that. The other difficulty was to capture our athlete’s moves and to follow them with the camera with a limited number of repetitions. Even if Berenika and Łukasz are very strong athletes (I still feel the pain several months after really) pole fitness was indeed consuming a lot of their energy so they got tired at some point and needed to rest. That’s why we captured them alternatively all day long, always having one resting. They also got their hands injured at the end of the day so they couldn’t do some moves anymore. We shot from 9am to midnight so that was a pretty long day. Luckily we had candies and beers.

4. Where was the commercial shot? (Country, town, place)

We shot in Warsaw in the enormous Transcolor studios also used for very large events or TV shows. It was the biggest studio I ever shot in, so we were able to use the very long technocrane 30 and also having a lot of things in the far background like big fans and iron stairs to give the whole an industrial and metallic look, which was at the base of the concept with Samsung, and also because it looks cool.

5. In which countries did it air and through which forms of mass medias? (Internet, TV etc.)

It was mainly for the Polish market so it was on Polish TV and on Internet. I think, but please tell me if you see it anywhere else!