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Joseph Perucci Professor Elder-Correa English 103 October 29, 2012 Samsung: The Next Big Thing As of 2012, Samsung has become one of the most well-known technology brands in the modern world. Turn on the TV, even just for a few minutes and theres a good chance that you will see one of its new advertisements taking shots at its main competitor, Apple. Samsungs new set of Television ads titled The Next Big Thing is Already Here Takes a comedic jab at the new iPhone 5 and its users cult like mentality. The commercial shows lines for the iPhone 5 wrapping around the building in several major cities including NYC, San Francisco, and Los Angles. There is some casual conversation going on between the people on line who are all dressed like hipsters (Plaid, newsboy hats, very hip) and wearing the iconic white apple ear buds. They start talking about all of the inherent problems with the new phone like a new jack that you need a connector to use, or about how they might get all of the stuff they didnt get in last years model. However, Samsung did not stop there and went on to circulating a full blown print ad in order to gain even more support. The It Doesnt Take a Genius print ad is nothing more than a logical appeal to consumers that uses a list comparing abilities of the GSIII and iphone 5. The ad uses two side by side columns to compare and contrast features of both phones. In the column describing the new iPhone 5, there are only 13 points of comparision, and each one is less than or equal to those of the Galaxy eg. 4g lte, new plug, ram, battery life etc. In addition the fact that the advertisement gave Samsung the advantage on every point of comparison (the ad was biased, yet truthful), the

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list in the Galaxys column had a list of 27 features as opposed to the iPhones 13. Both of these highly aggressive ads aim to knock Apple off its smart phone pedestal. Samsung has really gone out of its way to change up its marketing methods to adapt to a market that is ruled by a single brand. Samsungs new, aggressive advertisement campaign is aimed at building it brand name and making itself more culturally relevant than its rival, apple. According to Beth Snyders article "Samsung: Cultural Relevance Bet Pays Off." Samsung is marrying less conventional marketing with smart products and design to build market share in traditional categories and enter new ones. (Snyder). Samsungs new strategy is to have a strong ad campaign backed with a superior product in order to grow brand loyalty and to boost sales. They have been using all of its monetary and marketing resources to make its brand culturally relevant, for they feel that by making its brand a piece of popular culture, they will be better able to sell their products. This new strategy paid off big for the company because In 2001 it (Samsung) ranked No. 42 on Interbrand's annual list of top global brands; in 2011 it was No. 17, its brand value almost quadrupling to $6.4 billion. (Snyder) This huge jump in popularity was due largely in part to Samsungs new advertisement campaign pushing to make Samsung more culturally relevant than their rival Apple, and to a good effect. In the third quarter, it (Samsung) beat Apple in global smartphone sales, grabbing 24% of the market to Apple's 15%, according to Strategy Analytics (Snyder). These statistics concur with the findings of Anthony Dukes research in his academic paper The Value of a Brand, In which he discusses all of the components that make up a brand name. It is no coincidence that as Samsung has built its brand name; its sales have also risen. People attach more to a brand name than just the products they sell; people also associate memories (both good and bad), emotions, and certain lifestyles all with brand names. Samsung

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is beginning to move in on this trend, and along with selling smartphones, also sells people the feeling of superiority. People who buy the Galaxy SIII are confident that they have made the smartest decision possible, and have purchased the superior piece of technology. Samsung makes the consumer feel like they have broken the mold of uninformed society, held under the firm grasp of apples mobile monopoly. Once people have bought in to the Samsung brand name, they are there to stay and will be loyal to Samsung for some time to come, or until they fail to make solid products. In addition to Samsung having to compete with apple products, they also have to compete with many off brand, low cost android phones that every carrier has. The article Samsung's branding may spell success for Galaxy S III Written by Scott Webster of Cnet talks about Samsungs success in the android world due to its superior branding. Generic android phones are dime a dozen and few if any ever get a real following. That this may be the first Android release where average consumer types are talking about a particular series. (Webster) Meaning unlike the past more under the radar phones, Samsung has done a good job of hyping the phone up enough to create a loyal following. Also unlike previous android phones, it is available on all major networks which ensures better name recognition for consumers. (Webster) Lastly, Webster talks about all of the hype surrounding the products launch, he states I haven't seen any Android product pull in as much prerelease interest as this model, (Webster) that clearly demonstrates that Samsungs new marketing scheme is going according to plan. Looking back at Samsungs new advertisement campaign mentioned earlier on, its not hard to tell why the commercials are so popular. According to a piece written by Jib Fowles, marketers use hidden messages to appeal to certain areas of human emotion. Every ad is a variation on one of a limited number of basic appeals. (Fowles) Two of the big ones that

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Samsung play on are the need for affiliation and the need for autonomy. Samsung plays on these appeals particularly well in its Next Big Thing TV commercial. In the commercial Samsung shows the Galaxy users as a tight knot, very intelligent, hip group. The consumer sees how this group is in touch with society, but at the same time unique and individual, unlike the mindless drones of Apple. People are more willing to buy something that gives them a sense of individuality than something that everyone else has already. Consumers want to be unique, yet belong, and Samsung has done a great job of catering to that mindset with its commercials. When it comes volume of advertisement, Samsung is definitely one of the contenders for most frequently played on TV. Why dont people get annoyed at this? Most people have a low tolerance for advertisements, especially those played several times during the same TV program or movie. In my research I found a paper detailing the results of a marketing expert, Wayne Hoyer, who performed an experiment that tested the effects of ad repetition of well-known brands vs. obscure brands. Consumers would have negative reactions to the repetition of ads for familiar brands more quickly than they would to ads for unfamiliar brands. (Hoyer) Because almost no one had heard of Samsung mobile before June of 2011, people had not yet been exposed to advertisements from their mobile campaign. When Samsung came out on to the mobile scene with such force and momentum, people stopped to watch their ads or read up on their products to see what all of the buzz was about. If Samsung mobile had been a more wellknown brand name when they had launched their new ad campaign, there is a good chance their ads would have been seen as a nuisance due to their popularity and frequency. Now that they have been put on the map, it may be time for a change in Samsungs strategy when it comes time to release new ads.

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Another very common theme throughout the research materials has been Samsungs struggle against its main competitor, Apple. Almost every one of the sources that mentions the name Samsung also mentions the name Apple. The reason for this is that Apple CO. has been the premire mobile phone maker for the past few years. Samsung has very recently come out to bat with a solid line of phones and a can do attitude trying to take on this technology giant. The article Samsung-Apple Fight Moves to Marketing does a pretty good job of explaining why Samsung mainly targets Apple, and cites Samsungs advertisements as a very strange way to gain customers. Samsung is trying to convert iPhone users to their Galaxy but according to Mr. Segall they are going about it the wrong way. It seems like an odd way to seduce them because youre basically telling them theyre idiots. (Segall qtd. in Vega and Chen). Why is it that Samsung basically makes apple users look like morons, yet is still able to convert a good number of them to their product? The only logical answer must be the product itself must be good enough to back up all of the hype. As an owner of a Galaxy SII I can say that Samsung makes a pretty quality product. I have never had a serious problem with my phone; it has all of the features and more of a comparable apple product, and is moderately priced. This connection is also supported by an article written on Ad Age.com, How Samsung Upstaged Apple During the Launch of iPhone 5. This article explains how Samsung was able to push Apple off its metaphorical throne during the release of its very own iPhone 5. The key factor here was good usage of the web. Samsungs Next Big Thing TV advertisement went viral on YouTube, helping the hype for the Galaxy SIII jump to astronomical levels. Samsung's products might not cause the kind of frenzy that Apple's products do, but the company's marketing has created waves by taking jabs at its biggest competitor. (Russell, Mallory). Samsungs aggressive tactics have really paid off for the company so far, and left Apple shaking

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in their boots. According to Mallory, It seems apparent that Apple can't rely on buzz alone anymore, especially with Samsung going after it with an aggressive marketing approach. (Russell, Mallory). This quote directly supports what many of the other articles and sources have said and sums up in one sentence how Samsung has been strategizing its ad campaign to do. Samsungs final, possibly smartest move was when it decided to release the Galaxy SIII to all major carriers rather than limiting it one or two major cell companies. The press release states As promised, we are delivering the next big thing for U.S. customers and across all major carriers, (Dale Sohn qtd. In Samsung). It is clear that Samsung has been using all of its available resources to make sure that this phone succeeds in such a competitive market. However, this press release serves more than one purpose. Samsung took a page out of apples book here, by using an announcement or press release in order to build hype surrounding their product in addition to giving the public some real information on the product. Over the past two years Samsung has gone from an off the radar company to a premiere name brand in the world of cell phones. Samsung has turned to a method of building up its reputation by producing quality products and getting its name out there as a brand name that can be trusted. The notably aggressive marketing techniques being used are dual purposed; they are used to make the brand seem culturally relevant as well as attacking its main competition, apple. Recently these changes to marketing style and change in direction have proved beneficial for the company. Samsungs mobile department has seen a steady gain in its brand popularity as well as its market worth, and amount of the market it controls. By coupling superior technology with stellar marketing, Samsung has completely turned around the direction of its company and restored its brand name to its former glory.

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Works Cited BULIK, BETH SNYDER. "Samsung: Cultural Relevance Bet Pays Off." Advertising Age 82.40 (2011): 28. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. Dukes, Anthony J. "The Value Of A Brand." Phi Kappa Phi Forum 84.3 (2004): 4-5. AcademicSearch Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2012 Fowles, Jib. Advertisings Fifteen Basic Appeals. Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. Ed. Peracca, Michael and Sorapure, Madeleine. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998 print. It Doesnt Take a Genius. Advertisement Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, 2012 The Next Big Thing is Already Here - Samsung Galaxy S III. Sept 19, 2012. Youtube.com. Advertisement. October 10, 2012. Russell, Mallory How Samsung Upstaged Apple During the Launch of iPhone 5. 9/26/12 Adage.com Web. October 12, 2012. SAMSUNG Galaxy S III Coming To Five Major Carriers Beginning in June. Samsung Telecommunications. June 4, 2012. Web October 16, 2012. Vega, Tanzina and Chen, Brain X. Samsung-Apple Fight Moves to Marketing. September 18, 2012. New York Times, Web. October 13, 2012. Wayne D. Hoyer, et al. "Brand Familiarity And Advertising Repetition Effects." Journal Of Consumer Research 30.2 (2003): 292-304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Oct. 2012 Webster, Scott. Samsung's branding may spell success for Galaxy S III June 4, 2012 Cnet-Reviews Web. October 10, 2012.