Samsung vs. Apple marketing

[dmelgar]

I've been a little taken aback my the level of advertising that Samsung is doing.

NBCNews during the launch had a series of amazingly negative stories. On the website, every story had big Galaxy S3 ads. Every video segment was bracketed before AND after with different ads for the S3. I had to wonder if their incredibly negative coverage was influenced by the ad spend. The Today show spent 5 minutes talking about nothing more than the changed connector. This was before map gate, scuffgate etc. Even their summary of overwhelmingly positive reviews managed to focus on any complaints and list those.

CNBC now. Looking at Apple news related to stock dropping $80 from its high. Always a Samsung Galaxy S3 banner at the top of whatever news story.

Twitter: I searched twitter for mentions of iPhone 5. Found a series of different twitter accounts with the same tweet (not retweet) pointing to a URL. The URL was a Samsung ad bashing the iPhone 5.

Big TV spends. Superbowl ads etc. Extensive coverage of their anti-iPhone 5 commercial on all the Apple blogs.

I'm usually not one for conspiracy theories but I do wonder how the level of Samsung advertising has affected iPhone 5 coverage. Their use of non-samsung twitter accounts seems dishonest. Not surprising given their general behavior. Is it possible that they've influenced the Android community to become active complaining about the iPhone 5, potentially without the community's knowledge?

Found this article on WSJ. Says that Samsung company overall (huge conglomerate) has spent $3 BILLION in advertising. Here's the quote:

Both Samsung and Apple are spending heavily on advertising. Apple spent $647 million on advertising for the iPhone in the U.S., from its release in 2007 through its fiscal year 2011. It spent about $457.2 million for the iPad, which debuted in 2010. Samsung, meanwhile, has spent $2.8 billion in marketing expenses in the second quarter, up from $1.97 billion a year earlier.​

What kind of influence can you buy for $3 billion?

 

[Insilin1i]

I don't know if you can just quote 3 billion dollars and compare it to Apple. Samsung produces a lot more products than Apple so I think it's fair enough to expect them to use more in advertising.

 

[jlake02]

I've been a little taken aback my the level of advertising that Samsung is doing.

And still they can not even come close to the launch hype of iPhones. Samsung launch line? 8 guys max.

Samsung makes some great products but they just don't have the "sex" appeal, the glamor and the hype of Apple. Doubt they ever will.

 

[cababah]

And still they can not even come close to the launch hype of iPhones. Samsung launch line? 8 guys max.

Samsung makes some great products but they just don't have the "sex" appeal, the glamor and the hype of Apple. Doubt they ever will.

I see what you did there...

It's a trick question. There is no such thing as a Samsung launch line

 

[pgiguere1]

I think that Samsung has simply spent a lot on the GS3's marketing, it's perhaps the biggest marketing campaign for any electronics product ever, and keywords in Apple-related stories make it more likely to have relevant ads such as Samsung's. I don't think Samsung pays media to write negative stories about Apple, this always happen simply because any story with Apple in the title attracts attention (thus profits).

On a half-related note, did anybody else notice the incredible amount of GS3 ads on Facebook? They don't only fill ad space but when someone likes the Samsung page, it gets highlighted and posted on my news feed even if it happened weeks ago. I also get random Samsung ads on my news feed even if I didn't like their page. I do however constanty get reminded to like it since it's a "page that might interest you". I never noticed this kind of advertising on Facebook before.

 

[richmds]

That says loads about Apple and how crappy Samsungs marketing team is.

Apple is sold out with people willing to wait 4 weeks out for their product and they spent $647 million to make people aware of their product.

Samsung spent $3 billion and their product is still fully stocked on all shelves.

 

[smellysox8]

That says loads about Apple and how crappy Samsungs marketing team is.

Apple is sold out with people willing to wait 4 weeks out for their product and they spent $647 million to make people aware of their product.

Samsung spent $3 billion and their product is still fully stocked on all shelves.

Let's leave out relevant information like actual supply.

 

[eastercat]

I think you need to take off the tin foil hat.
The advertising that samsung buys does affect the journalism, but in the sense that they're less likely to do negative stories about samsung. Or the review for a new samsung product will blunt the negatives of the product.
It's no different from the way the amount of advertising from other companies affects the number of negative stories about them.

I've been a little taken aback my the level of advertising that Samsung is doing.

What kind of influence can you buy for $3 billion?

 

[gentlefury]

people are really complaining about the plug??? Did they really want that enormous plug forever??? I do feel they should have supplied the adapter with the phone..but other than that I love the new plug...and its WAY faster!

 

[richmds]

Let's leave out relevant information like actual supply.

I was focusing on demand because Samsung doesnt exactly give out their sales figures. But according to the recent court trial Samsungs best sales were from the Galaxy SII which from May 2011 till now sold 4.1 million units.

Apple sold 5 million iPhones over two days.

 

[smellysox8]

I was focusing on demand because Samsung doesnt exactly give out their sales figures. But according to the recent court trial Samsungs best sales were from the Galaxy SII which from May 2011 till now sold 4.1 million units.

Apple sold 5 million iPhones over two days.

You can't focus on demand and ignore supply.

Can you tell me how many records Justin Beiber has sold?

 

[sviato]

Apple ads: This is the iX, never before have bla bla bla

Samsung ads: I heard that new iX sucks, but I have this and it's so much better trust me

I've also noticed the Twitter thing, whenever iPhone is trending, I often see a promoted tweet from Samsung on top of the page linking to one of its products. It seems like Samsung is trying to get into wherever iPhone is being promoted, I guess to maybe sway some uncertain people by sticking their options where one would expect to see iPhone stuff.

 

[urkel]

You guys sure pay a lot of attention to advertisements of products you don't intend on buying.

 

[MrGimper]

Samsung produce a hell of a lot of anti-iphone advertising. Apple produce no anti-Samsung advertising.

The galaxy is a blatant ripoff of the iPhone visually.

Nuff said.

 

[acorntoy]

Samsung makes fun of people that its trying to get to be its customers, its disgusting.

Because samsungs advertisements I avoid it like the plague.
(All of its products, not just its phones)

 

[faroZ06]

Why would someone compare the Lightning plug to micro-USB and say that micro-USB is better? Ignoring the difference in features, nothing takes a micro-USB input. They all take the full-sized USB input, so you need an adaptor cable anyway. At least you can use Lightning with some music docks.

I doubt the stardardness of micro-USB. I didn't even touch one of those cables until I had to plug in my friend's Nexus to my Mac to get stuff off of it with Android File Transfer. Many things have mini-USB.

----------

Samsung produce a **** of a lot of anti-iphone advertising. Apple produce no anti-Samsung advertising.

The galaxy is a blatant ripoff of the iPhone visually.

Nuff said.

Why would Apple give Samsung free publicity? They want "iPhone" to be a synonym for "smartphone", just like people say "play my iPod" or "Xerox this" or "Google it" or "Mac vs PC". At my school, the overwhelming majority of people have iPhones. It's almost a standard around here.

 

[TM WAZZA]

What's funny about the Next big thing ads, is that they show the GS3 to have a clear visible screen when it's shot under broad daylight. If you have seen the real thing you know it will be impossible to see under the sun.

 

[faroZ06]

Here's what I think is happening. I don't think your theory is likely to be true:

The media gets more attention when they say something about the iPhone than when they talk about an Android phone. The iPhone is famous. It's like the cruddy celebrity shows and tabloids that focus on some celebrity's screwup. I got really annoyed by the excessive coverage of the Michael Jackson death investigation since I don't care. Typically, the media will strive to find flaws in popular items such as Windows OSs, Toyotas, and iPhones, and more broadly, anything bad related to anything mainstream. They thrive on reporting scandals and murders, not widely-expected good developments.

The Samsung ads are most likely a result of this, not a cause, meaning that they chose to advertise around this show because of the show's content. Companies go for what I'd call "relelvant advertising". Another example of this would be if you were watching a golf tournament and saw ads for golf clubs.

So unless you are seeing Samsung products IN the show, this is probably just "relelvant advertising".

 

[tperry]

Samsung makes fun of people that its trying to get to be its customers, its disgusting.

Because samsungs advertisements I avoid it like the plague.
(All of its products, not just its phones)

You better start either ditching you computer, TV, etc or learn EE so that you can revamp your systems. I just bought a Mac Mini....and it had Samsung memory in it.

 

[KieranDotW]

A Brief History of Advertising

Apple, 1984:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

Apple, 1997:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAB83Z1ydE

Samsung, 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf5-Prx19ZM

... what the hell happened? #stayclassy

 

[haruhiko]

You missed one marketing strategy of Samsung: trolling blog comments on big tech sites.

 

[ixodes]

Samsung is highly motivated to do what it takes to sell product. The same could be said of Apple or any other company that spends ad dollars.

Comparing them is the stuff of overly attached brand loyalists. If it means that much to you, and getting riled up is worth it, have at it & enjoy

 

[haruhiko]

You better start either ditching you computer, TV, etc or learn EE so that you can revamp your systems. I just bought a Mac Mini....and it had Samsung memory in it.

Wait a minute, you JUST bought a Mac Mini? Are you aware that it's an old product from July 2011 with old Sandy Bridge CPU and no USB 3 Support with yesteryear's price?

 

[KieranDotW]

Wait a minute, you JUST bought a Mac Mini? Are you aware that it's an old product from July 2011 with old Sandy Bridge CPU and no USB 3 Support with yesteryear's price?

Based on the current scheme of things, idk when they'll ever see another upgrade, just sayin'.

 

[AFDoc]

I think the Samsung commercials about the lines at the apple store are hi-larious!! It's funny cause it's true. Most "normal" users don't wait in line for 36 hours at this point int the iPhone's life. First one for sure, second one... ok, third one.... well maybe. After that if you're waiting in line for a long time you're just silly. Pre-Order is the way to go IMHO.