“It Doesn’t Take A Genius”BackgroundSamsung is a Global compa-ny based out of South Korean. The meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung is “tri-star” or “three stars”. The word “three” represents something “big, numerous and powerful” (Wikipedia). The company’s primary driver is information and communications technology, especially n mobile phones and semiconductors. Total assets are $529.5 billion (2014).

The Galaxy S3 was available in July 2012, months before the IPhone 5 was available. Samsung launched a print ad campaign in newspapers comparing the specifications and features of the Galaxy S3 with the iPhone 5. Next the company launched a new video ad showing “iFans” lining up to buy the next big thing. The campaign was listed as one of the top 10 the best wireless ads of 2012. Samsung highlighted features that the Apple phone would not have without mentioning the phone by name, making fun of Apple diehard loyalists who were waiting in line for “the next best thing” making the point that “the next best thing is already here”. (Lucy Kinder, 2012)

Target Audience Samsung has a specific audience - tech savvy young adults who love the “cool” factor. Still, Samsung target-ed Apple’s iPhone loyal in this campaign by focusing on what the iPhone did not do compared to the Gal-axy, which could do things that no one had ever seen before (Jason Inofuentes, 2012). However, Forrester Research, a global research and advisory firm, found

that Generation “Y” (commonly known as millennials in the United States), led the U.S. in smartphone and mobile adoption. Nearly all Generation “Y” con-sumers (between the ages of 24 and 32) owned a mobile phone of some kind and 72 percent owned smart-phones. Nationwide 93 percent of Americans owned mobile phones, but just 50 percent owned smart-phones (eMarketer, 2013).

Formative ResearchFormative research is not available. The formative research conducted by Samsung in advance of the Galaxy S3 phone was not published. Repeated requests for information from Samsung’s marketing department were ignored. Even a request for information to Jong-Kyun Shin, President/CEO, Mobile Division of Samsung Electronics, went unanswered.

Background would suggest that Samsung needed to find a way to do better in making gains in the global cell-phone market. For example, in 2005 Samsung launched a hand held device with various multimedia capabilities (camera, video, MP3 player, etc), that reached into the high-end markets for sales (Samsung surpassed its landmark sales record of 100 million cell phone hand-sets in a decade between 1996 and 2005). Unfortunate-ly, the company was still unable to build strong global

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A Case Study by Phil Eggman, COMSTRAT 565Edward R. Murrow College of Communication

Washington State University

Two men bump their phones and instantly transfer data, a feat that had never been accomplished before with any phone.

Continued from previous pagemarket share in Western Europe and North America (Dongyoup Lee - 2006). Samsung realized it needed to do better in its mar-keting efforts if it hoped for any chance to take on its main com-petitor (Apple) in the smart phone market.

For example, Samsung spent $78 million on its advertisements in 2011, while Apple spent over $253 million. So in 2012 the compa-ny spent $401 million on advertising (Apple spent $333 million) for ads on television, bill boards, and online advertising, with the lion share of the advertising budget going to creating a new campaign targeting Apple customers (Sin, 2013).

Main Campaign Message OverviewSamsung highlights features that the Apple phone would not have without mentioning the phone by name, making fun of Apple diehard loyalists waiting in line for “the next best thing” making the point that “the next best thing is already here”. The Galaxy S3 was available in July 2012, months before the IPhone 5 was available. Directed by Michael Downing and produced by Epoch Films, the campaign made fun of Apple fans by depicting them waiting in line “for the next best thing”. Without even mentioning Apple, the ad was referencing Apple and Apple devotees without being too harsh (Gianatasio, 2012).

Todd Pendleton, Samsung’s chief marketing officer, said the “It doesn’t take a genius” ad was not meant to insult iPhone own-ers. “Apple users or fanboys, or whatever you call them, they’re not the target of this work at all,” he said. “If you look at the core essence of the work, it really is showing an innovation story. A more innovative product in this case is the GS III.” Samsung’s campaign also mocked Apple by saying it “doesn’t take a genius” (see bottom photo left) to use their phones, “taking a swipe at the geniuses” who offer help at Apple Stores”.

A big component of the campaign was the use of movie theaters (left), as Samsung wanted to be where consumers typically frequent in the sum-mertime and “make sure Samsung was there in an innovative and never been done before way,” said

Brian Wallace, VP-strategic marketing at Samsung.

The “Next Big Thing” (above). Samsung’s campaign also mocked Apple (below) by saying it “doesn’t take a genius” to use their phones, “taking a swipe at the geniuses” who offer help at Apple Stores”.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsAn important factar as to why someone will purchase a specific item relates to motivation (Schultz, 2009). Abra-ham Harold Maslow (right) was an American psychologist who created a theory on how human psychological health was predicated on fulfilling innate needs. Maslow identified five levels of motivation within a heirar-chy of need, beginning with basic physiological needs, followed by survival, social, eteme, and ending with self-actualization.

The third level of Maslow’s hierarchy is social needs, or the motivation to be part of a group, which forms the basis of many persuasive cam-paigns, especially in building brand identity and affinity and that we win friends who are likemind-ed by using the same products. While many messages focus on using positive imagery, the Samsung campaign related the possible negative consequences of not using the brand, such as being left behind or by being within a group that was identified as uncool or outdated. This moti-vation would fall within Maslow’s 4th level, which identifies esteem as the desire to feel superior to others.

Campaign EvaluationMarketing Site BlogSpots named the Samsung Galaxy S3 “The Next Best Thing is Already Here” campaign was one of the top 10 most memorable marketing campaigns of 2012. After just one day on the web, the video had been shared 99,294 times, and it gen-erated 2.3 million views. And after three months, it had generated over 17 million views -- and was also being shown in movie theaters (Sprung, 2012).

A three-week Facebook ad campaign for the Galaxy S3 smartphone reached over 105 million unique users, and generated $129 million in sales, a 13-times return on a $10 million ad buy (Farber, 2012).

In a recent Compete survey of wireless shoppers, people who viewed a Samsung Galaxy S3 video commercial on YouTube were on average 10 times more likely to view a Galaxy S3 product page on a Big-4 carrier website compared to shoppers not exposed to the commercials (Zaozerskaya, 2012).

According to survey results from Strategy Analytics, the Galaxy S3 overtook the Apple iPhone 4S in the third quarter of 2012, giving the South Korean firm the world’s bestselling smartphone model for the first time, with Samsung selling nearly 2 million more phones than Apple during the same time period (Samsung sold 18 million Galaxy S3 phones while Apple sold 16.2 million iPhone 4S and 6 million iPhone 5 since being released in September 2012.

Forbes Contributer John Ellett (2012) said the campaign worked for three reasons. First, Samsung highlights real differences that smartphone users care about, like screen size and file sharing. Second, it uses humor to take the edge off the competitive attack.

“Humor helps people feel good about the brand that is making the attacks,” he said. “Samsung has mastered the balance between humor and attack quite well in this campaign.”.

Finally, the campaign doesn’t give Apple any men-tion. “Everyone knows who Samsung is talking about,” Ellett said,”but the ads are subtle — and effective — in how they deal with the com-petition.”

References: Dan Farber (2012); Facebook ads really work, just ask Samsung; article; C\NET; November 27, 2012; http://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-ads-really-work-just-ask-samsung/ Aniya Zaozerskaya (2012); Witty Galaxy SIII Campaign Is Paying Off; Article, November 8, 2012; Complete Pulse; Consumer Insights for Digital Mar-keters; https://blog.compete.com/2012/11/08/witty-gal-axy-siii-campaign-is-paying-off/

Brian Carter (2014); The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money with Facebook; Que Pub-lishing, page 26. News.com.au (2012); Samsung Galaxy S3 ‘bestselling smartphone’; online article; November 10, 2012; http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/samsung-galaxy-s3-bestselling-smartphone/sto-ry-e6frfkur-1226514127919 Rachel Sprung (2012); 10 of the Most Mem-orable Marketing Campaigns of 2012; online blog post; HubSpot Blogs; December 17, 2012; http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33931/10-of-the-Most-Memorable-Marketing-Campaigns-of-2012.aspx

David Gianatasio (2012); Samsung Punches Apple Again, and It Hurts So Good; online article; AD-WEEK; September 20, 2012; http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/samsung-punches-apple-again-and-it-hurts-so-good-143846

Tanzina Vega & Brian X. Chen (2012); Sam-sung-Apple Fight Moves to Marketing; online article; New York Times; Sept. 18, 2012; http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/business/media/samsung-apple-fight-moves-to-the-marketing-arena.html?_r=0

Samsung News (2012); SAMSUNG Galaxy S III Coming To Five Major Carriers Beginning in June; June 04, 2012 in Mobile News; http://www.samsung.com/us/news/20180).

Claudio Giachetti (2013); Competitive Dynam-ics in the Mobile Phone Industry - Page 70https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1137374128

Dongyoup Lee (2006) Samsung Electronics: The Global Inc; page 145)

Jason Inofuentes (2012); Samsung’s Galexy S 3 US Marketing Focuses on Features; Anandetch; new article, June 20, 2012; http://www.anandtech.com/show/6033/samsungs-galaxy-s-3-us-marketing-focuses-on-features

Will Wei (2012); Samsung Spent $10 Million on Facebook Ads and Got $129 Million in Return; ar-ticle, Business Insider, Dec. 4, 2012; http://www.busi-nessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-campaign-on-face-book-2012-12

Lucy Kinder (2012); Samsung Mocks iPhone 5 in ad campaign; news article, The Telegraph; Sept. 18, 2012; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/sam-sung/9549898/Samsung-mocks-iPhone-5-in-ad-cam-paign.html

Brian Sin (2013); 2012: Samsung spent a fortune on ad/smear campaigns; article; Slash & Gear, March 13, 2013; http://www.slashgear.com/2012-samsung-spent-a-fortune-on-adsmear-campaigns-13273744/

John Ellett (2012); 3 Reasons Samsung’s Latest Advertising Poking Apple Is So Smart; online article; Forbes; Sept. 20, 2012; http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnellett/2012/09/20/3-reasons-samsungs-latest-advertising-poking-apple-is-so-smart/

Maureen Morrison (2012); Samsung Launches Biggest U.S. Campaign to Date for Galaxy S III; online article; Advertising Age; June 20. 2012; http://adage.com/article/digital/samsung-launches-biggest-cam-paign-date-galaxy-s-iii/235497/ Mike Schoultz (2012); The Samsung Galaxy S3: Is This Effective Marketing Strategy?: Blog, Digital Spark Marketing; Dec. 21, 2012; http://www.digi-talsparkmarketing.com/creative-marketing/advertising/effective-marketing-strategy

#ArmDigital (2013); Product Marketing vs Need for Innovation: Samsung Clearly Likes the Former; blog article; #Arm Digital; http://armdigital.in/product-marketing-vs-need-for-innovation-samsung-clearly-likes-the-former/

Shibani Joshi (2013); Titans Clash: Will Sam-sung’s New Phone Steal Apple’s Buzz?; Fox Business News; March 13, 2013; http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/03/13/titans-clash-will-samsungs-new-phone-steal-apples-buzz

Samsung The Next Big Thing Super Bowl Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ-colE_r4BM

Jason Dorsey (2015); The Top 10 Millennials & Gen Y Questions Answered; http://jasondorsey.com/millennials/the-top-gen-y-questions-answered/

Don E. Schultz (2009);Building Custom-er-Brand Relationships; Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; page 52 - 54

This Case Study was created by Phil Eggman as a student project for COMSTRAT 565 at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University.