Samsung-Apple Fight Moves to the Marketing Arena

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Samsung-Apple Fight Moves to the Marketing Arena

By TANZINA VEGA and BRIAN X. CHEN

Samsung may have lost the most recent round in the United States in its legal fight with Apple over cellphone technology, but that hasn’t stopped it from mounting a new assault against Apple that relies on a more public tactic — full-page ads.

In a round of ads that began this week, Samsung takes direct aim at Apple, claiming its Galaxy phone is a better choice than the new iPhone 5.

While going after a competitor in an ad is not a new technique, the tone of the Samsung ads is decidedly sarcastic for a technology company emerging from a $1 billion defeat in the latest patent battle between the two companies.

One of the ads features the company’s new Galaxy S III alongside the iPhone 5. The ad, which began appearing in print publications over the weekend, features an image of an iPhone tilted to the right and a white Galaxy phone tilted to the left under the headline, “It doesn’t take a genius.” Below each phone is a list of its features.

“This is a marketing campaign; it’s not a legal campaign,” said Teri Daley, a Samsung representative. “As marketers we’re focused on educating consumers. We feel like they’ve somewhat been led down a blind path when truly that innovation has stopped a long time ago.”

The genius reference could be interpreted as a swipe at the Apple customer support employees, who work at the company’s “Genius Bars.” This summer, Apple started a television ad campaign featuring a Genius Bar employee. The campaign was short-lived.

Todd Pendleton, Samsung’s chief marketing officer, said the “It doesn’t take a genius” ad was not meant to insult iPhone owners. “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.”

Innovation has been at the heart of the dispute between the companies. In August, a California jury ruled that Samsung had infringed upon a series of mobile technology patents and awarded Apple $1 billion in damages.

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