Open the newspaper and there is a full page advertisement for a smartphone. Browse the web and short advertisement videos will invariably make their way on to your screen. Short breaks between TV shows are also filled with smartphone commercials. Today, smartphone wars have entered a new phase where the notion that high end phones don’t need publicity no longer holds true. Even flagship phones by Samsung and Apple are advertised in every way you can imagine; subtle or in-your-face.
The latest in this mindshare war is the media blitz launched by Samsung, which recently launched the Galaxy S IV, and Apple, which is rumoured to be releasing two iPhones this year. Samsung obviously has good reason to engage in a promotional campaign; it has just released what is expected to be its best selling smartphone ever. Not to be outdone, Apple surprised everyone by launching a series of campaigns as pre-emptive strikes against its rival.
Galaxy S IV made a big budget debut at Radio City Music Hall, a launch that the media did not take too well, claiming to be ‘shockingly sexist’. Samsung also created a website just to show off the new phone’s innovative features apart from an almost 4 minute long YouTube video. Though the website did not create much buzz, the video managed to get 1.8 million views and interesting comments by Sunday.
Contrastingly, Apple’s crusade has been more low-budget. Prior to the launch of Galaxy S IV, Apple’s marketing chief Paul Schiller began bashing Android over Twitter, warning people to be safe from Android by including a link to a report by F-Secure that focused on the platform’s mobile security vulnerabilities. Soon, he sought out Reuters and the Wall Street Journal and claimed that Android was fragmented and that its users were very dissatisfied in comparison to iOS users. Subsequently, as a response to Samsung’s new website (which wasn’t particularly intended to challenge Apple), the company launched its own TV ads and an impressive webpage glorifying the virtues of the iPhone 5. Additionally, the company also sent out a concatenated version of its ‘Why iPhone’ website to millions of people on its e-mail list. Talk about spamming. If this can be considered as round #1 in the fight between Samsung and Apple, Samsung has definitely nailed it.
