Samsung: Plans Largest Marketing Campaign For Galaxy S Phones

30th Jun 2010 15:22

By Roger Cheng Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SSNHY, 005930.SE) plans to launch the largest marketing campaign in the history of its North America mobile division to promote the upcoming line of Galaxy S smartphones, according to an executive with the company. Paul Golden, chief marketing officer for Samsung's North American telecommunications arm, told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday its marketing budget would be comparable to the heavy advertising a major U.S. carrier would typically spend on one of their flagship devices. Verizon Wireless (VZ) and Motorola Inc. (MOT) are believed to have spent $100 million late last year promoting the original Droid. There's a lot at stake for Samsung. While a leader in the handset industry, the company has fallen behind players such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and the iPhone in the smartphone segment, and is only recently catching up. It unveiled the phones at a splashy event in Manhattan on Tuesday night, a prelude to the marketing campaign it will launch to bolster awareness of the device, a different version of which will be available to every national carrier. "We wanted to launch the Galaxy S as our flagship phone but stick with our DNA of focusing on the carrier relationship," said Omar Khan, chief strategy officer and product guru for Samsung Telecommunications America. Rather than strike a deal with a single service provider, the South Korean consumer electronics giant decided to tweak the hardware and software to create a unique model for each national carrier. By going that route, Samsung is maximizing its distribution to as many subscribers as possible. But it is also limiting the amount of marketing support it will receive from the carriers. Verizon Wireless or AT&T Inc. (T), for instance, will likely want to put their advertising dollars behind a phone that they have the exclusive rights to, instead of a phone that every other carrier offers. That puts the onus on Samsung to take the lead in advertising. The first version, the Vibrant for Deutsche Telekom AG's (DT) T-Mobile USA, will hit the market on July 21, with the others to follow within the next few months. Golden said that Samsung's marketing campaign would be tailored to each of its carrier partners and the version of the Galaxy S phone it will sell. The Vibrant, for instance, will focus on the phones multimedia capabilities, with device packing a free copy of James Cameron's "Avatar." Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (S) version, the Epic, will likely focus on its slide-out keyboard and ability to tap into the faster fourth-generation network. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said on Tuesday "stay tuned" when asked how heavily he would promote the Epic. Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, said it was important to avoid complacency in building a smartphone brand for consumers, which is why the company went after all of the carriers instead of just one. "We were desperate to get into the smartphone market," Sohn said. While Samsung is the No. 2 handset maker in the world, and the largest handset maker in the U.S., it has largely grown through its focus on basic handsets and messaging devices. The company, however, ranks fifth in the world among smartphone players, according to Gartner. -By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2153; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 10:22 ET (14:22 GMT)