A REPORT ON

SAMSUNG’S GLOBAL
MARKETING
STRATEGY
Introduction

This report is to understand the marketing strategies used by Samsung to

achieve global reach. Samsung makes many changes to adapt to the culture
and traditions of different places to ensure a worldwide success and
customer satisfaction. Samsung also uses social media apps like Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, etc to advertise their products and expand their customer
base. These points are elaborated in detailed with examples in this report.

About the Company

The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung, stylized in logo as SΛMSUNG) is a

South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in
Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated
businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, and is the
largest South Korean business conglomerate. As of 2020, Samsung has the
8th highest global brand value.

Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-Chul in 1938 as a trading company.

Over the next three decades, the group diversified into areas including food
processing, textiles, insurance, securities, and retail. Samsung entered the
electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding
industries in the mid-1970s; these areas would drive its subsequent growth.
Following Lee's death in 1987, Samsung was separated into five business
groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group and Hansol Group, and
Joongang Group.

Notable Samsung industrial affiliates include Samsung Electronics (the

world's largest information technology company, consumer electronics
maker and chipmaker measured by 2017 revenues), Samsung Heavy
Industries (the world's 2nd largest shipbuilder measured by 2010 revenues),
and Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T Corporation (respectively the

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world's 13th and 36th largest construction companies). Other notable
subsidiaries include Samsung Life Insurance (the world's 14th largest life
insurance company), Samsung Everland (operator of Everland Resort, the
oldest theme park in South Korea) and Cheil Worldwide (the world's 15th
largest advertising agency, as measured by 2012 revenues).

Samsung Electronics was founded in South Korea. The company originally

manufactured consumer electronic appliances such as TVs, calculators,
refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines. By 1981, Samsung
had produced over 10 million black and white TVs. In 1988 it merged with
Samsung Semiconductor & Communications and started what would be a
most profitable global marketing campaign by sponsoring the Olympic
Games. Forty years later, Samsung Electronics celebrated its 40th
anniversary in 2009 and has developed innovative products, adding
interactive systems to further enhance consumer experience. Earlier this
year In March 2010, to stay ahead of its competitors, Samsung introduced
its revolutionary line of three-dimensional TVs (3DTV) at a New York event,
partnered with Dreamworks animation.

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A Brief History About Samsung

Back in 1970, Samsung’s electronics unit started out making cheap tv sets
for the Sanyo label, but over time, it transformed into an innovative
company and has turned out to be a pioneer in developing large flat-screen
displays, plasma TVs, and cutting-edge smartphones. But until the mid-
1990s, they competed mainly by developing technical components and low-
cost manufactured products for bigger brands, such as dell, Hewlett
Packard, and GE. They were also selling other low-cost consumer products –
like TVs and microwave ovens under the Samsung brand through discount
chains like Walmart.
Until the 1997 Asian market crash, the low-cost-driven competitive strategy
worked well for them. At the time, the market for memory chips and other
components Samsung supplied to electronics producers saw increased
competition, leading to excess capacity, while sales of the Samsung branded
products were falling as well. Despite these facts, the company’s CEO Yun
Jong-Yong voiced that Samsung could produce products that were as good
as Sony’s, but because of the brand’s downmarket image, their TVs would
sit at the back of the stores.

What is Samsung’s Marketing Strategy?

Samsung’s marketing strategy focuses on developing new innovative
products that are supported by strong branding and promotional
campaigns. Mr. Yun initiated a new competitive strategy with the goal of
developing and marketing superior products while also building an image of
Samsung as a stylish, high-quality brand worthy of a premium price. The
objective was to establish a unique position using technical innovation while
designing more appeal to a younger generation, as well as upscale
customers around the world. Yun argued that to continue to compete on
price would eventually be their downfall.

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R&D Into Innovative Tech
Samsung chose to invest heavily in technical innovation and R&D. In order to
have a competitive advantage driven by innovation, Samsung had to
become a pioneer in developing new technology. During the 90’s, Sony had
an advantage in consumer-electronics, but it was rooted in analog
technology. The digital world required new products and consequently, the
firm shifted substantial resources into developing large-area LCDs, chipsets,
and cellphones. Fast forward to the economic crisis of 2008-2009, Samsung
spent over 7 billion dollars for nearly 6% of the unit’s revenue into research
and development, and at the time more than 25% of the company’s
workforce engaged in R&D.

Product Development & Design

Understanding that cutting-edge technology does not always guarantee
market success, Samsung also focused on product development and design.
Their goal was to create products that deliver benefits that at least some
segment of consumers will consider to be worth the price. Since many
product benefits may be subjective – attractive styling, say, or a cool image,
or maybe the quality of camera – new product development at Samsung
usually involves a team of designers who collaborate closely with the firm’s
engineers, manufacturing teams, and marketers.

Brand Building Campaigns

Last and certainly not least, Samsung’s marketing strategy focused on
creating a promotional campaign to build Samsung’s brand image.
Revamping their marketing efforts was just as critical to the success of a
new competitive strategy because even the most technically sophisticated
and well design products are likely to fail unless customers know they exist,
can acquire them easily, and think they’re worth the money.

Eric Kim was brought in to head a global marketing effort. One of his first
moves was to re-organize the firm’s distribution channels to be consistent

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with the strategic objective of establishing Samsung as a high-quality brand.
To start, many of the company’s products were pulled out of the low-price
discount chains and shifted distribution through big-box electronics stores
like Best Buy and online shopping through Amazon.
To ensure consistent marketing communications across all markets, they
also consolidated their roster of advertising agencies from 55 down to one
global advertising group (WPP), who launched the organization’s first brand-
building campaign. Using fashion-forward TV commercials, they created a
contemporary sense of style while also promoting the technical
sophistication of their products. WPP also made use of promotional tools
such as product placements, social media ads, sponsorships, earned media,
and online advertising to strengthen the brand.

What Were the Results of Samsung’s Strategic Marketing

Decisions?
The revamped competitive strategy and marketing programs that Samsung
designed and implemented have been a huge success. The global value of
Samsung’s brand increased by more than 200% from 2003 to 2008, and it
took over Sony as the most valuable consumer-electronics brand.

As a result, the unit sales grew to $119 billion by 2009, and with the advent
of the Samsung Galaxy, revenue has grown into a staggering $218 billion as
of 2018. According to the vision statement on its website, Samsung seeks to
achieve $400 billion in sales while placing Samsung Electronics’ overall
brand value among the global top 5 by the end of 2020. Additionally, it
seems they continue to lean into their strengths, as Samsung continues its
commitment to furthering innovations in technology and products. For
instance, the release of the Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Fold are two of the
latest examples of leading innovation coming out of Samsung.

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Brand Ambassador Strategy of Samsung
To promote their devices, Samsung has teamed up with celebrities. Through
this relationship, celebrities were able to promote their phones and other
businesses across a variety of social media platforms. Collaborations with A-
list celebrities can guarantee a rise in brand exposure due to their large fan
base.

They have worked with several well-known celebrities, including BTS,

Blackpink, Huma Qureshi, etc.

Digital Presence of Samsung

Samsung’s success in digital marketing can be attributed to its adept use of

social currency to achieve corporate results. Customers’ level of
engagement with a brand, as well as their readiness to share knowledge
with others, is characterized as social currency. By extending its social media
presence, Samsung has done its best to provide customers and brand
loyalists with the chance to share their Samsung experience with those in
their circle—friends and family members.
Brands like Samsung must speak to the interests and concerns of the many
segments of the population that their products target. This means they have
social profiles on all of the major social networks. Samsung has done a
commendable job on the same and is well-represented on all major social
media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Through
its specialized social media pages, Samsung has very attentive and
committed customer care teams available.
E-Advertising of Samsung
Facebook AD Campaign

Samsung spent $10 million on Facebook ads over a three-week period —

during Apple’s iPhone 5 launch — for its Galaxy S III release. The Korea-
based electronics giant turned that into $129 million in sales, entirely due to
Facebook.

According to a recent Facebook case study, Samsung USA’s Facebook ad

campaign reached 105 million people and drove a 10-point lift in awareness.
Facebook users who consumed Samsung’s content were 85 percent more
likely to buy the Galaxy S III.

The brand methodically built connections on its Facebook Page in

anticipation of the launch. During the launch, it leveraged those millions of
connections and Facebook’s social ads to quickly build broad awareness of
the new phone among the more than 588 million friends of Samsung Mobile
USA Page fans.

The second phase focused on using Facebook’s mobile consumer audience

targeting to drive brand consideration for consumers in the market for a
smartphone. Samsung knew that their fans were already supporters of the
brand, and most likely to buy a Samsung device the next time they shopping
for a smartphone.

Rather than targeting current their supporters, Samsung used the power of
social influence and Facebook’s premium advertising platform to feature
their brand support in the form of a third-party trusted recommendation.
They knew the audience they wanted to reach and strategically crafted their
entire campaign around them.

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Seven Inspiring Digital Marketing Strategies by Samsung

1. The Galaxy 11

Samsung signed up 13 of the world’s best footballers to create the ‘Galaxy

11’, a team tasked with protecting the world while also promoting the
brand’s new products.

Lionel Messi was revealed as the team’s captain in November 2013 after a
short teaser campaign called #WinnerTakesEarth that involved placing
cryptic messages and symbols at football games around the world.

The #Galaxy11 campaign was then kicked off with a video of Messi accepting
the captain’s armband from Franz Beckenbauer as aliens hovered overhead.

A dedicated minisite allows users to view the Samsung Galaxy equipment

that the team will use, watch videos of the players and join the team by
creating a shareable image of themselves in a spacesuit.

It’s a huge campaign that combines traditional and digital media, but there’s
an emphasis on creating short clips and images that people will want to
share on social.

The overall theme centres on the idea that football will save the planet,
though I don’t think the aliens will struggle against a team that includes
Landon Donovan, Victor Moses and a Chinese footballer called Wu Lei who
plays for the mighty Shanghai East Asia.

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 2. Useless bid
In 2012 Samsung launched a ‘Useless Bid’ campaign in India to promote its
new Samsung Tab2 310.

The portable 7-inch device was supposed to make people’s other devices
obsolete, so they could do away with their phone, camera, laptop and TV.

A YouTube ad and minisite described the features of the new Tab2 and
encouraged people to auction their other devices.

The minisite included a game that allowed people to bid low prices for the
useless products in order to stand a chance of winning a Tab2. Their bids
could then be shared via Facebook.

The theme of doing away with useless products is another clever idea from
Samsung and the incentive of winning a new tablet is certainly enough to
encourage people to take part.

3. Attacking Apple
Samsung has taken great pleasure in mocking Apple in recent years, with
several of its campaigns aimed at dispelling the weird fan culture that
surrounds its rival.

Back in 2010 Samsung sought to pinch some Apple customers through some
clever community outreach.

It identified several people who had complained about their iPhone on

Twitter and sent them a free, unlocked Samsung S as a replacement.

Though it was only targeted to a handful of users it was presumably aimed

at people who had a sizeable following and could act as brand ambassadors.

Overall, it seems like a cost-effective way of generating some extra social

buzz.

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 4. #OVERTOYOU

#OverToYou is another campaign that highlights Samsung’s use of social and

online communities to promote its new products.

Samsung gave Galaxy S4s to 12 prominent bloggers, sports people and

YouTubers so they could create content using the phone and share it with
their followers.

By using the S4 to come up with a creative, exciting video these 12 people

were demonstrating the potential of the new device. Obviously, the videos
were also shareable, thereby giving Samsung some additional exposure
outside of its normal marketing channels.

Samsung also ran a competition alongside the YouTube videos where people
could submit their own ideas for a promo video and choose the S4 device
that they would use to film it.

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 5. Incredible Art Piece

To promote its new Galaxy Note Pen Stylus feature Samsung launched an
attempt to break the world record for the most people contributing to a
single art piece.

The campaign, which was run by Samsung Mobile India, invited people to
contribute to the massive art project either through a minisite, a Facebook
app, or by drawing a picture offline and emailing it via Samsung.com.

Note II owners could also contribute using the S Note application on their
device.

Participants had to create a digital drawing on the theme of ‘Colours of

India’ which would then be added to the art installation. Weekly prizes were
given out for the best entry.

More than 300,000 people took part in the campaign, breaking the original
record of 201,958 by some margin. It was a great way of getting people
involved in a fun campaign that allowed them be show off their creative side
while also finding out more about Samsung’s products.

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 6. Digital Line

Another campaign teasing Apple fanboys, this time by creating a digital

queue in preparation for the launch of the Galaxy S4 in New Zealand.

Samsung’s own fans could join the queue online through their Facebook or
Twitter account 12 days before the phone was released and move up the
line by sharing details of the S4’s new features as they were unveiled each
day.

The more their friends retweeted, commented, ‘liked’ and shared the
content, the further they moved up the queue.

It’s basically highly-incentivised word-of-mouth marketing that also takes a

dig at the company’s greatest rival.

As a wonderful final flourish, the virtual queue was broadcast on big screens
outside a Samsung store in New Zealand, showing users’ avatars on the
heads of characters waiting in line. The virtual line-waiters even reacted to
the elements, hiding under sleeping bags at night and putting up umbrellas
when it rained.

Around 12,000 users took part in the campaign, sharing 85,000 stories to
more than 3m people, which ultimately achieved an organic reach of more
than 15m people.

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 7. Like It, Reveal It, Win It

This one’s from way back in 2011 and highlights the means by which brands
sought to boost their fan count in the early days of social.

Samsung hosted a weekly product giveaway on Facebook that incentivised

users to participate regularly and invite friends to join them.

To take part users had to first ‘like’ the Samsung Facebook page then reveal
parts of a hidden product image by recommending the contest to their
friends.

By unlocking a greater number of hidden pixels users stood a better chance

of winning the prize, which obviously encouraged people to send out the
competition to more of their friends.

Samsung increased its fan count by 12,000 during the first week of the
contest alone.

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Samsung Designs Globally and Adapts Locally for Worldwide
Success
Samsung ships millions of products every day to customers around the
world. With a worldwide customer base, Samsung does not subscribe to a
one size fits all philosophy. Its employees pride themselves on finding
inspiration from observing people’s lives and giving them options that meet
their varying cultural and regional needs.

At IFA 2013, Europe’s largest consumer electronics show, Samsung outlined

its strategy to becoming the number one home appliance brand by 2015,
highlighting its year-on-year 14% growth in digital appliances. One of the
secrets of this success is the extensive research that goes into understanding
how people approach and use technology. Distilling insights from this
research informs everything Samsung create. That is how it comes up with
products and services that make life at home a more comfortable and
happier place.

Samsung plays an active role in each region in which it operates and

understands that cultures can be subtly different. Whether its local
appetites, customs or preferences, Samsung believes that understanding
and meeting local needs is paramount to creating the best possible
experience. For this reason, localizing products is something that is crucial to
Samsung’s ability to realize its goals.

In the past year, Samsung has set up five Lifestyle Research Labs in San Jose,
London, Delhi, Singapore and Beijing to forecast future ways of living and
define opportunities for innovation. These labs look beyond product
behavior to discover people’s future needs and values – everything from
how the family is evolving to work, education and wider societal and cultural
trends.

From here five Product Innovation Teams gleam insights from this research
and assist Samsung’s product divisions to develop innovative product and

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solution concepts. Located at the same place as the Lifestyle Research Labs,
the Product Innovation Teams’ product concepts are 18–24 months ahead
of the present.

The development process begins with a two-to-four-month period whereby

Samsung goes into the field to conduct research to see the world from a
user’s point of view. From here, employees talk to the best thinkers and
designers in the world to generate, build and refine ideas that will deliver
the greatest innovation opportunity. Finally, the teams formulate a business
strategy and create the product concept.

Complementing these two divisions are six Design Centers in San Francisco,
London, Delhi, Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul, working to bring the research and
concepts to life with award-winning design excellence. This undertaking is
part of Samsung’s extensive research and development commitment that
saw a $10.8 billion investment in 2012 and encompasses over 60,000
employees. All in all, over one in four people at Samsung are dedicated to
product innovation.

Throughout the world, Samsung localizes its products to suit specific market
desires. The following are a few examples.

United States – French Door Refrigerator with Sparkling Water Dispenser

Observing the increasing demand for sparkling water in the United States,
Samsung introduced a refrigerator that dispenses carbonated water at the
touch of a button.

Bulgaria- Samsung Smart Oven MC32F

Yogurt is an important part of the local diet so Samsung developed an oven

able to produce the perfect homemade yogurt in seconds.

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Africa

SafeSurge TV – To protect against the region’s frequent power surges and

outages, Samsung created LED TVs with increased pressure resistant
capacity.

Free Satellite TV – Satellite tuners were installed directly into TVs to enable
viewers to watch free TV services in isolated regions with no cable access.

Duracool Refrigerators – These specially insulated refrigerators keep food

fresh for eight hours in the event of a power cut.

Turkey – Samsung Top Mounted Refrigerator RT55

The local taste for fresh vegetables led Samsung to reduce the size of
freezer compartments by 21% and made the fridges narrower to fit the
space better available in Turkish homes.

Middle East – Samsung DVM Desert

To handle the region’s scorching 40°C+ temperatures, Samsung built air-

conditioners with specially-developed compressors.

India- Samsung Twin Top Washing Machine

A range of washing machines have been fitted with wheels to ensure they
can be easily moved and connected to alternate power or water sources in
the event of outages. They are also fitted with a special basin to meet the
custom for hand-washing certain clothes before the full wash-cycle.

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China – Fu Yun Monitor, Ji Xiang Fa TV F4280, Ru Yi Hong TV F5080

The color red and the number 8 are considered lucky, so Samsung’s Chinese
product line includes PC monitors with red back-covers and LED TVs fitted
with 8-shaped stands. The character for luck “福” was also embossed on the
rear of monitors.

Korea – Samsung Kimchi Refrigerator M9000

Koreans have kimchi, a fermented vegetable delicacy, with almost every

meal, so Samsung developed a bespoke refrigerator that keeps the air-flow
and temperature just right for the perfect kimchi.

China and Korea | Q9000 Air Conditioner

With the growing desire for minimalist product design in evidence, Samsung
developed a sleek, ultra-slim standing air-conditioner perfect for design
conscious customers.

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Conclusion
Samsung is the most profitable tech company and one of the most valuable
brands in the world today. It has sparked in terms of creativity, and instead
of meeting societal requirements, they have begun to generate new ones.
With 150, 000 employees worldwide, it is one of the world’s largest
corporations. Samsung’s marketing strategy is an excellent example of how
to advance and improve as a marketer. The films from the campaigns can
also be shared, giving Samsung more visibility outside of its usual marketing
platforms. Samsung constantly seeks to discover the trends and desires that
drive consumer needs around the world.

With the help of this report, we can conclude that Samsung is global giant
who establishes fun and creative strategies to entice people around the
world to try their products.

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