Younghee Lee, Samsung's Chief Marketing Officer, stated in an interview at CES 2012 that he would like to find a way by which the company could "convince" users to love the Samsung brand in the same way that Apple fans love the Apple brand. In an attempt to become pleasant, the people from Samsung chose to throw mud at the iPhone, a strategy that will surely attract everyone's sympathy. If we add the fact that they shamelessly copied Apple products, then I think we have an excellent strategy to transform the Samsung brand into one that fans will be obsessed with, as Younghee Lee wants.
As head of marketing for the Korean electronics maker, Lee said she wants to figure out "how I can engage with consumers from the bottom of their heart, and not just be a big and functional and rational and reasonable brand." "Especially in the US, people are obsessed with Apple," Lee said, in a lengthy interview at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. "It's time to change people's attention." Lee, who worked for cosmetics brands L'Oreal and Lancome before joining Samsung four and a half years ago, said she wants consumers to love Samsung, to be obsessed with the company and its productsts.
I don't know the marketing strategy of those from Samsung, but the path they have taken now has brought them more antipathy than sympathy. Copying the design of other companies' products and throwing mud at the products of other companies is not a solution by which you can turn fans into fanboys. Apple ran similar campaigns against the Mac, but I don't see many people flocking to buy Macs in the same way they buy iDevices, and it's not just about the price because we're talking about products appreciated for their quality. From my point of view, Samsung can become a beloved brand, but not by copying other people's products.
