Marketing was the 'main reason' for Samsung success last year: here is the mind-boggling amount it spent
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But it is not just the devices - marketing has an equally important role in Samsung’s success as the company spent a mind-boggling $11 billion on marketing, nearly ten times more than it spent on R&D in 2012 (it was $1.06 billion for R&D).
All of that spending came despite the ‘thermonucleal’ legal war going on when Samsung knew it could suffer financially if Apple won.
“Samsung’s focus on marketing was the main reason the company was so successful last year,” an anonymous source inside Samsung said.
Moreover, this marketing warfare is not likely to stop as long as the Galaxy device continue selling well. “With its strategic Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note smartphones selling tens of millions, the company doesn’t care too much about allocating a gigantic marketing budget," the Samsung source added.
source: Korea Times
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Earlier estimates of Samsung marketing spending. |
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42 Comments
8. hung2900 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 08:52 1 0
11 billion in marketing but about a large amount of money is for discounting. I don't say it's intelligent, but it's smart.
And I have no idea where Phonearena found the infomation of "Samsung spent $1.06 billion for R&D in 2012"
http://www.dailytech.com/Samsung+to+Invest+42B+USD+in+2012++ Mostly+on+Chipmaking+OLED+TVs/ article23796.htm
16. AFnerdTP posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:52 1 0
maybe 1.06 only for Samsung Mobile.. wait nm.. your article says 6 in comparison to apple... so... wth...
26. WirelessCon posted on 06 Mar 2013, 12:44 1 0
Yeah, Phonearena just copies and pastes, they don't research, double check or vet their sources.
9. GALAXY-STORM posted on 06 Mar 2013, 08:55 5 1
Samsung is smart, clever and brutal when it comes to marketing their products.
3. _Bone_ posted on 06 Mar 2013, 07:59 3 1
Damn, that'd some serious dough. But being the main sponsor of the Olympics wasn't going to be cheap (not to mention the thousands and thousands of S3s handed out to all participants), but in the end, ironically, Apple's lawsuit generated the most attention and Samsung mentions. At the end of the day, 2012 in the news generated so much attention for Samsung that they could stay no1 without spending a dime on marketing this year, there's so much user and service provider demand, but they'll continue to advertise the crap out of their stuff which separates them from say HTC, a superb company with not so superb PR staff.
6. timtimity posted on 06 Mar 2013, 08:11 0 2
I guess the Olympics cost Samsung a lot, but I'm still surprised by the difference in amount spent. I occasionally see Samsung adverts on TV but I see a lot more Apple adverts. However, I see more print adverts for Samsung than Apple.
7. joey_sfb posted on 06 Mar 2013, 08:28 3 1
11 billions spent to market their Android smart phone, Google should be happy to have Samsung onboard. Google please do not bad mouth Samsung they have earned every cent from Android.
While the fruit brand is keeping every cent in it's own piggy bank. Enriching only a few top executives.
10. Hemlocke posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:00 3 2
It's all marketing hype." Now where have I heard that used...
They outspent Apple in marketing by ~ 5 times, and they spent less on R&D for their smartphones.
14. joey_sfb posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:38 0 0
That's what partners is for, the low level OS functionilty is done by Google, and so far i am impress. Android is getting more and more powerful while stable. Compare to earlier build like 1.5, 1.6 Android don't even have bluetooth file transfer while my symbian has it. Not impress.
i never own Android device till Android 2.2/2.3. Might be a blessing.
35. ph00ny posted on 06 Mar 2013, 18:59 1 0
I highly doubt the R&D figure listed above. iirc, samsung is up there with drug manufacturers in terms of r&d spending
11. GALAXY-STORM posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:01 2 1
Phonearena can you please tell us how much you own from samsung ads...plz. You should be pretty rich by now :/s
12. pwnarena posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:04 5 1
not purely marketing. they also created good products despite the arguably ugly designs. i prefer sony or htc but i can't deny that samsung introduced good flagships after they attracted attention for being iphone copycats.
13. LionStone posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:11 2 1
“Samsung’s focus on marketing was the main reason the company was so successful last year,” an anonymous source inside Samsung said.
Yes, we knew that.
15. BadAssAbe posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:42 4 2
You can tell me all you want how much your Poop don't stink but there is no way i'm gonna take a sniff.
Marketing Helps but only if you have something worth Marketing.
I'm Gonna assume Samsung Success was mostly based on its
Good Design, Thin, Lightweight,
High Specs
Great Exnos processors
AMOLED Screens
31. beefalo posted on 06 Mar 2013, 17:35 0 0
Mostly agree with you, although most normal consumers don't care about specs or the processor. I think Samsung did a good job getting carriers to push their S3 as it has a nice large screen, very thin and light, expandable storage, and thin bezels(keeps the phone relatively compact compared to say if apple had a 4.8" phone).
I disagree on the AMOLED screen part though, they do not perform as well in sunlight, and although consumers don't know about pentile, they should be able to see that it isn't as crisp as other screens.
17. jroc74 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 09:59 1 0
Wow...now I feel like an Apple fan...
It wasnt ...just...marketing. They had good phones. Nice specs, features, a nice overall experience. They try to cover all the bases as far as specs and features too. And they went after the low end and mid range crowd with decent phones.
18. jan25 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 10:05 1 0
No, memory expansion and removable batteries are the secret of its success /sarcasm
19. Stuntman posted on 06 Mar 2013, 10:08 2 0
It also helps to have a great product. I'm very impressed with the SGS3.
I always thought that Apple's success was due to marketing. For years, I have felt really bombarded Apple ads.
20. b1acktiger posted on 06 Mar 2013, 10:21 0 0
No wonder ! I can see "Samsung" everywhere. TV, Billboards,Internet..i dont know where ever they put their advt.
21. Aeires (unregistered) posted on 06 Mar 2013, 10:37 0 0
Gotta love those Superbowl rates!
/j
37. joey_sfb posted on 06 Mar 2013, 21:15 0 0
Advertising industries should love Samsung!! I am happy the dough could be spread out more evenly putting more food on the table for more individual vs hogging to all those money that benefit no one!!
22. XPERIA-KNIGHT posted on 06 Mar 2013, 10:46 4 1
We're slowly turning into "samsungphone arena" ......beware fans of other companies
23. ngo2dd posted on 06 Mar 2013, 11:59 1 0
For all the people who say it is not just marketing and Samsung made a great better then the rest. The US phone where their best selling model. The most ofbthe S2 model were using the same tech as everyone else. The processors was the snapdragon S3. The S3 was using the S4. People were in fact not buying it for the 'great' headware. If marketing not important then why would they spend 12 billion. Great hardware is only important to the small minority on this tech site and other.
24. Taters posted on 06 Mar 2013, 12:19 2 0
Heh heh I can see the typical butthurt haters are here.
Anyways, 11 billion is a lot. They should just use that on R&D and make the GS4 100 times better than the HTC One instead of the 20 times better it will be.
27. techspace posted on 06 Mar 2013, 13:01 1 0
now they spend more than any other company in the world on research and development.........if they spend 11 billion only to make an s4, then even if it becomes the most popular smartphone in the world, they wouldn't earn much from it, because many people wouldn't buy it without marketing and also because when they sell millions of phones and earn 11 billion, the actual profit will be $0......they spend billions on r and d but its not spent only for the s4, they have many other products
39. ngo2dd posted on 06 Mar 2013, 23:34 0 1
No you are just a blind fanboy. I been n say a large reason why Samsung doing so well was their market and you said I had no proof. Here is it. 11 billion. No other company beside apple have this kind of money.
25. lallolu posted on 06 Mar 2013, 12:40 2 0
It's not just marketing, they have a good product whether people like it or not
28. techspace posted on 06 Mar 2013, 13:02 0 1
but marketing is very important, especially in countries like usa where iphones are very popular......having a good product+good pricing+ excellent marketing is what you need
29. aahmed215 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 13:16 2 0
Are these figures for marketing for Samsung as a whole or just their S3?
30. beefalo posted on 06 Mar 2013, 17:32 0 0
I've seen so many Samsung phone commercials at major television events so this definitely makes sense. However, I guess I am a little surprised they work. I haven't found Samsung's ads as a motivator for me to look at Samsung phones...but maybe thats just me....
32. CivicSi89 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 17:52 0 0
You cant go ANYWHERE in Chicago without seeing Samsung stuff lit up or stickered on something. haha. Downtown is full of TecTiles. The El has it all over (Specifically the Clark/Lake Blue Line Station) and so many billboards and whatnot. It doesn't surprise me. Its becoming that outside of Wrigleyville you see more Samsung Ads than Beer Ads! haha!
33. akki20892 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 17:52 0 0
samsung are solid right now but think that only internal hardware are good not phone's body and material.......!!!
34. CivicSi89 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 17:59 1 0
why do you say that? Because its made of plastic? NEWS FLASH! Plastic doesnt break. I cant count how many Times ive dropped my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and nothing has happened to it. But when i dropped that iPhone 4S i used to have. It broke. The front and the back. So Premium Materials or not. Id rather have the plastic. Its far more durable than other so called "Premium Materials"
38. akki20892 posted on 06 Mar 2013, 21:28 0 0
you are right, i'm not saying about iphone or htc, but samsung make good not like a premium like nokia do..........but do you know nokia n8 is a aluminium premium and it's a though, i'm using right now......!!!
36. Taters posted on 06 Mar 2013, 19:33 1 0
People also keep in mind the context here. 12 billion in marketing for Samsung mobile vs. 12 billion in marketing for Samsung corp are two entirely different things. 12 billion for just the mobile division is overkill in my opinion but for Samsung as a whole it is more reasonable.
40. ngo2dd posted on 06 Mar 2013, 23:37 0 1
This is Samsung electronics, you troll. That is a lot of money. They had two super bowl ads. That alone is 500 millions dollars of air time.
41. rustyimtiaz posted on 07 Mar 2013, 01:08 1 0
thats why HTC failed due to weak marketing!!! They should learn from samsung in terms of marketing!! and samsung should learn from HTC too in terms of designing devices!! All devices (2012-2013 FEB) from Samsung Galaxy Duos to Note 8.0 has the freaking same design!!!!
42. Frapple posted on 07 Mar 2013, 02:16 0 0
what about giving bags of monies to mobile phones retailers and asking them to remove competitors products? is that a new marketing strategy too?
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