Younghee Lee, Samsung's EVP of global marketing for the mobile communications business, isn't shy to admit that not long ago consumers thought of the company as “boring and monotonous” in a market dominated by companies like Apple who have achieved global stardom for their creative marketing campaigns. Yet things have changed. Samsung has come a long way since then bagging the Cannes Lions' Creative Marketer of the Year award in the process.
The shift in Samsung's marketing strategy has been evident for the past couple of years and it's paying dividends for the company. Just last year it won 27 advertising and marketing awards at the Cannes Lions and now works with creative powerhouses which include the likes of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Wieden + Kennedy. Lee recently sat down with Adweek to talk about the changes at Samsung which have helped the company beat its biggest rival at marketing.
Lee talks about Samsung's shift from a tech-driven engineering company to a consumer-centric lifestyle brand, pointing out that it's imperative for all of Samsung's great technology to be translated to consumer language, and that's where marketing comes in. Lee says that Samsung has done a lot of research to understand what its consumers want and need, and that's now at the core of its marketing efforts. Based on the company's research, the top words associated with Samsung are now “innovation,”technology,” and “dynamic.” Cultural changes at the company have also impacted its marketing, she pointed towards the launch of the Galaxy S7 where Samsung conducted a mass demonstration of its Gear VR headsets and even brought on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on stage to talk about his vision for VR with Samsung.
Samsung's marketing priorities going forward include getting the attention of millennials, it's already considered to be the most trustworthy company by millennials in the United States, and it will continue to focus on the story of how the smartphone is simply a gateway to a bigger world of experiences. Read Lee's full interview over at Adweek to find out more about how Samsung is working to become a truly global marketing behemoth.
