Bashing iPhone Users Only Makes Sense In One Scenario
Samsung this week seems to have resumed their old practice of poking fun of iPhone users. They had retreated from that somewhat over the past two years but now with a new CEO at the helm it seems that their old favorite subject is back in vogue.
But I could never understand the marketing strategy behind ostracizing potential buyers. I’m not in marketing but I’ve been in the business world for over twenty years and I’m familiar with rule number one. You can poke fun of products but not at potential customers. Even when Apple made fun of Microsoft they were always careful to leave PC users out of it.
So is Samsung trying to woo iPhone users…by ridiculing them? It seems that this would only anger iPhone users to the point that even if they did ever decide to go Android, that they’d pick any Android phone other than Samsung. In politics, candidates always attack their opponent but never the voters. Why? Because attacking your opponents voters is the best way to ensure that you won’t steal any of their votes.
Is Samsung trying to steal buyers of the Google Pixel, Essential phone, or OnePlus etc? Unlikely. These users don’t need to be convinced that the iPhone is a poor alternative. Plus, deep down, Samsung does realize that if you want to to get people to come over, you don’t make fun of them. And they are having success at getting other Android users to switch to Samsung.
I may not be a marketing maven but I am a thinker. And this is what Samsung’s ad blitz says to me.
iPhone users are famously loyal to Apple. Once you’ve experienced a cohesive system where your laptop, tablet, phone, watch, and headphones all work together like one symbiotic organism, you’re not tempted to leave. Even Samsung isn’t stupid enough to think that making fun of potential buyers is a good move. The reason that they do it is because they know that they’re not risking much. They’re were going to get relatively few iPhone switchers anyway.
So why do they do it? I’ve game planned all the financial outcomes and there’s only one that seems to make any sense. Samsung is losing customers to Apple. They tried a two year détente in an effort to pull in some Apple switchers and it didn’t work too well. Sure, Samsung Semiconductor and the component business is happy, but not Samsung’s mobile phone division, the group behind the ad blitz.
Samsung is ridiculing the iPhone customers in an effort to prevent more of their current customers from becoming one of them. Since they’re not getting many iPhone switchers they don’t really stand to lose much. The true intent for these iPhone bashing commercials isn’t to gain iPhone switchers, it’s to stop the Samsung defectors. This is the only scenario that makes sense.
Now available in iBooks —> The Tesla Bubble
So is Samsung trying to woo iPhone users…by ridiculing them? It seems that this would only anger iPhone users to the point that even if they did ever decide to go Android, that they’d pick any Android phone other than Samsung. In politics, candidates always attack their opponent but never the voters. Why? Because attacking your opponents voters is the best way to ensure that you won’t steal any of their votes.
Is Samsung trying to steal buyers of the Google Pixel, Essential phone, or OnePlus etc? Unlikely. These users don’t need to be convinced that the iPhone is a poor alternative. Plus, deep down, Samsung does realize that if you want to to get people to come over, you don’t make fun of them. And they are having success at getting other Android users to switch to Samsung.
I may not be a marketing maven but I am a thinker. And this is what Samsung’s ad blitz says to me.
- They’ve given up on getting iPhone buyers.
- Samsung is losing customers to Apple.
iPhone users are famously loyal to Apple. Once you’ve experienced a cohesive system where your laptop, tablet, phone, watch, and headphones all work together like one symbiotic organism, you’re not tempted to leave. Even Samsung isn’t stupid enough to think that making fun of potential buyers is a good move. The reason that they do it is because they know that they’re not risking much. They’re were going to get relatively few iPhone switchers anyway.
So why do they do it? I’ve game planned all the financial outcomes and there’s only one that seems to make any sense. Samsung is losing customers to Apple. They tried a two year détente in an effort to pull in some Apple switchers and it didn’t work too well. Sure, Samsung Semiconductor and the component business is happy, but not Samsung’s mobile phone division, the group behind the ad blitz.
Samsung is ridiculing the iPhone customers in an effort to prevent more of their current customers from becoming one of them. Since they’re not getting many iPhone switchers they don’t really stand to lose much. The true intent for these iPhone bashing commercials isn’t to gain iPhone switchers, it’s to stop the Samsung defectors. This is the only scenario that makes sense.
Now available in iBooks —> The Tesla Bubble
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