Samsung Is Going Right For Apple Fanboys' Jugular With Its Latest Commercial
I got a good laugh out of this one. — Samsung is kicking off a new ad campaign this week, directly taking a swipe at Apple fanboys and the iPhone and promoting its flagship Galaxy S II line of Android phones.
Context & Ripple Effects
This campaign is the third beat in a fast-escalating sequence: Samsung first ambushed the iPhone 4S launch outside an Apple store in Sydney in October, then two weeks later Business Insider flagged that Samsung was blowing past Apple to become the biggest smartphone vendor by shipments. Now it is putting money behind a TV spot that mocks Apple fanboys directly and pushes the Galaxy S II line.
The timing matters on two fronts: the ads land in the middle of the holiday shopping window, just as Samsung and Google have confirmed the Galaxy Nexus will finally reach U.S. shelves in December after slipping past its promised November launch. Samsung is pairing its volume lead with a brand offensive aimed squarely at the loyalty that has kept iPhone buyers in Apple's camp.
First-order effects
- Samsung's Galaxy S II and the December-launching Galaxy Nexus get a holiday-season marketing push built on attacking iPhone owners rather than listing specs, putting the pitch in front of exactly the upgrade audience Apple counts on.
- Apple faces its first sustained comparative-advertising assault from the vendor that has just overtaken it in smartphone shipments, during the quarter when buyer loyalties are most contestable.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android handset makers and carriers get cover to run their own anti-iPhone messaging, since Samsung — the category's volume leader — has made attacking Apple socially acceptable rather than defensive.
- If the snark resonates, Apple is pushed to respond on marketing rather than product cadence, raising the stakes for how it frames the iPhone against a now-broad Galaxy lineup.
Third-order effects
- Smartphone competition shifts from spec sheets to identity — ads that flatter one tribe by mocking another — a structure that favors whichever vendor can sustain both volume and cultural confidence over multiple quarters.
The trend: Samsung is converting its new shipment lead over Apple into confrontational brand advertising, turning direct mockery of the iPhone into a recurring weapon of the smartphone wars.