Samsung Brand Image

Brand positioning According to BusinessWeek and Interbrand in the past five years no brand has dominated their top 100 ranking of global brands the way Samsung has. In terms of brand value globally Samsung has consistently excelled rising in value by 186%, to $14.9 billion. This supports the strategy of focus on a single master brand and using the master brand to maximise consumer reach and recognition in a world cluttered by media fragmentation. Samsung’s image is enhanced by having a simple, integrated and cohesive identity consistent in every product, every part of the global market, and every contact with consumers (www.letsgodigital.org) .As a brand on the Interbrand ranking Samsung was only exceeded in growth in 2005 by eBay, and it triumphed over its rival Sony. (www.businessweeek.com,2012 ) According to Mr B. W. Lee, President and CEO, Samsung Middle East and Africa Samsung’s ranking as 19th in the Top 100 Global brands bears witness to the superiority of Samsung’s technology and the emphasis it places on creating a fascinating brand experiences and he believes this has been crucial to the improvement of the brand’s image in consumers’ eyes (www.letsgodigital.org , 2012) . Samsung’s position as a brand in terms of value, innovation and sales is summarised in the figure below .

Brand Value

Most Innovative Company

19th

11th Sales in 2010 KRW154.6trillion

Most Admired Company

Eco-friendly Management

39th

7th

Source (www.samsung.com , 2012)

Interbrand’s honcho of Brand Valuation Jan Lindemann observes that Samsung is perceived as one of the premium brands in different markets. An example is in mobile phones where the company moved from middle of the range products to focus on the premium high-end phones which are high in quality desirability and cost. This premium brand image is reinforced by the fact that Samsung now sells its products via more specialised and reputable stores like Game and Best Buy in America and not economy and budget based stores like Wal-Mart. (www.brandchannel.com, 2012) According Nielsen AG’s Social Media Brand Equity Ranking (SMBER) findings Samsung’s Mobile Phone division is best of the top 20 super brands in terms of inspiring positive consumer affection and effectively generating hype on social network platforms. This means that Samsung has the highest volume of positive of public sentiment and positive brand image based on consumer’s perception of its mobile phones design, performance and desirability this perception is reflected by comments on forums and consumer and expert reviews of Samsung products. On the Google Android platform Samsung is top-of-mind and first choice possessing 36% of the “buzz share” in discussions and it has the biggest fan following on social media (www.nielsen.com ,2012). The value of a brand and its image represent the mindshare or position the brand occupies in the mind of the consumer. To increase global mindshare, the Samsung brand must percolate in consumers’ minds and lifestyle and it must be pervasive to the cultural borders and differences in the global village. (www.samsung.com,2012) Samsung’ s ranking in terms of buzz share

rank

brand

1

Samsung mobile phones

2

Ford India

3

Maruti Suzuki

4

Nike

5

Flipkart

Source: (www.nielsen.com ,2012)

Yan states that the poor perception of South Korea Samsung’s country of origin has failed to diminish consumer’s positive image of the Samsung and it has a negligible effect on their intention to repurchase Samsung products (Yan, 2008).

Brand prestige and positioning based on Premium Quality and product Innovation –the TV market In the 3D and HD (High definition) television markets Samsung retains a virtual hegemony as having broken the ground in launching this new technology in 2010. Samsung’s line of TVs earned brand repute and prestige as having the crispiest and most detailed TV quality by consumer watchdog reports. Samsung leverages its brand prestige between product lines to dominate new markets this is exemplified by the way it used its reputation as the maker of world class Plasma TVs to enter the Smartphone market . Consumers almost instantly recognise the Samsung flagship brand and associate it with the perceived excellence of their past experiences with Samsung products.

In 2003 a small oligopoly of dominated the mobile phones market and Samsung was ranked 3rd in this market based on market share .Nokia and Motorola had 35% and 14.7% of the market share respectively. but due to its improvement in quality and the growth of the brand name Samsung mobile has more than doubled its volume of units sold and it has significantly improved its market share to 17,8%. Even though it has improved its standing and brand image against Nokia , Samsung ( currently number 2 ) now faces the challenge of another premium quality brand in the form of Apple’s iPhone .apple is reported by Bloomberg to be the top seller of smartphones in 2011 but it falls shy of Samsung to become the 3rd largest seller of mobile phones. (www.bloomberg.com,2012)

Sales are in thousands of units company

(2003) Sales

Nokia Motorola Samsung Siemens

39 479.20 16 561.10 11 878.90 8 584.60

(2003) Market share 35% 14.7% 10.5% 7%

Source (www.gartner.com , 2012)

References www.bloomberg.com,(2012)

(2011) Sales

(2011 ) Market share

19 500 34000 -

23.9% n/a 17.8 % -

www.brandchannel.com (2012) www.samsung.com (2012) www.gartner.com (2012)