Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Green Robot Crushed Pacific Place

Picture 1. Queuing Line

Samsung Galaxy S2 was launched on 23 July 2011 in Pacific Place Mall, Jakarta. The cashier was opened at 8 AM, but customers had waited hours before. The queue line was closed at about 1:45 AM (about 6 hours before the cashier was opened) because the queue had reached 1,200 customers which was the quota for launching event (1).

Background
In Indonesia Samsung used to famous for it's TV products which are considered to have attractive value for money. It is common for a company from developing countries like South Korea to target price-sensitive consumers by offering similar product with cheaper price than its Japan or Western counterpart, not the high end segment.

Now Indonesian customers have different perception for Samsung. A recent research about "Most Searched Mobile Phone in Yahoo Indonesia" (as of June 2011) showed the result below (2):
  1. Apple iPhone
  2. Samsung Galaxy S2
  3. Nexian Champion
  4. Nexian Tap
  5. Nokia 6600
  6. Nexian Cappuccino
  7. Hape Esia Connect
  8. Nokia C5
  9. Nokia C3
  10. BlackBerry Onyx
Samsung product was on the list and even placed in no. 2. Moreover, Fabiant Kayatmo, Samsung's Product Marketing Senior Manager HHP Bussiness Department, claimed that based on May 2011 data (Indonesia), Samsung's market share in Android smartphone market was 78% and in tablet market was 60% (3).

Factors
The success of Samsung in Indonesia is caused by various factors, some of those are:

1. Shifting Mindset
Nowadays various mobile phones sold in Indonesia use Android as the Operating System (OS), such as phones from Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and HTC. The word "Android" or the the green robot logo is commonly used in each product's marketing materials. As those mobile phone companies push the product to Indonesian market through various distribution channels, marketing campaigns, and public relation efforts, Indonesian customers are aware that "Android OS is used by various companies". Furthermore, Android in Mobile Phones becomes like Windows in PCs. Hence, in choosing mobile phones, version of Android OS used and specification of the phone become as important as the mobile phone brand to be considered.

2. Korean Wave
Korean Wave is a term that indicates Korean Culture becomes a trend around the world, including in Indonesia. Some of the indicators are:
  • Local television networks are broadcasting Korean Drama. As an example, on 25 July 2011 Indosiar started broadcasting Korean Drama Dream High. On 15 July 2011 "Dream High" was trending and reached 8th in World Wide Twitter trending topics. It successfully gained attention in Indonesia and as more and more people tweeted about it, it ended up in the list (4).
  • Concert of Korean Artists in Indonesia. As an example, on 4 June 2011 the first KIMCHI (Korean Idols Music Concert Hosted in Indonesia) was held in Istora Senayan, Jakarta. The pre-sale ticket was scheduled on 17 April 2011 at 10 AM in Grand Indonesia, Jakarta, but people started to queue from 3 AM on the day, so by 8 am the lowest grade tickets allocated have been sold out (5).
Lee So Man (founder and CEO of SM Entertainment) explained 3 steps process of SM Artists to go global on 11 June 2011 in SM TOWN Writers and Publishers Conference, Paris (6):
  1. Exportation of cultural products, e.g.: BoA and TVXQ’s advancement into Japan.
  2. International collaborations, e.g.: The collaboration between KangTa and Taiwanese singer Vanness Wu.
  3. Globalization, there is a tag "made by", such as "made in Korea, and also "made by SM".
Now the strategy mentioned above has given some results: popularity and positive image of Korean culture. It is also build the image of Korean products, including Samsung products.

3. Samsung Marketing
As Korean Wave is surging around the world, including in Indonesia, local marketing efforts become global marketing campaign because people are watching what is happening in Korea, such as:
  • Samsung sponsored Korean drama and in exchange Samsung's products are used in the drama. Now, not only Korean, people in many countries also watched the drama as well.
  • Samsung used a Korean artist to endorse its product. As the fans in many countries searched and read news about the artist, they knew about the product as well.
Samsung exports its products to Indonesia, but it also produced some in Indonesia (not only for local consumption, but also for export to other countries as well). Its subsidiary in Indonesia managed its marketing campaign, but with Korean Wave, marketing campaign in Korea will also give impact to Indonesian customers.
Posted by Adhi at 11:44 AM
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