Although the traditional narrative about Apple and Samsung is that Apple is the leader and Samsung is the fast follower, that’s just not always the case. For instance, Apple will likely release its first-ever phablet later this year more than two years after Samsung released the first Galaxy Note. And now Business Insider points out that Apple is taking cues from Samsung in another area: Marketing.
It seems that Apple has put up a job listing for a “buzz marketing manager” whose chief responsibility will be to create “constant and compelling exposure of Apple products with high-profile users, especially those in film and television.” If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is: Samsung this year has become notorious for staging high-profile publicity stunts involving celebrities taking selfies using Samsung phones. The most high-profile examples of this were Ellen DeGeneres’s celebrity-packed Oscar selfie and Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s selfie with President Obama at the White House.
This is particularly interesting because we know from the latest Apple-Samsung patent trial that Samsung’s “Next Big Thing” ads really got under Apple’s skin and led the company to completely rethink its marketing strategy. Now that Samsung has been generating buzz all year with its clever guerilla marketing tactics, it looks as though Apple is once again playing catchup in the realm of publicity.
