One of the reasons Samsung (005930) has all but crushed its rival Android vendors has been a series of first-rate advertisements backed up by its Death Star-sized marketing budget. Per The Wall Street Journal, new research from advertising research firm Kantar Media shows that Samsung spent $402 million in 2012 marketing its smartphones in the United States, topping even Apple (AAPL) with its similarly enormous $333 million U.S. marketing budget for the iPhone. No other smartphone company studied by Kantar even came close to matching Samsung and Apple last year: HTC (2498) spent $46 million, BlackBerry (BBRY) spent $39 million and Nokia (NOK) spent $13 million. And given that Apple and Samsung are currently the only two smartphone vendors turning a consistent and sizable profit at the moment, we shouldn’t expect that either company will ratchet down its advertising budget anytime soon.
Samsung’s smartphone marketing Death Star spent $402 million in U.S. last year
Published Mar 13th, 2013 9:15AM EDT
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Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
