Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Samsung accidentally promotes iPhone 5 when Facebook campaign backfires


In an age where companies spend a great deal of time engaging with customers using social media, things can and do go wrong from time to time. Case in point: Samsung (005930) recently took to Facebook to ask its followers a simple question — “If you could only take one electronic device on a deserted island, what would it be?” The image of the Galaxy S III next to the question is more than just a bit leading, but sadly it didn’t help steer responses as much as Samsung hoped it would.
Among the 50 most recent responses as of the time of this writing, we count 40 people who said their device of choice would be Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, and one who said he would take an iPad. Browsing through earlier responses yields much of the same.
Samsung also recently ran an advertisement attacking Apple’s new iPhone 5 that wasn’t well received. While the Galaxy S III offers a number of clear advantages over Apple’s latest iPhone, Samsung chose to highlight a number of unknown and sometimes trivial features including “Palm Touch Mute Pause” and “Shake To Update” in its print ad.