in the United States. In a series of meetings, the American executives
disagreed with the cautious, incremental approach of Samsung
headquarters, who continued to want to focus on the company’s other
competitors—HTC, Motorola, BlackBerry—first. The American marketers
wanted to move against Apple without Samsung headquarters’ permission.
“If it worked, we could say, ‘Oops, sorry, it worked,’ ” said one
marketer. Momentum was building for a sudden and swift marketing
counterattack.
Later on the day of the emails, Todd Pendleton responded to Michael
Pennington with his own email.
“Hey Michael, we are going to execute what you are recommending in
our holiday GSII campaign and go head to head with iPhone 4S,” he wrote.
Their plan?
“We will demystify the perceived Apple advantage (ecosystem/services)
by showing how consumers can easily switch to Android and have more
personalization/more choice by being part of the Samsung ecosystem. More
to come soon.”
The American marketing team wanted to take advantage of Jobs’s death
to charge into battle against Apple, head-to-head. One marketer said that
the team briefly held back to avoid looking petty, then charged forward.
Trucks carrying fresh apples started arriving at the Texas headquarters
of Samsung. Bushel baskets were placed in the elevator banks and break
rooms, so that wherever Samsung employees took a coffee break, they
were reminded of their mission—to take a bite out of Apple.
“We had one objective—beat Apple. I’m not kidding you. That’s it,”
Wallace said. “I really believe the guy who filled up the Coke machines at
Samsung had to demonstrate that he was supporting the beat-Apple
strategy. And it worked.”