White Glove
IN RICHARDSON, TEXAS, TODD Pendleton was already plotting Samsung’s
new music strategy in a black-box operation called White Glove. Rising
star Jo Lovato, senior director for integrated brand marketing, was
appointed to head it.
The Samsung executives were frustrated at the omnipresence of
iPhones in the hands of celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, who appeared
with their iPhones for free, without being paid to sponsor Apple’s devices.
They seemed simply to get lost in their love affair with Apple devices. It
was incredible free word-of-mouth advertising, an unbeatable way of
forging a cultural movement.
White Glove was Samsung’s response. It was a form of guerrilla
warfare.
“We would give products to different people,” said one person on the
team. “It may be actors, it may be musicians, obviously a lot of NBA
players,” since Todd Pendleton had such a close relationship with the NBA.
Seeking to convert consumers into Galaxy users, the White Glove team
would show up at a gala party, an event of some sort, and help celebrities
transfer everything from their old device, usually an iPhone, to a Galaxy.
How did they do that? When a member of the team noticed a celebrity
complaining on Twitter about his iPhone, he’d get the White Glove. Need
an influencer with media access? White Glove her. Know of a filmmaker
or music producer who might use a Samsung phone on the film set or in the
recording studio? White Glove him.
Samsung executives in the White Glove program emphasized the
quality, build, and customizability of Samsung phones to hardworking,
high-pressure, and demanding VIPs. They suggested that it was a more