Samsung Electronics is tired of being dissed on American shores.
In its native South Korea, and in huge swaths of Asia and Europe, its brand stands for quality, leading-edge technology, all that nice stuff. But in the US, Samsung has been fighting an uphill battle to be firmly ensconced on the A-list.
Interestingly, its competitors show the proper respect: About a quarter of Samsung's roughly US$15 billion sales in North America are to companies like Hewlett-Packard, which include Samsung components in their own products. But it has had a rough time in getting Harvey's Electronics, Best Buy and other retailers to steer customers toward Samsung cellphones, televisions and such.
"For more than three years, we've been trying to break through the clutter of competition," said Peter Weedfald, a senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America. "The salesmen in the stores are using Motorola and Nokia cellphones themselves, so how can we get them to push Samsung?"
Samsung's ad slogan -- Samsung DigitAll: Everyone's Invited -- didn't do the trick. Nor, apparently, did its pavilion at the Athens Olympics, nor the many charity fund-raisers that it has sponsored in cooperation with sports figures like Joe Torre, Magic Johnson and Arnold Palmer, and with retailers like Circuit City, CompUSA and Sears.
So now Samsung is trying something a lot splashier. On Thursday it will formally unveil "The Samsung Experience," an interactive funhouse of virtual reality experiences, product displays, video clips and other techie things, all featuring Samsung cellphones, flat-panel televisions, laptops and other products.
"We've tried to create a range of experiences, each of which ties the Samsung brand and technology to the experiences of everyday life," said Eduardo Braniff, creative director for content at Imagination USA, the production house that created the center.
Marketing experts say Samsung needs such an avant-garde approach to reach a high-end customer.
"Samsung was traditionally known as a `price' brand, and traditional media aren't sufficient to change that," said Clive Chajet, chairman of the New York image management firm Chajet Consultancy. "But people are hungering to learn about electronic products, and a flagship showcase that generates information can enormously enhance the Samsung brand."
Samsung's choice of location is clearly aimed at the affluent set. The Samsung Experience is on the third floor of the Time Warner Center, the much-ballyhooed vertical mall on Columbus Circle in Manhattan that is also home to the city's biggest Whole Foods store and some of its most expensive restaurants.
"We see New York, and this center, as a window to the entire United States market," said Paul Kim, senior marketing manager for Samsung Electronics America.
Samsung is not trusting folks to drop in by chance. A big electronic banner trumpets the gallery's existence to anyone entering the mall's street-level lobby. And third-floor visitors cannot miss what Samsung calls its orientation table, where an interactive map of New York offers whimsical touches -- a zebra represents the Bronx Zoo, for example. Touching an apartment building on the map starts a video clip about a couple using a Samsung device to electronically turn down lights, close windows and activate the Samsung home theater during a dinner-and-movie party. Each video clip has a related screen explaining the featured products.
Shoppers wooed inside the gallery will be treated to a potpourri of technology experiences. Rotating panels will surround visitors with a virtual speakeasy, in which waitresses carry trays of Samsung phones instead of drinks. A stylized living room has a Samsung home theater, a playroom has video games, an office has computers and phones. People can snap pictures with Samsung cameras and e-mail them to friends, or download special rings onto Samsung phones. The outside doors and inside walls will feature moving graphics of flowers proliferating. "It shows off motion technology, but it's also a breather, a soothing element of nature in a really high-tech environment," Braniff said.
Samsung will also hold product-related tutorials in the gallery. It will let retailers hold meetings and view products in the space. And it will have well-trained employees around to explain how each product is used.
"We've created a place where machines are subservient to people, not the other way around," Weedfald said. "It's an opportunity to educate, not to sell."
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