Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Oscars Selfie and Samsung's Product Placement



Samsung did a great job during the Oscars of breaking through the confines of the commercial break. As we discussed earlier in class, only 19% of consumers actually watch commercials during TV breaks. Knowing this, Samsung combined product placement with numerous commercials, spending nearly $20 million during the Oscars to help viewers better remember their products.

In particular, the Oscar selfie that went viral was a huge plug for Samsung. Host Ellen DeGeneres used a Samsung Galaxy phone during the show to take a selfie with several A-list stars, which was later re-tweeted over 3 million times on Twitter. While the stunt appeared spontaneous, it wasn't entirely unplanned, as Samsung negotiated to have the Galaxy integrated into the show. It hasn't been confirmed whether the selfie with the Galaxy was planned, but in rehearsals Ellen did mention taking a selfie during the show, and she was trained to use the Galaxy. 

This kind of viral magic can't be achieved through commercials alone, and this is why product placement is such a powerful tool. This is huge exposure for Samsung's Galaxy, which has been competing with the Apple iPhone for some time. Here is an article about the selfie below:

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