Samsung's Ridiculous Tactic To Hide Apple Logos On iPhones At 2014 Winter Olympics
A blanket ban on Apple logos at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
By Sadho Ram — 06 Feb 2014, 01:38 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
According to reports, Samsung is giving athletes at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics a free Galaxy Note 3. But the 'gift' comes with a big-time quid pro quo.
Olympics sponsor Samsung is reportedly dropping Galaxy Note 3 smartphones in athletes' goodie-bags, though the gift comes with a catch: a supposed ban on any other device branding, iPhone or otherwise, during the opening ceremony.
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Olympians looking for a free Galaxy Note need to cover up their iPhones on TV.
Image via businessinsider.comSamsung's plan was outed by members of the Swiss Olympic team, who noticed the guidelines inserted into the athletes' gift bags
They were pleased to discover the Note 3 in among the other promotional kit sponsors have been offering, Bluewin reports, but the phone came with guidelines on what Samsung is said to be requiring in return for its financial support.
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The rule only appears to apply to athletes, rather than anybody else attending the opening ceremony.
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Under the headline "iPhone forbidden at Olympics opening ceremony," the image above is captioned, "If Beat Feuz had an iPhone and wanted to take photos of the Olympics opening ceremony, he'd have to cover the Apple logo."
iclarified.comThis isn’t something that is completely unusual for a company to do. It is simply a marketing ploy, used by many companies in all venues.
Go to a movie and see Coca-Cola everywhere with absolutely no reference to Pepsi, same goes for sporting events or concerts. The difference is, we don’t get free soda.
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Samsung even has a group of athletes that they have dubbed the “Galaxy Team,” who will be using their Note 3 to share their experience every step of the way
The Note 3 seems to be what Samsung is really pushing at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Since Samsung is an official Olympics sponsor, there is already the understanding that athletes are not allowed to advertise for anyone else.
businessinsider.com.au
The Olympics provide an unparalleled advertising opportunity, with television coverage spanning the globe. Though figures for 2014 are unknown, it is thought that Samsung spent at least $100 million to sponsor the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
appleinsider.comLast year alone, Samsung spent $14 billion on marketing, a figure that investors have targeted as extravagantly excessive
But even as the company works to reduce its marketing expenses, Samsung is struggling with expensive sponsorships where celebrities have put their free Galaxy back in the box to use iPhones.
iclarified.comAt the last Summer Olympics, Samsung signed an "exclusive agreement with David Beckham to be its global brand ambassador for the London 2012 Olympic Games," but Beckham was, embarrassingly for Samsung, just spotted using his iPhone 5s at the Super Bowl.
appleinsider.com
Samsung has regularly experienced difficulty in avoiding embarrassment after key sponsors continued using iOS devices, most notably via Twitter. In December, Samsung launched a "Galaxy 11" fantasy soccer team campaign that was intended to go viral, but instead went awry when star team manager Franz Beckenbauer tweeted out Samsung's prepared remarks from his iPhone.
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Now, whether Samsung will get its wish or if the public eye will be distracted from its role in the event remains to be seen. What do you think? Is it unreasonable for Samsung to ask that the Olympians hide the Apple logos from their iPhones?
