MANILA: Korea's largest electronics conglomerate Samsung will be
spending USdollars 2 million in a drive to gain a larger share of the
Philippines mobile phone handset market, currently dominated by Nokia
and Siemens.
The decision follows the appointment of local agency Caballero &
Associates to handle below-the-line marketing, and the unveiling of its
new MP3-playing models, the SGH-M100 and N-100.
FCB manages Samsung mobile phones' worldwide account, but in the
Philippines, marketing director Angeline Limbaco said the plan is to
concentrate FCB services on corporate branding. Limbaco said: "FCB will
continue with the corporate campaigns but we would rather use smaller
agencies for other advertising operations. They work faster."
Besides Caballero, the company is believed to be in talks with another
agency.
With its USdollars 2 million marketing budget, Samsung is looking to
push its brand to the top three. The Korean conglomerate has barely one
per cent of the market, while Nokia has 70 per cent. The remaining share
is divided among Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola and Panasonic.
Samsung Electronics marketing vice-president, Maeng Dal Bae, said the
company will introduce five mobile phone models this year in its drive
to build market share. Maeng is confident the two models will help the
company grab as much as 10 per cent of the local market.
There are seven million mobile phone subscribers in the country, making
it one of the biggest mobile phone markets in Southeast Asia.
In the global market, Samsung is third biggest vendor behind Nokia and
Siemens. For handsets equipped with CDMA technology, it claims to lead
with 26 per cent of the global share.
