Samsung pumps dollars 2m into Philippines

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