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There’s a pretty good chance that quite a few of you aren’t big football fans, and even the ones who are probably didn’t pay attention to any of the ads. That’s fine, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss the mega spot from one of the biggest players in the game. Samsung teased that it would be showing an ad during the big game, and while we weren’t expecting anything to be announced — it’s saving that noise for later in the month — we were still interested to know what they’d be doing.
Welp, the ad has aired and is sitting on the company’s YouTube channel right now. It’s a full two-minute spot, and Samsung had it aired right at the final two-minute warning mark of Super Bowl 47. Think about this for just a second — on average, the most expensive 30 second spots during the Super Bowl for the past three years have been $3-4 million. Take that figure, multiply it by four, and inflate it a little bit for having it aired during the two-minute warning in the 4th quarter (said to be the last premium ad spot before the end of the game): that’s a whole lot of change.
We won’t know how much it cost Samsung, exactly, but it wasn’t cheap. The company’s notable use of Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd were tipped off in the teaser, but Samsung also got Lebron James back to make a pretty decent cameo for the full barrage of advertising goodness.
The trio was used to promote the latest devices in Samsung’s line, including the Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. It didn’t have the hilarity of the Doritos ads or the shock factor of the GoDaddy girl slobbering all over a “typical” fat nerd, but it wasn’t a bad jig at all. Hit the play button above to see for yourself.
[Update]: According to HLN and Forbes, Samsung’s two-minute spot at the two-minute warning cost $15.2 million, and that was for the spot alone. Factor in the amount of money the company paid for the services of Seth Rogen, Lebron James, Paul Rudd and Bob Odenkirk, and we’d say the OEM is pretty serious about reminding people that its Galaxy brand is the “in” thing when it comes to mobile.
The ad seemed pointless. I was disappointed
Well it seems that the point of the ad was to gain awareness for the overall Samsung brand, rather than any specific products.
money wasted by Samsung if that was the sole reason. you’re hard pressed not to find something with Samsung’s band on it in most homes.
any stats to back that up? Didn’t think so. Brand awareness is HUGE these days, especially as Apple is struggling to stay relevant. Samsung needs to keep that fire stoked and wain people away from other brands they really have in their homes, and not just your tiny world notion of what’s reality.
Nothing wrong with spreading brand awareness, building brand equity is crucial for success.
which is why it worked all the better. you already have Samsung everywhere, you know it’s a good product, and now they’re advertising the next big thing? You won’t even realize you’re already thinking of their next products as the next big thing, but you are.
more like the opposite actually.
Any more pointless than any of the other commercials which are focused on selling their brand during the superbowl? Didn’t think so. They went a tactful and playful route of promoting their brand without having to talk specifics or use dated vfx references of robots. The message was well-received.
Agree.
The teaser was way better. They should have aired that.
I liked both and I think they should’ve aired both.
if you didn’t know about Samsung Galaxy brand ,I bet you know now !!
Haters i liked the ad thought it was funny one of the few i saw i dvr the game started watching hr 30 min behind so i didn’t have to watch half time or ads makes the game way better
for a normal game, you have to DVR to halftime to be able to skip all the commercials and halftime, this game had an additional 30 minute blackout, I doubt you got halfway through the 2nd quarter before you were caught up with the game clock real time.
I cought up right after half saw the 2nd half live
I think Samsung does everything right here. The first Android OEM, who gets it – it’s all about marketing. No one gives a damn about how many cores you’ll get, or what’s the pixel-per-square-inch count of your phone. It’s all about the brand presence and brainwashing, catchy names and dumbed-down ads. I expect Apple will sue them over that, eventually.
This is not the first Android OEM that “gets it”. Samsung is a very large company that has their hands in a lot of things that can afford to spend a lot of money on advertising to compete with the likes of Apple. That’s all this is…a company that has a lot of money to spend on marketing. Smaller companies, such as HTC, cannot possibly do that. This is probably the ONLY Android OEM that can do this. It’s not that they “get it”. It’s that they have the money to do it. Do you think HTC would have loved to have a commercial spot at the Super Bowl? LOL
Let’s face it. HTC has much more premium hardware than Samsung. However Samsung is a marketing monster with gobs of money. If you truly compared phone quality to phone quality, the HTC One X, iPhone 4-5, Nexus 4, etc. are all much more premium handsets as far as quality is concerned. I would never buy a shiny plastic Samsung phone (at least not for how much these phones cost).
This is nothing against you. But I’m not going to give Samsung credit for having a lot of money for advertising. All companies who have a lot of money know how important advertising is and market as such. Believe me. If other companies had the money, you’d be seeing the same advertising.
Nothing personal, but…
Plz don’t use HTC as an example. The company’s always been a niche player and never targeted mass market. They should be eternally grateful to Android for pulling them out from that WM6 hole they dug for themselves in mid ’10ths (exactly what Nokia is doing at this very moment). Yet, the quality of their handsets is not exemplar. And the company marketing always targets WRONG AUDIENCE. So from their behavior, and from the word of quite a few analysts – HTC LIKES playing in the niche. With today’s cheap money it is not a challenge to launch a successful marketing company, but it has to be targeted right and not tailored to the nerds, who ejaculate while watching something that reminds them of 8-bit graphics. I am a tech nerd myself, I had a WM6 HTC and switched to HTC G1 when Android was launched, but I’m telling you – HTC always takes wrong directions. Being an enthusiast, and running a successful business are two different things. So I attribute Samsung’s success to having good business practice and strategy, rather possessing a sh!tload of money.
Then don’t use HTC. Use anyone you want. Sony? Doesn’t have as much money as Samsung. LG? Samsung is way larger (although LG does run some Optimus G commercials, they aren’t going to run a $15M Super Bowl slot as they can’t afford to). Motorola? We all know their financial situation. Name an OEM that has anywhere near the amount of money as Samsung. I won’t wait for the answer because there isn’t an Android OEM that exists that has nearly as much money as Samsung. Samsung can do these Apple-esque things because it has a lot of money…period. Smaller companies cannot do what Samsung does. Smaller companies cannot do what Apple does. Again, I’m not going to give Samsung credit for making obvious marketing choices with all the money they have especially when I believe their product lacks polish and class. That’s just my opinion. HTC was just an example and wasn’t the point of my reply.
Blackberry had a superbowl ad.
I don’t know about you, but where I come from, quality hardware is what is inside the phone not the outside.
For a $600-$700 device, it shouldn’t be made of cheap shiny plastic. Some of us tech people appreciate external hardware much like we also like cars. Do people buy more expensive cars for just what’s on the inside? I think if you think about it, you’ll see you’re view is in the minority.
If I’m in the minority then why is it that the SGS3 is more popular than HTC or Nexus 4??? Most people care about the technology and what the phone actually does for them. But if you like external hardware then you might want to check out Ulysse Nardin’s diamond encrusted phones. :)
You’re thinking only Android. There are a ton of iPhone owners that would disagree with you along with HTC phone owners, Nexus phone owners, Nokia phone owners, etc. You’re still in the minority. The GS3’s popularity is due to the marketing capabilities of a large company like Samsung. But ask an iPhone owner to pick up a GS3 and they will think the phone feels cheap. I am an Android fan but think the GS3 also feels ridiculously cheap. It ruins the experience for me. Pick up your friend’s iPhone 5 and honestly tell me that your “hardware” is better. It’s not. It’s not an opinion. It’s fact.
What about the long lines that Samsung made fun of? From Apple sheep to Samsung sheep?
Loved the commercial
$15 Mil was the price for that ad.
Way to start off your article insulting your readers Phandroid…Just give us the story without making assumptions.
He just called u a nerd that doesn’t have one athletic bone in your body
haha…Why would anyone who likes sports also follow an entry level tech blog?
I like sports.
I like sports and I don’t care who knows!
But seriously, Go Hawks!
I agree…that statement clearly stereotypes a ‘techie’ as the traditional nerd who wouldn’t be interested in football. Perhaps a gathering of Phandroid writers would look a lot like the Lamda Lamda Lamda house!
The Omega Moos are pretty hawt, though
First of all, How did I insult anyone? Based on posts about Super Bowl ads we’ve made in the past, there’s reason to believe that a lot our readers don’t watch football. I couldn’t give you an exact number, of course, but if you took that as an insult then I’d hate to converse with you on a day-to-day basis.
No, a lot of your commenters, not necessarily a lot of your readers. There a difference, and you can’t necessarily extrapolate your reader base from your commenter base.
I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the big deal here.
I wouldn’t expect the responsible party to understand…that’s why you wrote it. My comment was for the editor. if you have a boss, that’s who I’m talking to when I refer to ‘Phandroid.’ We all see your name…but keep those thinly veiled insults coming Kennemer…lol
“There’s a pretty good chance that quite a few of you aren’t big football fans.” This statement doesn’t pass anything off as fact. The words “chance” and “quite a few” don’t necessarily scream “there’s no doubt” or “all.” Seriously, what gives? Where did I insult ANYONE?
Good defense: point out how scarce facts are in your article. Using the word “Probably” or generalities like “a ton” in your title don’t necessarily scream credibility. :)
If Samsung were willing to share details about how much money it spent to advertise, believe me — we’d give you those numbers.
And knowing how much Super Bowl ads cost on average, it’s easy to assume that Samsung “probably” spent “a ton” of money on the ad spot compared to your typical spots. What point are you really trying to make?
Of course I had to resort to syntax to defend my stance: I barely understand why I’m being attacked in the first place.
You need help. Seriously! What are you offended by? Sticks & stones may break bones, but no names where used here, so why are you so riled up. People like you probably get offended by a wet floor sign cause it interferes with your freedom to go where you want. Re-read your posts. They’re like way over the line. You didn’t like the article…great say it once and feel free to move on.
I think you’re missing the point. No one is offended. It is a comment on the poor witing quality. Be honest, how many times a week do people comment on the spelling and grammer of these articles? It’s like there is no editor at all.
^This^
The first post in this needlessly long comment thread was this:
“Way to start off your article insulting your readers Phandroid…Just give us the story without making assumptions.”
So it clearly IS about someone being offended. But whatever, I’m pretty much done here. I’m sorry if I’ve somehow offended anyone, and I’m sorry if the need to defend myself, as well as the conduct in which I do it, is seen as unprofessional or immature. I am electing to move on.
Don’t sweat it. Some people just have sticks up their asses.
grammar*
If you are insulted by the beginning of the article you should first be aware that not everything is directly written about you. Second… how the hell is, some of you might not be football fans, insulting?
Wow, nerds are defensive about not liking sports. You can get them real riled up when you write the article on the Samsung contraception app.
Um, just where exactly did they insult anyone???
it was an ok ad. I’m not sure if it worked out this way in other people’s houses that had a large group, but this was one of two ads that everyone in the room got quiet for and watched. it was odd actually.
so they didn’t try to sell anything, they didn’t try to knock Apple’s products (not directly at least), what they did was show Samsung products quite liberally and kept saying ‘the next big thing’. It was quite a bit of mind play.
People may not realize they are waiting, but they’ll be watching when Samsung release their next device, and they won’t even realize they are doing it when they see it as the next big thing.
It would have taken an entire 5 minutes of research to see how much Samsung paid for the ad. Quentyn, why so defensive bro?
I’d seen the $15.2 million figure before, but decided not to include it since I hadn’t heard that from Samsung. And if I didn’t do “an entire 5 minutes of research” I wouldn’t have known how much it costs for the most expensive 30-second spots on average (taking the median of that range and inserting it into a rudimentary and simple math formula proved that to be decently accurate).
I’ve added the figure to the post in an update if it really is that important, but I still won’t flat-out say that’s how much Samsung spent without a statement from the horse’s mouth (and, really, this doesn’t factor in other costs such as the money it had to pay to actors).
I’m being so defensive because people are nitpicking for no reason at all, and I feel I’m being attacked for no other reason than to feed the cynical needs of those who are doing it.
Quentyn, people know that the Average commercial spot costs 4 million/per 30sec spot. This was a 2 minute spot. So 4 million /per 30 sec =12 million. Add in the celebrity endorsers and a 15 million dollar expenditure is completely feasible. Haters are gone hate man. Anyone who can read knows that what you wrote wasn’t intended to malign anyone. The people that disagree should do so respectfully. I get tired of reading off based comments like Gladiator_posse who wrote:
It is a comment on the poor witing quality. Be honest, how many times a week do people comment on the spelling and grammer of these articles? It’s like there is no editor at all.
Well first poor writing not witing. Grammar= is the set of structural rules that governs the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. Grammer= Dr.Fraser Crane is portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. To complain about the writing only to make the same mistakes seems hypocritical. Maybe you need an editor too.
The next big plastic thing, J/K although Samsung products are not for me.
plastic is evil right
Quentyn, his name is Bob Odenkirk, not Saul Goodman…….
Fixed. I’ve been watching too much Breaking Bad, apparently.
No such thing as too much Breaking Bad
Oreo still had the best commercial…
“There’s a pretty good chance that quite a few of you aren’t big football fans”
That’s right. I’m not a football fan. MMA all the way!
That was one of the dumbest commercials I’ve seen from a mobile phone.
I love football, liked the ad, thought it was funny & waiting for the M7
Samsung makin’ moves like U-Haul
Samsung is one of the biggest electronic giant and USA is one of the biggest market for it. It’s good move by Samsung to create good impression on people.