Today's Samsung vs. Apple news requires a little bit of back-story. A couple of days ago, Apple Maps got some pretty heavy negative press from none other than the Police Department in Victoria, Australia. Apparently, Apple Maps directions to a city called Mildura in Victory, Australia were so far off that if you followed them you could end up stranded in a remote and "snake-infested" area without water & fuel. In fact, this actually happend to six vehicles who contacted the police for help after becoming lost and/or stranded in this desolate area after following Apple Maps' directions. The Victorian police even issued a statement that Apple Maps was potentially life-threatening and that people shouldn't follow it.
Today Samsung decided to use this major snafu from Apple to their own marketing advantage. They set up live "stranded vehicle" demonstrations in two different spots: One is in the Southern Cross Station in Melbourne with a loaded VW hippy van, and the other is in the Australia Square in Sydney with a dirty Nissan Patrol 4WD. Both of these "demonstrations" poke indirect fun at the Apple Maps fiasco, with signs that say, "Oops, should have got a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get Navigation you can trust."
It's hard not to laugh at this clever and creative marketing angle. The fact that Samsung's marketing department thought of this and implemented it in just a couple of days deserves some credit, but we wonder if this "ad campaign" goes a bit too far? What do you think, spot-on or too mean?
Source: PhoneArena
