Apple and Samsung have a long history of bumping into each other’s products through not-so-subtle references in their ads. Especially Apple has the special feature of selecting the ugliest Android smartphone on the market to compare iPhones. However, Apple’s new Beats Studio Buds marketing material (as discovered by PhoneArena) on Amazon’s US website uses a high-end Samsung Galaxy S21 for a change. While this may sound a bit surprising to many, Apple’s decision to use the Galaxy S21 as a prop makes sense from a marketing perspective.
Unlike the AirPods, the Beats Studio Buds wireless earbuds are designed to appeal to a wider audience that isn’t just people in the Apple ecosystem. Apple wants to get the folks on the Android side of the aisle, and Samsung enthusiasts are an excellent place to start, given that Samsung is the only “real” competition Apple has had in the premium smartphone market. If the ad convinces even one Samsung user to choose Beats Studio over Galaxy Buds Pro or any other Samsung audio product, the campaign will be a success.
In addition, a subtle message is sent to users in the Samsung ecosystem to switch to Apple. A simple “These new Beats Studio Buds look great, don’t they?” subtext can easily go to “These look great with your Galaxy S21, but would suit an iPhone even better” and finally, “Congratulations on your new iPhone, want to see what else Apple has in store for you? “. It’s a simple yet effective technique that Apple could have used long ago but instead chose to denigrate Android users.
