Essay About Top Brand And Olympic Games

Samsung
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Samsung – The TOP Brand in the World
According to the global brand scoreboard of 2004 from Interbrand,
Samsung, the Korean based electronics brand, has boosted its profile
and being listed as 21st valuable brands in the world. Its brand value
surged by 16% to 12.5 billion US dollars compared to the figure in
2003 which is 10.8 billion US dollar. (Simon, 2004) It becomes the
world’s leading brand in electronics and digital industry. This
achievement is closely related to its sponsorship strategies. Samsung
associate its name to the “TOP” plan, which is “The Olympic Partner”
plan. It is a plan which leads Samsung to be the top brand in the
world. However, there are many other programs to support Samsung’s
sponsorship strategy. Without these strategies the “TOP” plan will not
have such effectiveness and efficiency.
Samsung’s philosophy is “devote our human resources and technology to
create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a
better global society”. (www.samsung.com) Under this philosophy
Samsung has adopted a sport-based strategy in building its brand. The
multinational consumer electronics firm acknowledges the fundamental
role played by sport and by the Olympic Games as a promoter of its
brand. Vice president of corporate communication at Samsung, Il-Hyung
Chang, rationalizes the important role of sport sponsorship by stating
“sports sponsorship is a strategy that fits well within our operations
at Samsung….it’s an integral part of our company’s philosophy”. Philip
and David, 2003 Entering into the “TOP” plan propels Samsung’s
sponsorship to a new era. It has an opportunity to act on the same
stage with the world top brand such as Coca Cola, IBM, and Visa, which
greatly enhanced its brand image. The company’s active and established
role in the heart of the Olympic Movement has contributed to its brand
value surge in recent years.
Samsung’s involvement with the Olympic movement began as a local
sponsor for the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. Then it became the TOP
sponsor in the wireless telecommunications equipment category for the
Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games, Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Salt Lake
2002 Olympic Winter Games and Athens 2004 Olympic Games. This status
as a global partner in the wireless telecommunications equipment
category will be continuing in the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games
and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Samsung have agreed to pay the huge
amount for corporate sponsorship because they recognize the vital
importance of sports marketing on their bottom line. The TOP plan
helped Samsung increase its brand awareness and enhance market
position considerably. Compared to the results of the survey held
before the Sydney Olympic Games, the amount of consumers that became
aware that Samsung Electronics was one of the 9 sponsors of the Games
approximately tripled. Unaided awareness of Samsung’s “Olympic
sponsorship” was 6.0%, it placed 2nd after Coca Cola.
(www.samsung.com)
Samsung want to accomplish two goals with all its sponsorship efforts.
The first goal is to build brand awareness especially create higher
level of awareness than its rival Sony. The effectiveness of Samsung’s
Sponsorship was shown at the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games which had a
positive impact on brand awareness, with an increase from 57% to 62%.
(Samsung steps up Olympics marketing campaign, 2004) The second goal
is to enhance the worldwide imagery and attitudes towards its brand.
Samsung considered its commitment to the Olympic Movement is a key
element in positioning and strategy. It contributes to the success of
the Olympic Games and at the same time enhances Samsung brand image
and its market position.
Samsung built its brand through sponsor Olympic Games in the following
ways.
Samsung mobilized the organization for brand building. Both the
process and the result of a brand-building effort often have a key
payoff internally to employees, as well as externally to consumers.
Samsung sponsored ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay, which was the first
truly journey of Olympic flame. 1,900 torchbearers were selected from
over 40 countries including SamsungĂ’s employees. (www.sumsung.com)
They received emotional benefits from pride in being associated