What I'm saying is I think this is ineffective at changing the "mindset" of the average iPhone user. Fast charging and using an adapter aren't big enough issues generally speaking. In fact this dumb ad even points out you get the dongle free in the box. I think the majority of people latching on to the horrible burden of using a tiny extra piece of wire at the end of your headphone wire are people who already own Samsung devices and hate Apple. This ad does more to retain those people than it would to make someone switch. And they call the iPhone "ten" in the ad, and the apple logo is only on the guys shirt. How many, non-tech people are even going to realize what they are referring to?
Maybe its not supposed to change the "mindset" of the average iPhone user.
Also, there's nothing Samsung is saying here that isn't true.
Which is why the folks here are getting so irate. Nothing stings as much as the truth.
And before I get accused. I'm a happy owner of of MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013, and iPhone 6s, an iPad 4 as well as a company-issued iPhone SE. So yeah, I (used to) like Apple products a lot. But there is nothing in the new offerings that would really incite me to upgrade. I'll be keeping them dear apple devices until they're worn down to the core (pun intended).
The irony is that I bought them when I was still a student and money was scarce and when each year's new release would leave me out counting my beans to figure out if I have enough money to upgrade. But now, that I actually work and have the money, there's no reason to upgrade. This is mainly because of the decreased functionality of the devices: lack of magsafe, lack of various ports, no audio jack - in other words the overall experience commonly referred to as "the dongle nightmare".
Yeah, call me a drama queen, but I know myself well enough to know that I will forget the dongle when I need it 50% of the time. In Europe, you can't use wireless headphones on most of the flights, so if you fly a lot, wired it is. Provided you have the dongle with you, of course. And the fact that we are still talking about audio jack years after Apple removed it shows that Apple was not only ahead of its time but also ahead of themselves to drop it from the device.
And as for the ads. Well, I find them mildly amusing. They're not as funny as the old PC vs. Mac ads, but they have their charm, which - I admit - may be lost on some people who tend to take themselves too seriously (a meaningful wink to my friends across the Pond).
As to their effectiveness, that I don't know. There seems to be a bunch of self-proclaimed marketing gurus on the forum here who preach that comparative advertising is a no-no. Advertising is not my professional domain, but I found the topic interesting and did a short research of scholarly articles on the subject. While I did not go into the details, a cursory reading revealed that the picture is not as clear-cut as those Advertising 101, Advertising for Dummies or simply your pop's or mom's wisdom would have you believe.
Hasn't it struck anyone as odd that Samsung has been doing those ads for years now. They're bound to have ways of gauging the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. If those adds were not doing what they're supposed to be doing, they would probably have cut the funds at some point. So apparently they're achieving their objectives, whatever they may be.
Which, btw, is a very interesting topic. What is the objective of this advertising? For one, it gives a pat on the back of anyone who bought a Samsung product, providing positive reinforcement and promoting brand loyalty.
I doubt it is trying to change the "mindset" of the hardcore apple fan. From what I've seen on this forum, the typical hardcore apple fan has a tendency to deny the reality of their own experience. For them, Apple products are perfect and any complaints are an manifestation of the fault with the user (#you'reusingitwrong, #whowouldeverneedto..., #noone'sforcingyoutouseappleproducts). They are unable to acknowledge that a buyer may consider tradeoffs between different features and that they might, for example, decide to buy apple to stay within the ecosystem while strongly disliking some aspects the new hardware solutions. But while most apple users are susceptible to apple glamour (which is very effective at promoting brand-loyalty), they are not blindly beholden to Apple. For them, there is a tipping point somewhere down that road. Those adds are good at sprinkling some salt in the wounds of those users who have just bought their new iPhone and have discovered the minor downside of "dongle life" or other aspects of the phone.
Will that person go and swap their iPhone for a Samsung the next day? Unlikely. But they will be reminded that there are other options out there (a notion that is as alien as it is blasphemous to the average apple fan). The will also be reminded of those minor inconveniences every time they see the ad, instantly remembering the negative emotions associated with their most recent experience when they didn't have the dongle on hand. There is a reason why Samsung doesn't showcase their product in this ad. They don't want their products associated with that experience. They will have a separate, up-beat ad to focus on their phones. Maybe they'll even screen it one or two ads after the Apple-bashing ad, letting the viewer gently draw their own conclusion.
That doesn't sound like a cracked-up approach to me.
