SEOUL, September 12 (AJP) - Samsung Electronics has found a Tim Cook who switched to Galaxy — just not the one running Apple.
Samsung New Zealand said in a social media campaign that "Tim Cook has switched to Samsung," before clarifying that it was referring to a man from Palmerston North, New Zealand, rather than the former Apple chief executive.
"A familiar name has made a new move," Samsung New Zealand said in a post, describing the Galaxy Z8 series as compelling enough to persuade users to switch regardless of their name.
Cook, the New Zealander, said he had been considering the switch for some time.
"Yeah, I've moved on. It felt like the right time," he said, calling his new Galaxy "the best phone I've ever had."
Samsung extended the joke in a promotional video for the Galaxy Z Fold8.
"Tim Cook has an announcement. And for once, it's about Galaxy," Samsung said, introducing him as "Tim Cook, Palmerston North" alongside the #SwitchToGalaxy hashtag.
The campaign is deliberately tongue-in-cheek, but Samsung New Zealand said it was also intended to highlight what it described as a broader shift among local consumers.
"While this campaign is tongue-in-cheek, the consumer trend behind it is real," Shannon Watts of Samsung New Zealand said.
Watts said the company was seeing more New Zealand consumers switch to Samsung in search of greater flexibility and a different smartphone experience.
The campaign landed as competition between Samsung and Apple moves into a new phase following Apple's entry into the foldable smartphone market.
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable smartphone, on Sept. 9, challenging Samsung in a category the South Korean company entered with the original Galaxy Fold in 2019.
Samsung launched its latest Galaxy Z lineup this summer, including the Galaxy Z Fold8, Fold8 Ultra and Flip8. Samsung said global preorders for the new Galaxy Z series increased more than 30 percent from the previous generation.
Samsung has used Apple's foldable debut as an opportunity to revive its long-running marketing rivalry with the iPhone maker, with several of its overseas operations posting advertisements and social media messages poking fun at Apple's later arrival to the category.
The New Zealand campaign takes a different approach, turning the name of one of the most recognizable figures associated with Apple into the punchline: Tim Cook really did switch to Galaxy — just not that Tim Cook.
- Samsung Mobile New Zealand recruited a local man named Tim Cook to promote the Galaxy Z Fold8, using his shared name with Apple's CEO as part of its latest social media campaign.
- The campaign follows Apple's unveiling of its first foldable iPhone, extending an online rivalry between the two smartphone makers over who pioneered the foldable form factor.
- Samsung entered the foldable smartphone market in 2019 and has repeatedly used social media to portray Apple's new iPhone Duo as a late arrival to the category.
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