Samsung prepared to spend on Galaxy S marketing

When Verizon's first DROID launched, the company was reported to have spent $100 million in advertising to promote what was (at the time) their flagship Android device.  Obviously their efforts payed off as Verizon sold countless DROIDs and continues to have success in selling the next in the line of DROID devices, the HTC DROID Incredible.

Samsung, the company that is bringing the Galaxy S line of devices to every major carrier in the United States, has taken note of Verizon's campaign tactics and plans to spend what it takes to achieve similar success.  According to Paul Golden, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung North America, "The company's marketing budget would be comparable to the heavy advertising a major U.S. carrier would typically spend on one of their flagship devices."

The difference between the DROID line of devices and the Galaxy S line is that Samsung owns the Galaxy S line and is selling them to all the major carriers, while Verizon owns the DROID name, and the line is exclusive to Verizon.  This means that Samsung will have to take responsibility for a majority of the ad campaign spending, because the carriers who will not be receiving exclusive Galaxy S devices (even though each carrier each got a unique variant), won't be as motivated as they would have been had they received exclusivity.

The next few months should be very interesting as the Galaxy S is a highly capable device and it will be interesting to see how such a high-end device does in sales when it has access to all four major carriers' customers.