THE PHILIPPINES, DECEMBER 16, 2011: Smart Communications and Globe Telecommunications pulled out all the stops since last night to impress subscribers and entice buyers, as the telco rivals simultaneously launched what is perhaps the most awaited gadget of the year.
The iPhone 4S’s welcoming committee was composed of throngs of techies, gadget geeks, and Apple fans who trooped last night either to the Museum Cafe in Greenbelt for Globe’s party or to the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell for Smart’s extravaganza. Both events received their share of status updates and Tweets, which upped the ante of the rivalry as #SmartiPhone4S and #GlobeiPhone4S constantly exchanged positions in Twitter trending the whole night.
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Smart’s Rockwell launch (left) and Globe’s Santas (right)
As a new player in the country’s iPhone market, Smart went with aggressive launch promotions, including a free screening of the latest Mission Impossible movie and performances from international DJs and recording artists (including Jermaine Dupri) during their Power Plant party. A brand new Subaru Impreza was also raffled off at the end of the night. Smart’s very first iPhone 4S customer, Sherwin Soriaga, also received an iMac as part of the telco’s continuing marketing campaign for the gadget.
Globe, on the other hand, decided to serve as the crowd’s Santa Claus as they posted photos of their staff dressed up in red shirts and Santa hats, packing iPhone 4S units, on their social media networks as early as December 14. At the Museum Cafe, DJ Kaskade spun music for the guests, which included celebrities Divine Lee, Tim Yap, Cristalle Henares, and Victor Basa. President Noynoy Aquino was the recipient of Globe’s first iPhone 4S unit, giving the event a presidential stamp.
Fueled by their power-packed product launches the previous night, Smart and Globe opened their stores today still parading Apple’s newest offering. Print ads, which were published in newspapers since December 15, were kicked up another notch as December 16 rolled in.
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Smart false cover
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The Manila Bulletin and the Philippine Star carried false covers of Smart’s iPhone 4S launch and data plan offerings. The four-page supplements also included a feature on Smart’s launch party the previous night and an advertorial that asked readers: “What good is a smartphone if it isn’t on Smart?”
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Globe print ads
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Meanwhile, Globe opted to go across all three major broadsheets, with a combination of a spread and two full page ads inside the paper, detailing Globe’s offers, data plan requirements, and claiming instructions for the iPhone 4S. The left panel of the spread contained an depiction of the iPhone, Globe’s logo, and the copy “Amazing”, while the right panel contained the inclusions of the Globe data plan, underneath the copy “Even more amazing”. "The most amazine iPhone yet" is a line used officially by Apple in its materials. Oddly enough, the term “amazing” has long been linked with Smart, which carried the "Simply Amazing" tag line for several years prior to its recent change to "Let’s make life extraordinary".
In the end, though, the winners are neither Smart nor Globe – they were clearly Apple, the iPhone 4S, and Siri all the way.
