Weekend Confidential: Marc Mathieu -- WSJ
22 April 2017 - 5:02PM
Dow Jones News
The Samsung marketing chief is working to get past the
recall
By Alexandra Wolfe
Samsung executive Marc Mathieu is sitting in his office in lower
Manhattan the day before the much-anticipated release of the
company's new Galaxy S8 smartphone. His office is a colorfully
decorated conference room with a rectangular meeting table that
doubles as his desk. Screens cover two of the walls, and
smartphones, virtual-reality headsets and other high-tech gear are
littered around the room. As he looks out at the Hudson River, he
acknowledges that a lot is riding on this launch.
Mr. Mathieu, 56, joined Samsung Electronics America as chief
marketing officer in 2015, and since then the company has faced
some difficult times. Last year, Samsung recalled its Galaxy Note 7
smartphone -- some 2.5 million units in all -- after faulty
batteries led some of the phones to overheat and catch on fire. The
company's vice chairman and de facto chief, Lee Jae-yong, is
currently on trial in Seoul, facing charges including bribery,
embezzlement and perjury. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Samsung launched the $720 Galaxy S8 on Friday. The phone has
gotten positive reviews for its tall, gently curved screen and
narrow, easy-to-grip shape -- though some still worry about the
battery issue. So how do you convince consumers that your latest
product isn't going to go up in flames? "When you go through what
we went through last year, it forces you to listen to a lot of
people...more intensely," says Mr. Mathieu. He held focus groups
with customers to talk about their needs -- and how the company
could rebuild trust. Samsung, which has blamed the Galaxy Note 7
issue on battery suppliers, has spent about $130 million on product
safety.
Mr. Mathieu says that, because of the recent safety problems,
the company has created ads for the new device based on a message
of empowerment rather than on humor. "We'll have humor in due
course," he says. "It's not the time to be funny. It's the time to
say, 'This is a great phone.' "
Earlier this month, Samsung said that preorders of the S8
outpaced those of its predecessor, the S7, although it didn't
release numbers. Counterpoint Research expects that Samsung will
ship more than 300 million smartphones globally in 2017, including
50 million of the S8. By comparison, it expects Apple to ship 230
million iPhones, out of which 75 million will be the coming iPhone
8 series.
Mr. Mathieu's love of the theater informs his marketing
philosophy. One of his favorite quotes is from George Bernard
Shaw's "Man and Superman": "The reasonable man adapts himself to
the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the
world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the
unreasonable man." His goal is to help people "be a little bit
unreasonable" -- which, to his mind, means creating products that
can do things that previously seemed impossible.
One group he's targeting is young adults -- the highly coveted
millennials. In February, the company came out with an ad campaign
called "Do what you can't," in which artists, videographers and
internet celebrities discuss how they have used technology to do
creative work and prove wrong the people who told them "you
can't."
Last year, Mr. Mathieu spearheaded the opening of Samsung 837, a
"technology playground" and digital culture center in Manhattan
that lets people try out Samsung's products but doesn't offer
anything for sale, aside from food and coffee. Visitors can put on
virtual-reality headsets, test smart kitchen appliances and come
for special events on massive screens. (Selfies and social-media
posts are encouraged.) Mr. Mathieu sees it as a way to build the
brand and create relationships with consumers -- and as a chance
for the company to see how their customers use the products. "It's
a great way for us to learn what works and what doesn't work," he
says.
Mr. Mathieu grew up in France; his parents were entrepreneurs in
construction and now work in real estate there. After earning a
master's degree in international marketing in Paris, he worked for
Danone, Coca-Cola and Unilever in Europe, including in France, Asia
and the U.K. "I was always attracted to an international career,"
he says. At Coca-Cola, he spearheaded the brand's reinvention in
2004, including the creation and marketing of Coke Zero.
At Samsung, he runs a team of more than 100 people. Leaders are
often rewarded with titles such as "mayors," "pioneers" and
"achievers" in their various groups. He encourages disagreement
among his employees. "I like to ask two people for their opinion if
I know they won't agree," he says.
Though he is based in New York, he frequently visits the
company's headquarters in South Korea. When he isn't working, he
and his wife, an artist, like to travel. They have three adult
children who live in California. "When people ask, 'How are your
kids doing?'...I say, 'They struggle,' " he says. "It's difficult
to be 20-plus in today's world. There's so much competition, and
everybody can come up with a great idea...so everybody wants
to."
He has long been interested in theater and serves on the board
of several theater companies, including Punchdrunk and the Almeida
Theatre. He particularly likes immersive drama experiences, such as
Punchdrunk's "Sleep No More," an interactive show based on
"Macbeth" in which audience members wander around different
rooms.
He likens the experience to people's relationship with
technology today. The audience "does not just interact with a play
but interacts with themselves," he says. "Instead of the play
telling you what are you supposed to hear or learn, you are the one
who discovers all the meaning that you want to put in the
play."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 22, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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