In 1998 Japan hosted the Olympics for the third time in its history. To the Nagano Winter GamesThat year, a new discipline debuted: snowboarding.
Next to the five circles, for the first time, the name also appeared Samsung among the most important brands associated with the Olympics, the so-called Top Olympics Partners which also include, for example, Coca-Cola (since 1928) and Omega (since 2004).
With an agreement signed only a year earlier, Samsung had assured the International Olympic Committee that it would provide the Games wireless connectivity.
But it was a gamble.
Many competitors of the South Korean company, and even some people inside itthey had serious doubts that Samsung would measure up.
At the time, in fact, Samsung was still perceived as a brand of low-cost electronic devices. The Seoul company did not have much experience in the mobile phone sector. Nor did he have any idea how to plan the marketing of a sporting event.
In short, Samsung was under enormous pressure, because the Olympic agreement had cost 20% of the 1998 marketing budget outside of South Korea.
Yet Samsung managed to keep his promise.
In the winter of 1998, 4,460 mobile devices were shipped from Seoul to Nagano. Telephones that allowed the organizers of the Games to communicate with each other. And for the athletes to call home.
The “marriage” between Samsung and the Olympics began like this. With what can be defined as a leap in the dark by the South Korean company. An act of faith asked of its employees in 1993 by the then president Kun-Hee Leewho told managers during a company meeting in Frankfurt: “Change everything, except your family.”
For Kun-Hee Lee you had to aim high. At any cost. The Olympics were an unmissable and necessary showcase. Companies typically become Games partners when they achieve global success. Samsung, on the other hand, wanted to use them to make itself known to the world.
Twenty-six years later, it can be said that that plan succeeded.
From 1998 to today, Samsung has participated in every Olympics. This partnership gave a huge boost to the Asian company’s initial rise. Between 1999 and 2002, Samsung’s value rose from $1.3 billion to $8.2 billion. From 2001 to 2003, profits went from $425 million to $1.7 billion.
And today Samsung is no longer the Cinderella of Asia which, in 1988, contributed as a “local sponsor” to the Seoul Games. Demonstrating the fact that the Olympics have values. But also a value.
It was important to tell this story back in the day TM RohPresident and Head of Mobile eXperience Business of Samsung Electronics, inaugurated an “Olympic” boutique set up by Samsung in the heart of Paris, on the Champs-Elysées, a few hundred meters from the Arc de Triomphe.
Squeezed between the luxurious buildings of Dior e Saint Laurentthis temporary showcase hosts not only Samsung’s most innovative products – from top-of-the-range smartphones to foldables, up to the most recent notebooks – but also the devices that have accompanied the Olympics over the years: from the Samsung SGH-D600e, the official phone of the Turin Winter Games, to the Samsung SGH-i530 used at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The iconic telephone is also on display Olympics in Sydney, 2000. On that occasion – two years after the start of the partnership between Samsung and the Games – the South Korean company was able to count on its first pavilion. But the space that had been reserved for her was that of a multi-storey garage. A lot of work was needed to make it presentable.
The space that houses Samsung technology is equally futuristic and was designed by a visionary of modern architecture, Jean Nouvelwho following the ribbon cutting recalled when in 2002 he designed a wing of the Leeum Museum in Seoulwhich houses several masterpieces of modern art.
“The entire space was designed to celebrate Samsung’s commitment to the concept of openness,” Nouvel said. The abstract graphic façade captures the myriad movements and reflections of light that appear and disappear in an instant, while the atrium’s reflective, opaque white mirrors invite visitors on a journey through the latest innovations.”
Some members of the Team Galaxy, the “team” made up of 57 Olympic athletes supported by Samsung. In Paris they talked Joanne DefayFrench surfer, Karam SinghBritish break dancer, and Ugo DidierFrench swimmer who will participate in the Paralympics.
They are part of Team Galaxy also Italian athletes: the sprinter and Olympic champion of Tokyo 2020, Marcell Jacobsthe surfer Leonardo Fioravanti, the long distance runner Mattia Furlani, the break dance champion Alessandra Chillemi and the skateboarder Alessandro Mazzara.
“As a global Olympic and Paralympic partner, Samsung has been offering cutting-edge technologies and experiences to the Olympic Games for nearly 40 years,” said TM Roh. The way we experience the Games has evolved radically over time and technology has played a vital role in bringing the Olympic spirit to life.”
For Samsung, the showcase of the 2024 Olympics it is even more precious.
The South Korean company is pushing its devices equipped with the maximum Galaxy AI, artificial intelligence capable of generating texts and images. And, for example, of translate conversations between two strangers in real time who speak different languages. Samsung made this point in Paris, associating the ability of its phones to break down language barriers with the concept of openness underlying the Games.
Precisely the Galaxy AI, developed in partnership with Googlehas allowed the Seoul tech giant to recently regain the top spot in the Smartphone manufacturers ranking, which it had led for 13 years and which had been taken away from it last December by Apple.
The new top-of-the-range smartphone played a fundamental role in the increase in Samsung sales Samsung Galaxy S24equipped with tools based on generative AI.