• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 10, 2007

Samsung Electronics America's newly appointed senior vice president/chief strategic marketing officer did a lot of research before accepting the position. Not just the normal leafing through mounds of reports--but also going into AT&T, Best Buy and Circuit City stores, pretending to shop for phones, televisions and gadgets.

Feigning ignorance of Samsung products, Steven Cook asked numerous salespeople for help in explaining the features on the Blackjack phone or the 42-inch HDTV, for example. The next day he went back into the stores and stood within earshot of consumers looking for the same advice to observe the process.

"The last several feet of the consumer's purchase decision is the most fragile," Cook tells Marketing Daily. "What a brand manufacturer does leading up to that consideration could completely fall apart if the retail salespeople aren't informed or don't understand the key points and features of the products."

The first steps Cook plans to take as he moves into his new role Oct. 15 includes listening, learning, watching and absorbing information from others in the fast-paced electronics industry, which has early signs of margin erosion in many of the sectors in which Samsung sells product.

Cook joins Samsung at the North American headquarters with 26 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer markets industry. Most recently, he led development for consumer marketing and retail strategies at Coca-Cola, as worldwide strategic planning and business development and vice president of strategic worldwide marketing.

Cook also supported Procter & Gamble, where he led internal marketing teams and agency partners in the development of consumer-driven strategies throughout the United States and Europe. While with P&G, Cook led the Brand, Sales and Distributor team for Cover Girl and Max Factor cosmetics and fragrances across the Europe.

Wall Street analysts have noticed impressive sales of flat-screen TVs, but expect Samsung Electronics to post lukewarm earnings Friday on slow computer memory chip sales. Declining prices on chips used in personal computers and electronic gadgets like Apple's iPhone also could offset revenue gains through the end of the year.

Although Cook hasn't worked in the consumer electronics space yet, he understands the way consumers shop, what keeps them coming back and what make them build an affinity to products. "I've worked to help people fall in love with products at Coca-Cola, and the same can be done at Samsung," he says. "I'm going to create demand and give people a reason to want Samsung products versus shopping two or three brands and selecting on price."

Moving into the holiday season, Cook may run into a few challenges. An NPD Group's Annual Survey of Consumers' Holiday Purchase Intentions 2007 survey released Tuesday suggests that consumers will curtail impulse buying and begin holiday shopping later this year than last.

Forty-one percent of survey respondents don't expect to begin holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving--up 10% compared to last year's survey. Impulse purchases typically make up a significant portion of holiday sales--about 26% of holiday sales. In 2006, that figure dropped to 19%, and this year NPD Group expects the number to fall to 17%, according to 1,943 online survey participants.

It's been more than 10 years since Samsung created a new corporate image to improve consumer perception. In 1993, the company changed the corporate logo, now written in English, to emphasize its global presence. The elliptical shape symbolizes the world moving through space, conveying innovation and change. The first letter, "S", and the last letter, "G," break out of the sphere, signifying the connection between Samsung and consumers.