The phrase "switching costs" has long been a favorite of business school professors and wireless analysts, typically referring to the contractual and logistical obstacles that keep customers tethered to their current mobile phone brand. Samsung, it seems, has decided the term deserves a more clinical interpretation.
The company's new campaign, called "Switchers," features Dr. Orna Guralnik, the psychoanalyst best known for her work on the Showtime docuseries "Couples Therapy," in which she guides real couples through the messy work of staying together. In the Samsung spots, she applies a similar therapeutic approach to people who are, apparently, experiencing emotional distress at the prospect of abandoning their iPhones.
Dr. Guralnik's patients in the campaign include Ciara Miller and Dylan Efron, who are identified as reality television personalities; Carl Lee Schmidt and Aniya Harvey, who appeared on "Love Island USA"; and Clay Matthews and Nick Foles, who played in the National Football League. The pairings suggest Samsung is hoping to reach an audience that consumes a considerable amount of unscripted television (which is to say, a large audience).
The premise — that changing phone brands is a psychological hurdle requiring professional intervention — is not entirely without basis. Behavioral economists have documented the phenomenon of status quo bias, and Apple has spent two decades constructing an ecosystem designed to make departure feel like emigration. Whether this rises to the level of something requiring a therapist, even a telegenic one, is a question the campaign answers mostly by not asking it.
Samsung has tried various approaches over the years to pry customers away from its chief rival, ranging from feature comparisons to gentle mockery of iPhone users waiting in line. The therapeutic angle is new, and it suggests the company's marketers believe the obstacle is no longer rational but emotional.
Dr. Guralnik, for her part, has found a client willing to pay for extended sessions.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Samsung Taps Couples Therapy's Dr. Orna Guralnik to Ease Phone Switching Fears"