At the Paris Olympics, medalists take “selfies” with a square device on the podium every time. It is unusual for athletes to take selfies at the awards ceremony, where personal items such as smartphones are prohibited. The reason behind this is the promotional strategy of Samsung Electronics, a sponsor of the event.
According to Samsung Electronics, in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, the “Victory Selfie” was implemented for the first time at the Paris Olympics. The plan was for athletes to take pictures of themselves and their rivals praising each other for their good performance using the company’s smartphones given to them by staff. Raissa Leau of Brazil, who won the bronze medal in the women’s street skateboarding event, reflected, “It was a moment when I felt the love of my teammates that went beyond competition.”
The product in question is the Galaxy Z Flip 6, which can be folded compactly and allows shooting from a variety of angles. The company is providing 17,000 units free of charge to the athletes participating in the tournament. The photos taken are saved in real time in a dedicated app, and athletes can download them or share them with their families and friends. The latest model, equipped with generative AI (artificial intelligence), also has functions such as AI interpretation, which helps promote communication between athletes from various countries and regions.
Samsung Electronics is conducting a major promotional campaign for this year’s games. According to the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo, the company’s marketing budget for the Paris Olympics is over 300 billion won (about 33 billion yen). The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics each spent about 100 to 200 billion won.
The company also installed more than 200 smartphones on the boats carrying athletes from various countries and regions during the opening ceremony to support live broadcasts. It has also set up “Olympic Experience Pavilions” in the Athletes’ Village and in a plaza in Paris where people can try out sports games and AI smartphone functions.
Samsung Electronics released the world’s first AI smartphone this year. US company Apple has also announced that it will introduce AI functions to the iPhone, so Samsung Electronics has taken the lead with a large-scale promotion set in the Olympic Games. Samsung Electronics released a statement saying, “Samsung Electronics’ efforts are part of making the Paris Olympics a ‘fully open event.'”[Kusakabe Motomi, Seoul]