The first New Zealand initiative under a global sponsorship agreement between Samsung and Quiksilver was Wanaka’s King of the Park snowboard competition, where the technology giant launched an MP3 player co-branded with the surf and snow clothing maker’s Roxy label.
The alliance is part of a subtle marketing strategy aimed at the technology-hungry youth market, says Samsung’s New Zealand marketing boss Jean-Philippe Diel.
“Quiksilver doesn’t really team up with many brands. They’re more into viral type marketing that’s underground. They’re in niche markets like snowboarding and they see us as a good brand set in terms of teaming up with technology, which their target market is into.”
Diel says the global agreement spans MP3 players and cellphones, which in some countries are sold in Quiksilver and Roxy stores. However, the path to market for any products in New Zealand has not been decided, he says. “We’re looking at these as a potential outlet, but we’d be very careful to do this in a way that’s a win-win for our channel. We’re not thinking we’d move a lot of our product there, but our traditional retail channel would.”
King of the Park participants received the MP3 player — the K5 (pictured), and Samsung offered other prizes.
Samsung says the K5 will be available from October, with a limited amount of Roxy and Quiksilver co-branded Samsung K5s, as well as the original Samsung K5 range.
The K5 will be available in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB.
