LG G2 Advertising Stunt Injures Many

Sometimes the rise and fall of a product, no matter how great that product may be, how superior the hardware is or how intuitive the software seems to flow, will be down to the marketing campaign associated with it.

A marketing campaign can either make or break a product’s launch. While it is far from the hard and fast truth, companies such as Samsung have more than abundantly demonstrated that the more money you can throw at a phone, the more likely that the model in question is to be a success.

LG is really trying to raise the bar with the G2, and it has wisely made the decision that it is going to need some high-profile promotion work in order to do so. While the basic idea may be interesting, LG has not exactly been going about it in the most intelligent manner, as shown at one recent event in South Korea where over twenty participants have ended up with injuries as a result!

The idea behind the campaign was simple enough: LG were to hide certificates for the new model G2 handsets into a random number of balloons and then  encourage the very eager public to locate them.  The  problem with this idea was, LG did not appear to have an adequate security staffing level on hand to enable  things the proceedings to run smoothly and without blemish.  However, with the combination of an over-eager crowd and (I’m not making this up) a number participants within said crowd, reportedly using BB guns to pop the balloons from a safe distance, has contributed to upwards of twenty people being injured in the process of trying to gain a new smartphone.

In light of this bizarre incident, and may I say wisely so, LG has cancelled similar planned events in other cities.  Maybe the boffins at LG should stick to Television, Internet and Billboard advertising eh? Rather than have a bunch of tech mad people firing projectile weapons to get gadgets!

Here’s the G2 trailer LG released before their marketing stunt went awry:

[Image via Technofanatico]

SOURCE: http://m.pocketnow.com/2013/08/12/lg-g2-marketing