Samsung spends four times as much as Apple on advertising

Samsung spends a bigger chunk of its annual revenue on advertising and promotion than any other of the world’s top-20 companies by sales. While Samsung has become the world’s biggest advertiser, spending $4.3 billion on ads alone last year, its global brand value of $39.6 billion is less than half that of Apple, which spent only $1 billion on advertising.

Reuters reports that Samsung is expected to spend a massive $14B on advertising & marketing this year, accelerating a trend seen earlier in the U.S., but questions both the value and the strategy. Brand experts say the spend is probably driven by Samsung’s desire to change its image from a fast-follower – a company that spots new ideas from competitors and quickly launches its own version – to an innovator.