Samsung’s smartphone marketing Death Star spent $402 million in U.S. last year
One of the reasons Samsung (005930) has all but crushed its rival Android vendors has been a series of first-rate advertisements backed up by its Death Star-sized marketing budget. Per The Wall Street Journal, new research from advertising research firm Kantar Media shows that Samsung spent $402 million in 2012 marketing its smartphones in the United States, topping even Apple (AAPL) with its similarly enormous $333 million U.S. marketing budget for the iPhone. No other smartphone company studied by Kantar even came close to matching Samsung and Apple last year: HTC (2498) spent $46 million, BlackBerry (BBRY) spent $39 million and Nokia (NOK) spent $13 million. And given that Apple and Samsung are currently the only two smartphone vendors turning a consistent and sizable profit
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The Wealth Effect Might Be Shrinking
The Dow keeps hitting all-time highs and home prices are rising. But many Americans do not feel any richer. That could be bad news for the economy. “Consumers may be skeptical about their wealth,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
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Oil up for 5th Day as Traders Await U.S. Supply Data
Oil prices rose slightly for a fifth straight session Wednesday despite a forecast for weaker global demand growth and expectations of rising U.S. crude stocks.By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil …
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