Celebrities like Samsung phones, but they love marketing paychecks even more. The wave of Samsung-sponsored selfies that started with massive retweets at the Oscars, has become one of the most popular viral campaigns in the history of the Internet as everyone from Ellen to Big Papi have been spotted snapping Samsung-selfies in exchange for a fat paycheck. And Apple is totally jealous.
During the Oscars, Ellen Degeneres got a bunch of celebrities together for a selfie-style photo that she tweeted out. The photo went on to be the most reteweeted photo of all time. That photo, it turns out, was a bit of a PR stunt by Samsung. Samsung sponsored the Oscars, and as part of the sponsorship, it wanted its phones featured during the show. Degeneres wanted to take selfies, so Samsung said she had to use a Galaxy Note III. It even trained her on how to do it. The buzz for Samsung worked. It got its phones in front of a big audience, and with Ellen’s tweet getting reteweeted like crazy, the message spread. Now, it looks like Apple wants in on the same level of buzz. Dwight Silverman of the Huston Chronicle tweeted out the following job listing from Apple for a “Buzz Marketing Manager“.