It’s Friday, the weekend is so close you can taste it, so we thought you’d enjoy this ~ 7 minute video below that depicts a building pulling a Michael Bay stunt by transforming into a robot. It’s over a year old and has over 2 million views, but we don’t remember ever seeing it. The marketing team at LG that was responsible for this really pulled no punches, it’s one of the most elaborate things we’ve ever encountered. It’s a campaign for the Optimus One, which may not be the most high end Android device—actually, it’s pretty low end: 600 MHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 3.2 inch 480 x 320 pixel screen—but it did hit a price point that enabled many folks who never even owned a smartphone to be able to jump on the internet, check their email, play games, and do things they’d never dream of doing on the handset they’ve depended on for nothing but texting and calls.
Sadly, LG isn’t doing that well in today’s market. We got a sneak peak at their current situation from an article that was published in September that said 30% of their overseas staff had been let go. LG will report report their financial results on the 26th of this month, so we’ll know the full extent of the damage in less than a week. We’re hopeful they can turn themselves around however if they simply stop trying to chase Samsung and instead become their own company. They also need to cut the bullshit when it comes to tweaking Android. LG may have been the first to market with dual core, and they may have the best implementation of 3D on a smartphone, but no one ever talks about LG without bringing up the insane instability of their software.
Anyway, we seriously can’t wait to see their 4.5 inch 720p AH-IPS screen on a smartphone, hopefully one that isn’t as prone to crashing as the Optimus 2X.
Update: Kenneth Hong, Director of Global Communications for LG Electronics sent us the following email:
Hi Stefan,
Hope all is well.
I’m sorry you didn’t hear about this event we did in Berlin last year, I know the mobile marketing folks did a teaser invitation and when I checked, a couple Intomobile emails were included in the mailing. But it was a very last minute stunt dreamed up my marketing and it’s not inaccurate to say that it was hastily promoted. But it was a great show nonetheless. 🙂
The other reason I’m writing is to inform you that 30% overseas staff cut you read about was incorrectly reported by Reuters. We informed Reuters and they ran a follow-up:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/09/us-lg-jobs-idUSTRE7880VW20110909
http://news.yahoo.com/lg-elec-denies-report-overseas-mobile-staff-cuts-021721696.html
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/lg-denies-report-overseas-job-cuts/2011-09-09
There was no 30% cut but we will be relocating hundreds of our oveseas-posted Korean staff back to Seoul to beef up our resourcing at HQ. Not as sexy a story as giving thousands the pink slip but that’s the truth.
Would be grateful if you could somehow convey the real situation in your story below.
Many thanks!