SPH, Samsung Electronics sign 2-year collaboration on marketing, innovation

SINGAPORE Press Holdings (SPH) and Samsung Electronics Singapore (Samsung) have inked a two-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work on innovative technologies and marketing campaigns that will benefit both companies' customers.

Under the deal, the two companies will pre-load suitable SPH digital media products onto Samsung devices such as mobile phones, tablets and Smart TVs. SPH is the parent company of The Business Times.

Said Samsung Electronics Singapore president Lee Jui Siang: "I think this is definitely something that we have to do because we all know that the society has changed. Now, the consumer behaviour has changed whereby people consume news digitally, they consume their news on the mobile device, therefore I think this is one of the areas where we really hope to work closely with SPH to see how we can bring that kind of quality content to the consumer on their mobile devices."

Samsung users will also enjoy trial subscriptions to SPH media products, while SPH plans to adopt Samsung's integrated payment gateway Samsung Pay on its business-to-business and business-to-customer platforms.

New technologies such as virtual technology will also be explored under the partnership to engage the millennial generation.

In the area of sales, marketing and outreach, SPH will support Samsung using its integrated multi-platform media solutions and data analytics capabilities to enable better access to and engagement with customers.

Both SPH and Samsung will also explore joint marketing initiatives through cross-selling each other's products to their respective customer bases. Additionally, the two companies plan to collaborate on corporate social responsibility projects.

This MOU also extends to non-media businesses where SPH and Samsung can work together on opportunities arising from SPH's properties and events businesses.

Asked how this partnership fits in with SPH's overall strategy, SPH's deputy chief executive Anthony Tan said: "Personally for the media group, I think we need to move into an age of partnerships... So working with valued partners, working with telco partners, working with startups and making better use of our audience data to produce more compelling content for example in the space of virtual reality are things we will continue to do."

"The curve is substantially shortened if we work with best-in-class partners like Samsung," Mr Tan added.

Said Samsung's Mr Lee: "We are excited to spark new breakthroughs in consumer engagement when Samsung's technological leadership meets SPH's expertise in content creation. Under this strategic partnership, we hope to embrace the evolving digital front of news and content consumption by forging a closer relationship with SPH through various initiatives that benefit both Samsung's customers and SPH's audiences."