No Longer "Sam Sung": Ex-Apple Employee Rebrands
After going viral in 2012 due to his name, a former Apple retail employee has changed it. "Sam Sung" is now "Sam Struan".
Samsung logo on a hedge: Unrelated and not related by marriage.
(Image: Sundry Photography/Shutterstock.com)
A story that caused chuckles in the Apple scene thirteen years ago has now found a (happy) ending: The former Apple retail employee with the name Sam Sung, which was rather unfitting for the iPhone manufacturer has officially changed his name. Sam Sung is now "Sam Struan", the now 36-year-old announced in a guest post on the US business site BusinessInsider on BusinessInsider. The name change was also made because his birth name had gone so viral.
From Scotland to Canada
Struan had previously worked in several Apple stores: first in Glasgow, Scotland, and later in Vancouver, Canada. Struan most recently held the position of "Specialist" and had corresponding business cards for it. One of the customers got hold of one of these in 2012 and eventually posted it on Twitter, which triggered a whole viral wave. Struan visibly took it to heart; he deleted his LinkedIn profile under that name. In 2013, he finally left Apple and a year later auctioned off parts of his Apple clothing, including his "Name Badge" and business cards, for the benefit of a children's foundation.
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He then changed his name, according to his own account, because he "didn't want to be known for an internet joke." "Struan" has a meaning for him; it's his favorite place in Scotland. Today, however, Struan sees the situation a little differently than in 2012. Back then, he feared losing his job due to the commotion. "I was so scared, I just didn't want to stand out and keep working." Looking back, it's funny: "I probably had the highest job security I've ever had at that moment. If Apple had fired me, it would have caused even more uproar."
Reporters in the store looking for Sam Sung
Back then, reporters came to the store. "Apple therefore initially took me off the sales floor." His colleagues were told not to identify him to third parties. He no longer received business cards. "People would come into the store and ask if Sam Sung worked there. I would then pretend I didn't." On the phone, he wasn't recognized due to his Scottish accent. At least the uproar subsided after a few months.
Struan later also had another problem: after trying to establish himself in career consulting, there were hardly any opportunities to become a brand due to his old name. "The big tech company already has its own brand." So it made sense to change his name. Today he wishes he could tell his younger self that the whole thing was actually funny. "I shouldn't have worried about my job." It would have been better to keep his LinkedIn profile open and thank the people who had contacted him back then. "I could have enjoyed the whole thing more for what it was."
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