Note 7 was sacrificed, but Samsung Saved
Crisis
may ruin a company’s yearly-built brand image, if it wasn’t’ managed wisely and
timely. A crisis, like Samsung Galaxy 7 Crisis Communication, according to
Suzanne Tavani in Tavani Strategic
Communications, is more than just PR but rather to be related with the business
strategy management and reflective of an organization’s leadership (Alina Wheeler,
88).
Within weeks of launching its flagship
smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, the company later had to recall all of them,
more than 3 million devices it sold, after the reports of overheating and
exploding batteries. Soon after, it halted production and scrapped the products
entirely (David Gilbert, 2016). As estimated, current estimates indicate the
recall’s cost will exceed $6 billion (with one estimate even higher). Moreover,
Samsung also updated and posted the continuous latest news of the products on
official Twitters and Facebook to inform and make apology to the customers. But
the greater concern is about the long-term impact on Samsung’s brand. After
all, it is one of the most valuable global brands. Branding consultancy
Inter-brand estimated Samsung’s 2016 brand value at $51.8 billion. (Dholakia,
2016) From a crisis management perspective, Samsung were carrying a designed
crisis communications plan. And step one, a quick apology and production
withdraw is to communicate with the customers with the updated issues
strategically, following with other steps that with the answers on the media
and public quickly and helpfully.
So, whether Samsung could survive in the long
run since it has sacrificed the new Galaxy 7 series? The answer would be
correct with no hesitate. Though no organization could estimate the potential
impact of the crisis of the brand, the media and public have short memories and
remember how it was solved. The loyal base of existing customer will insulate
and forgive the brand. Since Samsung’s quick response given strong customer
satisfaction with the Note line, plus loyalty to other Samsung products, this
customer base will put the Note 7 fiasco behind it quite quickly. ( MAHESHWARI, 2016) Also,
geographically identified brands bounce usually bounce back quickly as Samsung
used to be the pride of South Korea. And
these effects spill over to other customer groups. Last but not least, the
crisis only credited to a single Samsung product and is self-contained. Thus, the
impact of the crisis will be expected to reduce with the launch of Note 8 in
the future.
References:
1.
Designing Brand Identity, Alina Wheeler, the 4th edition, 2013, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
2.
Samsung Sacrificed the Note 7 to Save
the Company, John Jacobs, 10-14-2016, Times,
http://time.com/4531372/samsung-note-7-recall-fires-overheating-why/
3. Samsung's £16bn problem: The long-term impact of
the exploding Galaxy Note 7, David Gilbert, 09-16-2016, Technology
4. Samsung’s Response to Galaxy Note 7 Crisis
Draws Criticism, SAPNA MAHESHWARI, 10-11-2016, NYtimes,
5. Wells Fargo, Samsung
and the importance for crisis communications plans, Manzer Communications,
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