Under the influence of globalization, the news and PR events of the same brand in different regions will affect each other, and the so-called whole body is involved, and the relevant information of the brand in any country cannot be ignored. Before posting any advertisements and messages, you should pay attention to the latest news of your brand in other regions, otherwise you will be very busy with PR when you step on a landmine.
Taking Samsung’s latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Note 7, as an example, after the phone was launched in mid-August, suspected battery explosions occurred in various places. Samsung announced on August 31 that it was recalling the defective phone and stopping shipments in South Korea, and the next day, Hong Kong media reported that the Note 7 had stopped selling in South Korea. When the pre-booked Hong Kong prospective users were waiting for a response from Samsung in Hong Kong, their Facebook only appeared one advertisement for the Note 7 on September 1, so that netizens searched the response column, posted news suspected of explosion and recovery, left negative comments, etc., and there were more than 100 responses in just two days, which in disguise put the negative news at the top for a long time. Samsung Hong Kong only issued a statement on Facebook on September 2, saying that the Note7 released in Hong Kong would not be affected, but it soon became a platform for netizens to make offensive remarks, and even more so than advertisement posts.
Some netizens laughed and said, “Guan Gong is really good, don’t be idle”! If Samsung in Hong Kong had noticed negative news from other regions before launching the advertisement, it would have avoided a flurry of comments from netizens. Some analysts believe that the incident “has more potential damage to the Samsung brand than short-term economic losses”, but the outside world generally has a positive opinion of Samsung’s decisive and bold decision to recycle the world’s problematic mobile phones.
This incident raises a question worth exploring: how quickly should PR respond? In fact, the company can set up a mechanism to divide public relations incidents into different levels, and the more serious the incident, the higher the level and the faster the response time. It is best to issue a statement within two hours after South Korea announces the recall to avoid affecting the impression of potential buyers in Hong Kong on Samsung.
It is worth mentioning that online news is often faster than the media, but this incident was reported by the media faster. Therefore, whether it is reported on various online platforms or traditional media, as well as relevant news of the brand in any region, it is not necessary to leave out. It seems that in the future, the monitoring of brand messages by public relations will also be globalized, and the work will become more and more busy.
