Note7 banned on planes: Five burning takeaways from the debacle

In the wake of the announcement that customers would be fined or even denied entry on airplanes if they bring one of Samsung's flagship smartphones with them, the company said it expected the move to cost them about $5.4 billion in profits through March 2017.These numbers in and of themselves are astronomical, but the longer term damage to the brand could make these figures look like cookie crumbs in comparison."From a brand and marketing perspective, this is a huge PR disaster," Tony Chow, director creative & content marketing APAC at Marriott International Inc. commented. "The quality of their products is now under question, confidence in the whole Note 7 line has been affected."It's no secret that Samsung has been very secretive about the whole thing, and responded with faulty replacement phones after the first batch of mishaps, they released vague statements about the issue, and spread confusion about the nature of planned refunds."They did not rise to the occasion," Chow said. "They were dodging the question and have allowed the negative press to exacerbate the issue, all due to an inability or unwillingness to respond."Some things we can take away from the Note 7 debacle:1. Be up-front about any problemsBafflingly, we still do not really know what caused the problems, and the South Korean government has expressed very little faith in Samsung's internal investigations by launching their own probe into the matter.Chow told Marketing that the most important thing you can do is to issue clear statements that address the problems to allow people to understand that this is not a pandemic problem across all products, but rather a specific issue that can be controlled, if not resolved.2. Take control of the narrativeIf you don't clearly address the issues and provide a positive message, alongside smart crisis measures, you allow speculation and sensationalism. Media coverage, in its eagerness to break the news and grab readers' attention, can take the narrative in a very negative direction very quickly, if you don't provide a strong, and perhaps more importantly, quick counter-narrative."You have to anticipate that media can take things out of control," Chow warned.3. Highlight the positivesWhere there is radio silence there will be negative comments on Facebook."You have to talk about the positives, and highlight the positive steps you're taking to address the problems that people are having," Chow explained. "If you don't provide the positives, you allow the negatives to dominate the message, especially online."4. Have clear (and fair) solutions in placeWe're a little surprised that after years of talking about the importance of transparency and fairness in business, veteran tech-giants like Samsung can still get this one wrong. When the recall was first announced in Hong Kong, Samsung staff calmly stated that 'Global does not mean Hong Kong," as if the city was a Martian colony. Moreover, there are different refund measures across different providers and a clear message is lacking.While ultimately Hong Kong customers might be able to get a full refund, in some cases including all accessories as an indicator of goodwill, this initial confusion sparked great backlash against the measures. After all, it's not the customer's fault that their phones might turn out to be a bomb in disguise, and they expect fair compensation. And even if the compensation in and of itself is fair, they need to be shown that it's fair.In other words, you need to make sure that your solutions are easy to understand and communicated clearly, across the board.5. For other brands, your failure is a god-sendWhile this may sound harsh, other brands are currently circling Samsung's share of the market like a pack of hungry wolves. Huawei, Xiaomi and LG are sure to benefit from the hole in the market, and Google just announced its very own high-end smartphone 'Pixel', unintentionally perfectly timed. The Note 7's demise opens up possibilities for Samsung's competitors and winning back those customers that are switching brands right now might be easier said than done.