When we wrote recently about the Samsung crisis we focused on how the company had managed the burning reputational issues around its Galaxy Note 7 phone.
What we didn't look at in any great depth was the language the company had used.
Having had a bit more time to look at the crisis, the words used by the electronics giant actually make for some very interesting reading and learning.
For example, a product recall was referred to as an ‘exchange programme’, which doesn’t quite convey the urgency which might be needed when your handset could burst into flames at any moment.
Equally, when reports emerged about supposedly safe replacement devices also combusting, we were told the company was ‘temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note 7 production schedule’. Just 24 hours later, we learnt that new production was precisely zero as the decision was taken to call time on the model.
What these two examples show is an appetite to play down the seriousness of what has happened. Samsung may as well have said ‘there’s nothing to see here’ or ‘it’s no big deal’.
It is in short, spin as the cartoon above expertly suggests.
A clear aim in any crisis media management situation is to minimise the organisation’s reputational damage. But that cannot be achieved by trying to minimise the scale of the crisis itself because, ultimately, as more and more customers take to social media to voice their concerns and journalists dig further, the full magnitude of the issue will become clear.
Honesty is the best policy and customers are more likely to remain loyal if they feel you are being open with them.
Compare the language used by Samsung with that used during the start of another recent reputational crisis which engulfed a household brand:
“Let’s be clear about this, our company was dishonest, with the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and the California Air Resources Board and with all of you.
"In my German words, we have totally screwed up."
These were the words of Michael Horn, the US Chief Executive Officer, at the start of Volkswagen’s emissions scandal.
It’s language which connects with the audience because it is exactly the sort of words and phrases they would use if they were telling the story to their friends.
It is also endearingly honest, with no attempt to cover-up or play down the significance of what had happened.
It worth pointing out that Mr Horn also went on to apologise in the same speech saying ‘this kind of behaviour I can tell you from the bottom of my heart is completely inconsistent with our core values’.
When you are caught up in a crisis or a scandal – and it is hard to describe the VW example as anything other than a scandal – then you need to be seen to be contrite. But there is an art to it and it is something CEOs often get wrong – your apology must be seen as genuine.
But at Samsung ‘sorry’ seemed to be the hardest word to say until this week when Dong-Jim Koh, the chief of its mobile division, finally issued an apology.
Frankly that apology came far too late, but it shows Samsung is at least trying to get a grip on ‘Galaxy gate’.
It must now ensure that future announcements convey the seriousness of the situation and the impact it has had on customers.
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