Samsung absorbed the $5.3B Note 7 recall and survived the Lee Jae-yong bribery case. The 2026 question is whether the brand holds its share of the answer inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
How Boeing, Wells Fargo, Uber, and Samsung rebuilt — or failed to rebuild — after the cycle moved on. Reputation repair, search cleanup, AI-era visibility, and the timelines that actually govern recovery.
Samsung's 2016 — the Galaxy Note 7 recall, the November washing machine recall, the Lee Jae-yong bribery investigation tied to the broader Park Geun-hye political scandal, and the record operating profit that has emerged underneath the negative press cycle. What the broader corporate communications category should be taking from one of the more substantial recent corporate stories.
Three sustained hardware/technology PR operations — Samsung's high-volume engagement, Apple's scarcity discipline, Cisco's B2B brand journalism. What each approach involves and what the broader category should take from it.
McKinney, founded 1969 in Durham NC, joined Cheil Worldwide in 2012. Ad Age A-List 2024+2025, Joe Maglio CEO. Six North American offices, $25.9M revenue 2025, B Corp.
Android smartphones are generating substantially more social media mentions than iPhones — Samsung, HTC, and Motorola combined produce approximately 68 percent of all measured smartphone-related commentary. The disconnect between social media volume and broader market position, and what brand teams should be taking from the dynamics.
Samsung is one of the more substantial consumer electronics communications operations globally. The recent 3D TV launches at CES 2011, the expanding Galaxy product line, the Apple competitive dynamic, and the broader strategic moves that are shaping the broader consumer electronics communications category.
