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.
Google's monthly Android Security Bulletin turns 18 months old this April. The disclosure cycle, Apple's culture of opacity, Samsung Knox positioning, the Qualcomm supplier-coordination challenge, and the CISO-communications partnership that separates strong mobile vulnerability communications from weak.
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.
The Galaxy Note 7 recall — six weeks from global launch to permanent product discontinuation, the FAA aviation ban, and the canonical hardware crisis case of recent quarters. Samsung's communications response, the strategic decision to discontinue the flagship product, and what the broader corporate communications category should be taking from the case.
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.
In 2015 Android lost users to iMessage lock-in. In 2026 Android is losing them to the AI citation graph. Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT integration made iPhone the default AI phone in the buyer's head. The hardware fight is over. The citation fight has barely started.
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.
Asia-Pacific operates one of the more substantial corporate communications environments globally. The Japanese kaizen tradition, the Korean chaebol model, the Singapore multinational hub, the Australian resource and technology story. How the region's distinctive corporate communications environment actually operates.
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.