in Late 2016 The FAA issued a safety alert to the airlines regarding the Samsung Note 7 and its exploding battery issue. Airline gate attendants announce to millions of travelers every day the special regulation to completely turn off the Note 7 phone to avoid a potential battery explosion during flight. To the everyday person, this might seem like horrible news for Samsung. However, this kind of exposure may actually improve the brand awareness of Samsung in the long run.
There is no question that in the short term the Samsung brand will suffer a PR hit, not to mention the one billion in actual costs to recall and replace the Note 7 or the over 14 billion dollars in market capitalization lost as a result of the battery issue. So, how can the news of an exploding battery help the Samsung brand? The answer is lots of free exposure results in what is known as the “sleeper effect.”
At the time of the incident, you would have to have been living under a rock not to be exposed to the Samsung name as every print, radio, T.V., and internet news outlet features story after story about the exploding phones. By repeating the Samsung name over and over, nearly the entire planet has been exposed to the Samsung name, although not with a great association and a loss in trust. However, in the end, hardly anyone can say they have not heard of the brand Samsung. Now let’s add to all this media coverage what is known as the sleeper effect.
According to Wikipedia, “The sleeper effect” is a psychological phenomenon that relates to persuasion.” Wikipedia goes on to explain that when people are exposed to a message over and over, social scientists that study consumer reactions say a person’s attitude towards the brand displays a significant increase. However, their newly formed attitude gravitates back toward the opinion held prior to receiving the message, almost as if they were never exposed to the communication.
Before the battery issue, many people either had never heard of Samsung and the Note family of phones or they had only heard positive things. In fact, the messages about the Note 7 and its predecessor versions were very positive. Then, the battery issue hit and folks heard the disparaging message everywhere. However after Samsung fully addresses the battery issue and the smoke cleared, folks will forget the disparaging messages about the battery explosions.
In fact, less than 6 weeks after the first reported battery issue Samsung stock reached a new high erasing the 14 billion dollar loss in market capitalization and is continuing its rise. Research on the sleeper effect suggests that folks forgot the exploding battery and again are focused on how good the phone and Samsung really are.
To see how adeptly this psychological phenomenon can be wielded in the hands of an expert, one needs to only look at Donald Trump’s campaign for the Presidency of the United States. Every day during the campaign, there are tons of disparaging messages, such as #PussyGate, coming out of the Trump campaign that got picked up by the media. This attention has resulted in billions of dollars in free media exposure for Mr. Trump. Has all this negative messaging hurt him? I’d say no give that he won the election.
In fact, I’d venture to say that all these disparaging messages are intentionally fabricated by Mr. Trump and the campaign to ensure constant media coverage. I add that the disparaging messages and the sleeper effect have significantly aided him in capturing the Republican ticket and perhaps even the Presidency.
Of course, as business owners, we never want bad PR about our company. However, bad PR can aid in increased awareness of your company outside your loyal customers. Bad PR doesn’t have to be all bad news if the business takes steps to correct the problem in a visible way. It can even leverage free media coverage to boost the business’s brand awareness in the process.
Do you have a plan to leverage bad PR to your advantage by exploiting the sleeper effect and bolstering your brand awareness?
