The Samsung PR team was alerted to the escaped buffalo crisis not through internal channels or news reports, but by a direct call from a journalist they had a personal relationship with. This demonstrates that cultivating strong, informal media contacts provides an invaluable early warning system, allowing teams to react before a story breaks publicly.
The bizarre incident of escaped buffaloes could have been a serious scandal for Samsung. However, because no one was harmed, Australia's "larrikin" (mischievous) media culture framed it as a humorous, "memeable" story. This shows how local cultural context can significantly diffuse a potential crisis, turning it into a lighthearted anecdote.
Samsung's global team ran an ad shoot in Australia without notifying the local office. When buffaloes escaped from the set, the local PR team was caught completely off-guard by a major crisis in their own market. This underscores the necessity of keeping local teams informed of any in-market activity to prevent operational chaos.