Apr 5th, 2012 | Communication, Crisis Communication, Media, Public Relations | 1 Comment
It’s a Crisis. Don’t play games with the Media.
by Neil Kuvin
You turn around outside your place of business and hello!! You’re looking into the barrel (in this case the lens) of a media videographer’s camera. You look to the right of the camera and there he is – the most annoying, arrogant member of the local media. He’s on a story-hunting safari ever since one of your long-time, executives was arrested for grand theft.
So, you think you’re ready for this. You think it’s like two gladiators crossing swords. You’re cool. You can handle anything. You’re tough and you’re ready. You attended one of your company’s “Media Crisis Communications” sessions a couple of years ago. You’re ready. Aren’t you?
You smile. He asks his first question: “How long did this fellow work for you?”
Think a minute. Make that 3 seconds. Remember the “pat” answers from that communications session?
1. Yes, I have the answer and here it is.
2. No, I don’t have the answer, but I’ll get it for you.
3. Yes, I do have the answer, but I cannot discuss it.
“OK,” you think, “Number 2 is easy” so that’s what you say. Turns out Mr. Arrogance is not easily put off. He’s working against a tight deadline and you’re going to slow him down? So he applies his “not ready to talk” tactic and throws in a “softball” to warm you up. And your smiling answer is Number one.
He then hits hard with an off-the-record, personnel question that Number 3 can satisfy. Hah, you think. This is getting easy. But he persists and persists, asking things about your arrested employee that are only supposed to be accessed by particular other employees in your company. How do you duck and run?
Let’s look at the situation with relaxed lungs and a dry brow.
There are some situations in which you can legitimately use the third option:
- The case is before the courts.
- For competitive reasons.
- Union negotiations causing a blackout have been imposed.
- Situations involving member, client, employee, or other forms of privacy.
- Employees have not yet been informed (but you’d better take care of that immediately).
- Securities legislation would be breached.
- Issues involving national security.
If the temptation to “no comment” is being used as a substitute for not wanting to deal with an issue, my advice is to wake up. In today’s world, you’re going to have to deal with the issue sooner or later. Sooner means on your terms. Later means on everyone else’s, not just the media. All over the media, fingers are being pointed at management or anyone who has control or command of conditions.
If you keep getting hammered; continuing along the “message, message, message” approach will eventually wear out the reporter (or irritate her/him). A really good, experienced reporter knows how to deal with your bobbing and weaving. So, prepare by having “Crisis Media Training” or at least a rehearsal where one or two of your employees ask you questions that may come your way.
Enough Number 2 and 3 answers and you also risk the allegation that you refused to answer the question. Which in one instance or more you did. But, believe me; it’s better than hemming and hawing or “no commenting.” It also depends on how well you know the reporter. If it’s someone you’ve been working with for awhile, and it’s not a topic of public outrage, and a microphone isn’t being stuck in your face, it’s usually easier to move past the question and deliver a message you want to get out, particularly regarding this incident.
Your treasured reputation is at stake in these coming weeks and months. Anticipate. Rehearse. Take your own bullets first. Don’t use Number 3. Whatever the situation, be prepared!
Mar 19th, 2012 | Communication, Crisis Communication, Marketing, Public Relations | Comments Off
by Neil Kuvin
Did’ja hear the latest in a long line of corporations making public fools of themselves by using past incidents to stir emotions or use examples? Here are just three examples of incredibly bad decision-making and why Public Relations is essential to wipe up the dropped and broken advertising bowl.
UPS buys time in the highly-viewed NCAA 2nd round Kentucky game and builds a commercial around video of Duke’s previous basketball star, Christian Laetner shooting a last-second shot that won the 1992 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. UPS is using the video footage of Laetner’s shot to demonstrate a lack of “logistics” – their latest limp ad campaign. When you see the complete video you know Kentucky’s team left Laetner alone at the foul line at the other end of the court. Logistics indeed. Sounds more like a major coaching mistake by Kentucky. Laetner is virtually unguarded. The ball arrives. Laetner turns and shoots a 16-footer and… we all know the outcome.
And now, 20 years later, probably no fewer than 25 million people saw the spot and except for basketball fans in Siberia, Iceland and Greenland, haven’t the slightest knowledge of why Duke is so hated across the tobacco and horse fields of Kentucky. And this commercial has stirred up the Kentucky Cats’ faithful. They are outraged. Hell, I can’t escape a Kentuckian’s wrath when I proudly wear my 30-year old Duke hat. In fact, about 10 years ago, while wearing the dark blue hat, I was sternly told by a “Home Depot” clerk not only to “get out,” she added, “and don’t come in here again wearing that hat.” Her eyes and hands told me she was serious.
How many of you remember the “New Coke” product and its advertising campaign? That product died a painful and expensive death. Did Coca Cola put anything into Public Relations to mitigate the damage done to their iconic brand and logo? While they didn’t use anything untoward or personally offensive in their ad campaign, they were guilty of even thinking that we consumers would literally eat it up. They think we’re all Coke-worshipping lemmings and will buy anything they produce. I wonder if the person who thought that whole thing up is now waiting tables in Peoria. Just think of the money spent on creating the “New Coke” product, bottling and shipping costs, and then the ad campaign. And no follow-up Public Relations after the product got pulled from the shelves. I’m getting dizzy.
And now the latest in a long line of mistakes with no mop supplied. “Huggies” diapers are, like UPS, offending probably 40-50% of the population with their commercial featuring men changing diapers. The sequences inside the commercial show men to be oafs, irritatingly silly and downright incompetent. Men may not buy their product, but it’s for sure they know how to use it on their child. “Stay at home” Dads and many men throughout the country are furious with the commercial, and rightly so. But will “Huggies’” corporate moguls and overpaid advertising agency creative types change the spot or pull it temporarily to do some Public Relations damage control? Not a chance.
Public Relations is not the end-all and be-all to fixing an image. But it can and does have an impact on diminishing; even taking the edge off what stupid people in critically important positions do between nine and five on Madison Avenue. Sometimes it’s years before the stigma of major advertising mistakes can finally drift away. For UPS, at least here in Kentucky, it’ll be a lifetime.
Feb 6th, 2012 | Branding, Communication, Crisis Communication, Leadership, Public Relations | Comments Off
Use your actions — not a reputation manager
On the Internet a single voice can carry as much weight as the largest companies.
That voice has created a fear factor in companies and organizations, which has spawned the growth of “reputation managers.” These managers came into vogue with the widespread use of computers. They can track an entity’s actions and other entities’ opinionsabout those actions, analyze the statisticsand then work to cleanse negative hits by adding positive comments about an entity to the Internet.
This virtual reputation management is not only manipulative but it can cost thousands of dollars per month.
If PR professionals are to encourage people to trust companies online, you must trust that the Internet community will be, on the whole, fair, as well, says Henry Lieberman, the principal research scientist at the MIT Media Lab.
In his blog for PRSA.org, he cites that reputation management can easily backfire and gives this example: “The Financial Times reported a case of 50 employees of one of Britain’s leading PR firms making Wikipedia edits under faked identities to boost the reputation of one of their clients. I wonder what that did to the reputation of the PR firm. Representatives from PRSA inform me that it is against its Code of Ethics to omit disclosing a relationship to a client. I’m glad to hear it. Incidents such as these undermine trust in Wikipedia and other Internet communities and thus make it harder for reputable companies.”
Fortunately, consumers are becoming savvy enough to ignore the random Internet crazy who insults a business. For example, if you’re a company reviewed online by consumers, remember that one bad apple won’t ruin your whole delicious pie. If you have enough positive feedback from others, consumers probably will understand the random complaint is either bogus or a symptom of one bad experience in a myriad of positive ones.
If those negative comments crop up occasionally, then treat them as an opportunity to show best customer service practices and responsiveness by addressing the problem head-on when possible. Lieberman suggests that the person closest to the situation respond. For example, a complaint about a hotel’s reservation desk should be answered by one of its clerks and not the president and DEFINITELY not the PR professional.
Also, if necessary, tell your side of the story. Consumers understand you also have that right. When doing so, though, make sure to treat the commenter with respect, even if they are not respectful.
Sometimes you can even learn from the complaints if they are valid and continue. Lieberman cites the chorus of voices reacting to Bank of America’s recent planned debit card charges, saying that the particular charge itself wasn’t that onerous; they deserved their reputation for gouging, and that was just the last straw.
Reputation management may grant you a squeaky clean virtual presence, but it’s misleading. Instead of striving for no nicks and scrapes on the Web, strive for an honest portrayal of your entity. That way, customers and you aren’t fooled into thinking you’re something you’re not.
Your biggest asset is not a high-priced management company. It’s you…an organization dedicated to delivering unique products and wonderful customer service with all ethics intact.
by Stacey McArthur
Oct 19th, 2011 | Communication, Crisis Communication, Public Relations | 1 Comment
Your phone rings at home at around 9:00 p.m.
It’s a TV reporter telling you that one of your employees called to say she has been sexually harassed by another employee and you are now accused of not paying attention and not having any policies in place to address the situation. The real and present danger is in your reaction to the news. What are you going to do and when? Is the tendency present to shush it up and pray it goes away? How do you respond to the anxious reporter on the other end of your phone? A lack of response or the wrong comment can and will damage your reputation immeasurably.
An emergency response plan should already be in place; one that addresses many categories of crisis, most assuredly one involving sexual harassment.
Other instant crisis conditions would involve acts of God, and rumor. You know rumor – those whispers going around the organization that you ignore, expecting that no one on the “outside” will ever hear about George, your bookkeeper, who likely made off with tens of thousands of embezzled dollars. But you still haven’t found the time to conduct an audit and establish his guilt.
Back to the phone clutched tightly to your ear as you swallow hard after hearing the reporter’s first question. Have you prepared a crisis communication plan that allows you to defer instantly responding to the reporter until you establish some facts by communicating with others in your organization?
After spending over 30 years in TV newsrooms, I know of no professional, experienced reporter who would deny you the opportunity to get facts assembled and then call back in time to meet a newscast or publication deadline. But that reaction by you should be a result of a plan. Many times the knee-jerk reaction is either to go off half-cocked or say the deadly words, “no comment.” Being on top of every crisis requires your sweating the small stuff, like what do I do if a reporter calls me at home late in the day?
Some examples of recent instant crisis include the bursting of an Exxon-Mobile oil pipeline beneath the pristine waters of the Yellowstone River or the toppled crane in Manhattan that left several dead in the street, or the discovery that a driver for a national trucking firm was the cause of a horrible head-on collision (likely the result of him texting at the moment of the crash). And what if you’re the CEO of Bank of America and thousands of consumers are reacting very negatively and very loudly to your plan to increase debit card fees?
So, how do you handle lightning in the bottle when the crisis falls on your shoulders? Let’s put the question out there one more time. DO YOU HAVE A CRISIS COMMUNICATION PLAN? Good for you if you do. Get one together immediately if your answer is no.
A few tips:
- Reporters want to talk to the boss. The CEO or GM is who the media wants to hear from. You have to be the voice of reason and control in crisis situations. That calm, assuring voice positions the firm to the public, the employees and the shareholders. In your communications plan, there must be a section devoted to media response training. Most PR firms have the people and resources to put a training session together.
- Act with urgency. In the case of a genuine major crisis you may want to call a news conference for that afternoon or the next morning. But get your response done NOW.
- Bad news out first. Don’t dribble effects of the crisis over a period of days. Once you have all of your department heads together and everyone lists the impact of the crisis, you need then to let it all hang out. But be sure you have a “here’s what we’re doing about it” section prepared as part of your answer.
- Consider using social media to mitigate the perception of “hiding” from the public. For instance, after checking with your legal counsel, put a temporary Facebook page together. Or consult with those in your firm who know how to utilize Twitter and get instant updates out to all reporters in your area. Also, have your web manager put together an add-on page to communicate instant updates on your company website.
- Keep employees informed. First of all, department heads should have held meetings to get facts out to their division employees with the instruction that they are not to share any particulars to outsiders since this is a crisis of some magnitude and there is one voice representing the company – the boss. The last thing you need during this initial and crucial period of communication is rumor.
- Tell the truth. Dealing with the crisis is enough of a struggle. Hiding or shading the facts is guaranteed to push you into a ditch. Stay on the road and stay dry.
Take the first and most important step. Pull together a committee of three or four of your department heads and one or two employees. Talk honestly and openly about things that could happen and what would you do. Take notes and draft a Crisis Communication Plan. Send an email and hard copy to each and every department head.
Stuff happens. It’s not a question of if. It’s the acceptance that it will be when.
By Neil Kuvin
Oct 18th, 2011 | Communication, Crisis Communication, Media, Public Relations | Comments Off
The overused Media Relations chestnut is still “You are what you say.”
That goes for your pledge to your client as well as how your client (or you) responds to a legitimate, albeit tough question, from a reporter. Dealing with a reporter when you have a camera and microphone in your face, and you’re already under pressure because of the incident that got the reporter there in the first place, is daunting at any time, under any conditions.
Reporters couch questions in order to get a tasty tidbit or two that will punch their story and maybe get them the lead at 6:00 p.m. or the story on page one. That reporter and the newspaper section or TV show editor are counting on a meaty, intelligent, thorough answer. The good ones will continue to press until they either quit in disappointment or get most of what they were looking for.
You know that cooperation can ultimately lead to your getting quoted in print or on the air. You make the reporter’s job so much easier when you’ve done a good job of prepping your client on how to speak in sound bites. And how can you get the boss to master that art? Here are a few suggestions:
Knowledge is irreplaceable: Tell a story or give an example from either another (unnamed) client or from another incident even in a distant state that might have relevance. Tell the story to your client in short, clipped sentences and tell him/her what you’re doing. Make up sample questions that a savvy reporter might ask in the example story. Ask your client how he/she might respond. Critique and suggest.
Use similes or images: Memorable is what you’re looking for and memorable is what you’ll get when metaphors are employed. They add a lift to the response and shed more open and free light on the answer to the question. Example: “You know when that very same problem happened to The Jones Company, just like us, they saw the need to close several of their locations. Remember those ‘We’re Sorry We Have to Close Down’ signs? They said more about the current economy than a dozen news releases.”
Compare and contrast: Do all possible to be positive. When responding to a question that puts you on the spot, try always to add “We’re making many changes to correct this situation” kinds of comments. Don’t avoid answering the question. Just be sure to punch your answer a little with a positive perspective. Compare and contrast. The reporter will use the short, clear, concise and positive response over a long, rambling, excuse-filled answer.
Rehearse the client. Like knowledge being irreplaceable, practicing how to address questions, including body language, bold voice, eye contact, are all essential to what the viewer sees, and even how confidence looks in print. Responses will be tighter, simpler and more informational when confidence surrounds the answers. Even in print, assurance and poise come through.
Effective media relations is in the PREPARATION!
by Neil Kuvin
Sep 28th, 2011 | Communication, Crisis Communication, Leadership, Public Policy | Comments Off
In a crisis communication situation, communicating who you are and what you stand for can either put you in a shark-filled tank or be an example of your integrity and class.
The most current illustration of this either/or condition is the case of the two major executives of the bankrupt California solar energy company, Solyndra, Inc.
Subpoenaed to appear on Capitol Hill last week, Solyndra’s CEO, Brian Harrison, and the company’s CFO, Bill Stover, responded to lawmaker’s questions with a stiff, “On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer any questions.”
Now, that’s communicating what?
While constitutionally protected, these two men have extremely valuable and important inside information that could inform the loaning institutions of the reasons for the declared bankruptcy, as well as give the thousand or so out-of-work Solyndra employees a sense of what went wrong and why they are now in unemployment lines. Communicating without fear of legal responsibility also is a possibility that their lawyers could work out with the congressional panel prior to their appearance.
Years of experience with training clients in crisis communication conditions include imploring them to be open and truthful. Prepare answers to questions you know are coming. Prepare responses to possible questions you don’t want to hear but fear might be coming. Respond with brief, calculated and informative answers. Respond honestly to follow-up questions. Refer to already prepared response documents or statements available online or in news releases. And did I already say, tell the truth?
The congressional committee examining the events surrounding the government-backed loan to Solyndra of over a half-billion dollars is now presented with an insurmountable barricade by these two men in their side-stepping of preparing true and honest answers to the downfall of their company. The committee chair called the bankruptcy a “heist” and said there might be “co-conspirators called the U. S. Government.”
Those personal comments aside, the use of the 5th Amendment in this situation robs the Federal Government who entrusted these men with the financial resources they needed of ever knowing what really happened, not to say anything of the public’s right to know.
Communicating truth, honesty, integrity and remorse in a crisis communication situation is the best way to help the cause of understanding. The pleading of constitutionally protected 5th Amendment rights is a major legal maneuver that, right or wrong, brings doubt to the equation. No matter how or when the truth ever comes out, these men and Solyndra, Inc. will forever be branded by their response.
by Neil Kuvin
Aug 15th, 2011 | Crisis Communication, Media, Public Relations | 3 Comments
When a reporter comes knocking at your door during a company crisis, don’t panic. Managing the media in a crisis doesn’t have to be it’s own crisis if you just remember these four simple tips.
Pick Your Team
If you have a crisis communications team in place, they can quickly identify what actions should be taken. The team should consist of key players in the situation like the CEO, the chief of public relations, the manager of the area involved in the situation that brought on the crisis and a lawyer. The team will decide the company spokesperson for the crisis and determine the positioning of the message that addresses the problem.
Tell the Truth
You must remember one key phrase: “Tell it all, and tell it fast.” If you’ve made a mistake, admit it up front. Don’t let the media guess or assume what is or isn’t wrong. This will also help you re-establish credibility and confidence with your audiences. To do this, never lie. Also, never ignore the situation because that will only make things worse.
Know Your Media Policies and Procedures
Select a place to be used as a media center. It should be some distance from offices of the crisis communication team; spokesperson and emergency operations center to ensure media are not in the middle of the action. If there is a visual (a fire or rescue operation) don’t make the media center in such a remote site they can’t see what is going on because they may not show up and if they do you will loose their confidence. It may appear that you are hiding something. It is best to restrict all interviews to the primary spokesperson, back-up spokesperson or technical expert. Controlling the interview process is key to managing the crisis. However, reporters do have the right to interview anyone, and if they don’t get the answers they want from you, they will get them somewhere else.
Practice Tough Questions
A crisis is always difficult when dealing with the media. Therefore, tough questions and rehearsals are necessary to help the spokesperson prepare. At the onset of the crisis, the spokesperson, backup and advisors must spend time rehearsing prepared statements and answers to possible “tough” questions reporters may ask. If possible, similar rehearsals should be conducted prior to each media interview, briefing or news conference. Anticipate and practice new questions as the story evolves.
by Stacey McArthur
You turn around outside your place of business and hello!! You’re looking into the barrel (in this case the lens) of a media videographer’s camera. You look to the right of the camera and there he is – the most annoying, arrogant member of the local media. He’s on a story-hunting safari ever since one of your long-time, executives was arrested for grand theft.
