Insignia Talks

…about the power of communication to create, manage and protect reputations

A series of YouTube videos by an American Airlines employee have added to the issues management challenges of a company already facing an uncertain business future.

The humorous videos by a flight attendant parody the firm’s management and reveal the content of an internal memo sent to staff.  A discussion is developing on ragan.com as to the appropriateness of American Airlines response to the issue and whether it has the right to “censor” its employees.

Crisis management is always more challenging when an issue is internally generated rather than caused by an external event.  To reduce the likelihood of such an incident and therefore minimise reputational harm, a strategy of prevention must be prioritised.  The critical first step in this is the introduction and internal communication of a social media policy.  Although many businesses already have such a policy in place, a significant minority do not.

Whilst a policy cannot entirely prevent an internally generated social media crisis, it does ensure that expectations are clear so that staff understand the ground rules for their use of social media.  Take a look at this site for examples of social media policies from some of the world’s biggest organisations.   American Airlines may well be taking an urgent look at it right now.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

An interview with national radio provides a wonderful opportunity to enhance the reputation of your business, especially when you have good news to tell.  So, when Subway’s President and co-founder Fred DeLuca was invited for an interview on BBC Radio Five Live’s breakfast show following positive financial results and the creation of new jobs, he  should  have been rubbing his hands with glee.

Had he remembered his media training – assuming he had indeed invested in media training – he would have known that the key to success is preparation.  Without proper preparation, a media  interview is a high risk scenario as Mr DeLuca found out to his cost.  (Listen here from 2 hours 51 minutes onwards)

Listen to how he begins to fumble around, giving hesitant and unconvincing answers, refusing to comment and failing to properly address questions about pricing, health and animal welfare.

Avoiding this fate comes down to spending time beforehand developing a plan for your media interview.

Here are three areas to focus on as essential preparation for any media spokesperson:

1) What are the best and worst case scenarios for this interview?

Knowing the best case scenario for your interview (imagining the perfect headline is a useful way of encapsulating this) is an important way of setting the agenda during your media encounter.  It is only by understanding your objective that you can shape and steer the discussion.  Equally, it is only by assessing the worst case scenario – the lines you want to avoid – that you can be prepared to bridge away from those areas and back on to safer ground.

2) What are the questions I would least like to answer?

One of my mottos for crisis communication is “plan for the worst and hope for the best”; unfortunately, too many spokespeople simply hope for the best.  Taking time to predict the toughest questions and preparing strong answers for them means that you approach a media interview with confidence based on the knowledge that you can handle whatever the journalist throws at you.  And do have key facts and figures at your fingertips (the fact that Mr DeLuca was unable to confirm the prices of his sandwiches undermined his credibility)

3) Rehearse

Too many spokespeople simply “wing it”, conducting interviews without any practice.  It may be a risk worth taking for a low key interview with an obscure trade title, but not when you are broadcasting to the nation.  Take time to practice with a colleague or trusted third party: it helps you to finesse your messaging rather than testing it for the first time in a live interview.  For maximum value, take feedback from a third party who not only understands communication and the media, but who is also prepared to give you honest and constructive feedback.

Media interviews are indeed opportunities, and too few spokespeople view them as such. However, they should not be approached without proper preparation and media training or else the opportunity may evaporate and turn into something far more unpleasant instead.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

When LA Fitness threatened to enforce its contract with a heavily pregnant woman who had fallen on hard times, it may have had the letter of the law on its side.  But once the story became public, it was found guilty in the court of public opinion.

LA Fitness is just the latest business to find out that protecting reputation means doing the right thing in the eyes of the outside world, not simply complying with regulations or the law.

Ten years ago, LA Fitness’s dispute with a customer over whether her gym contract could be enforced would have been a private customer service issue in which the company held the balance of power.  Today it requires crisis management skills, is conducted in public and public opinion has far greater influence.

This transparency needs to be understood by businesses and factored into their behaviour, decision-making and communication. The imperative to act in a way that matches the  expectations of external stakeholders is largely driven by the power of social media.  In the old days, customer complaints could be dealt with in private and media criticism dismissed as tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.  Today, because of Twitter, Tripadvisor, Google et al, customer service – and crisis management – has become a spectator sport.  Worse, the spectators actually influence the game.  Whether businesses like it or not, this is the reality.

This transparency has raised the bar in terms of ethical and acceptable corporate behaviour – it’s much harder to do bad things and simply get away with it (which, of course, is a good thing).  It also means that the need for thorough crisis  management planning is more pressing than ever: reputational risk assessment, social media monitoring, scenario planning and realistic social media simulations should all form part of this.  A slow or inappropriate response to a crisis will be punished with damage to reputation.

LA Fitness appeared to be forced into a u-turn, and  this never looks good.  Ultimately, the key for businesses is to control the crisis rather than let the crisis control them.  Being able to perceive a crisis from the outside in and acting quickly and appropriately when company behaviour clashes with public expectations is essential to preserve corporate reputation.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

As I glanced through the statement issued by Costa Cruises in the wake of the dreadful Costa Concordia accident, I noticed how it ticked the golden rules for crisis communication: concern and empathy for human life in para one; actions to address the situation in para two; messages about minimisation of environmental impact in para three.

So far, so good.  And then, in para four, I read this:

“preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship’s Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences”

It is the earliest and most explicit attempt to blame an employee for an incident that I have ever seen, and at best, I view it as an extremely high risk crisis management strategy.

Here’s why:

• it creates the impression of a business willing to jump to conclusions before all the facts are known, rather than keeping a cool head
• it infers that the business’s top priority is protecting its own commercial interests and will use any means to do this, rather than focusing all attention on the human impact at this early stage
• it implies a separation between company and employee which could be seen as artificial
• it portrays an unflattering picture of a large business prepared to cast an individual employee adrift when the going gets tough
• it creates further fuel for an extended crisis – controversy – as the captain denies the accusations

And what if investigations conclude that the captain was not to blame?  In this situation, Costa Cruise’s early pronouncement would be hugely damaging to reputation.

Effective crisis  management is of course about using all means at your disposal to protect corporate reputation.  But that doesn’t mean applying the most expedient and pragmatic message without careful thought. Statements and pronouncements from media spokespeople must be delivered with a clear understanding of not just the immediate term impact, but also how the business wants to be regarded a year later.

As a final point, history shows that businesses which pin crises on “human error” have frequently created the conditions in which human error is likely: insufficient training, a culture of profit before safety or an environment in which front-line employees are afraid to voice concerns, are all conditions which make a “human error” much more likely.

So, even if Costa Cruise’s allegation turns out to be true, it may still not be enough to protect its reputation.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

Blackberry looks set to once again prove the crisis communication adage that it’s not really the crisis which damages reputation, it’s the way in which you respond to it.

On this basis, Blackberry is set to suffer major harm to its reputation (and its business fortunes)  based on a tight-lipped approach to communication and a failure to use social media to communicate its response to the current problems.  Gordon MacMillan’s blog posting on The Wall sums it up perfectly for me – it’s well worth a read: I’ll simply say that I endorse every word and would also add the following.

Swift crisis communication

Any organisation which wants to protect its  reputation in a crisis must be geared up to communicate quickly and expansively in the event of an incident.  For most organisations that must include social media: it’s where the crisis plays out, it’s where customers go to seek information and vent their spleen, it’s where the media turns for information.  And it’s where businesses can quickly exert influence over the communication agenda, and listen and respond to the concerns of its stakeholders.

Social media in crisis communication

In today’s online world, I would contend that even an organisation without a consumer face should have the ability to utilise social media in the event of a crisis.  But if you’re a consumer brand (which Blackberry has chosen to become) you certainly should have this capability.  Moreover, if you’re a  consumer brand in the telecoms space whose devices facilitate communication by social media, I find it truly staggering that you would ignore these channels when your reputation is on the line.

Not only does it go against the guiding principles of effective crisis communication, but it also calls into question whether the Blackberry brand really is at the heart of social media (and therefore the consumer landscape), or not.

Crisis management training

Organisations at the leading edge of  reputation protection have already integrated social media into their crisis communication planning and are running realistic crisis exercises with social media as a core element.  All businesses need to embrace this approach – and quickly – or else risk being overwhelmed by the kind of crisis communication challenge currently facing Blackberry.

Update: 15.20 13 October

Blackberry has now begun the social media fightback with a YouTube video apology from CEO Mike Laziridis in which he admits “we’ve let you down” and commits to more pro-active communication.  Its content, tone and messages are spot on.  But at least 48 hours too late.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

With news that a “rogue trader” is responsible for a $2 billion loss, it is clear that Swiss bank UBS faces a huge crisis communication challenge.  A number of factors make this challenge even tougher than might otherwise be the case.

Preserving UBS’s reputation

Reports that the unauthorised trading was not picked up by UBS’s internal controls could suggest that the real crisis communication challenge centres not on the $2 billion loss, but in preserving the organisation’s reputation as a well managed, secure and professional operation.  These qualities need to be at the heart of any bank’s reputation and so any crisis which indicates their absence poses a major threat.

A lack of credit in the bank

A stock of reputational goodwill can be enormously valuable in a crisis: this can be built up with the right actions, relationship-building and pro-active communication ahead of time.  Unfortunately, UBS has a rather low stock of reputational credit currently.   Recent losses on toxic assets, a tax evasion dispute in the US and job cuts all contribute to an organisation which is low on reputational capital.  This is an unhelpful context from which to engage in crisis communication and protect reputation.

Tight-lipped communication

UBS has been extremely guarded in its crisis communication response with its most visible  presence being a 63 word statement about the issue on its website.  Others have been less tight-lipped. Ratings agencies, academics, journalists, financial analysts and other commentators have been quick to fill the vacuum.  Whilst this is undoubtedly a complex situation and the presence of lawyers will loom large, in a crisis of this magnitude, it is rarely the right strategy to stay so quiet.

Pro-active crisis communication required

The crisis poses a major challenge for UBS and threatens serious damage to its reputation and long term business (its shares dropped by 11% on the day that the news broke).   A pro-active approach to crisis communication may not be enough to fully preserve UBS’s reputational value, but I firmly believe that without it, the damage will be much more severe.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

If you heard that your regular painkiller could have been replaced with antipsychotic drugs instead, you might be a little concerned.  So concerned that you might want a little more information to put your mind at rest. 

That is the scenario facing purchasers of Nurofen Plus following an announcement from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that some packs contain not the expected Ibuprofen, but Seroquel XL, an antipsychotic drug used to treat conditions such as schizophrenia.

Go to the Nurofen website and there appears to be no information about the incident.  Move on to Nurofen’s Facebook page and there’s a great quiz, but no information about the product contamination.  Turn to the website of Reckitt Benckiser and still you won’t find any advice from Nurofen or its parent company. 

So, instead, you pick up the phone and call the consumer helpline listed on the Nurofen website. Unfortunately, news of  the incident hit the BBC around 6pm and the helpline shut at 5pm.

Businesses which want to reassure their customers and retain their loyalty during and after a crisis need to communicate with them.  That means being geared up to communicate via company websites and social media.  It means having the capability to man your customer helpline 24/7 if necessary.  Failing to do this leaves customers in the dark, potentially fearful and with your reputation in the hands of the commentators who are prepared to provide information.  It’s a high risk crisis communication strategy.

Update

Twelve hours later and a terse statement is now available on the Nurofen website, but it contains little information or reassurance.  At 8.06am the customer helpline is still closed and people are beginning to post to the Nurofen Facebook page, for example “Never mind the competitions , what about informing the public of the anti-depressants found in your packs?”.  No information about the problem can be found on Nurofen’s Facebook page.  People are also making their views known on Twitter.  More expansive crisis communication would surely be in Nurofen’s best interests?

Update 2 (26 Aug)

Nurofen has now announced a recall of all stock in retail outlets: a more expansive communication approach is now surely essential.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

For a country whose econony relies on tourism, there’s no bigger crisis communication challenge than dealing with a fatal shark attack.  So it’s little wonder that the Seychelles’ crisis media spokesperson, tourism chief Alain St Ange, sounded under pressure when conducting media interviews about the death of British tourist Ian Redmond.

What is surprising though is that he should have made so many fundamental and damaging mistakes in the way he handled his media interviews.  A thorough reputational risk assessment should identify the crisis scenarios capable of seriously damaging a reputation so that thorough crisis communication training and planning can take place ahead of  a possible crisis event.  Either a shark attack had not been identified as a potential risk (a serious oversight) or insufficient crisis media training had taken place to identify and prepare a spokesperson to deal with such an event.

So where exactly did Mr St Ange go wrong?  Listen to this early BBC interview which illustrates the following errors:

1) Inappropriate balance between messages about the victim versus messages about the Seychelles

Whilst Mr St Ange expresses sympathy for the victim and his family, this is out-weighed by messages focused inwardly on the Seychelles.  This smacks of self-interest and self-justification.  He twice describes the country as being “innocent” as though apportioning (or avoiding) blame is the priority at this stage.  More than this, his attempt to position the attacker as a “foreign shark”  and by inference not the responsibility of the Seychelles, stretches credulity.  The impression created – rightly or wrongly – is that the spokesperson cares more about the impact on business in the Seychelles than the human tragedy.  In other words, the exact opposite of what he should be communicating.

2) Inappropriate tone of  voice

It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.  Mr St Ange fails to convincingly communicate compassion in his tone of voice.  Instead, he sounds business-like, matter of fact and slightly brusque.  The impression is  of someone slightly irritated that he is having to deal with a problem (and the media), rather than someone who cares deeply about what has happened.  Some may argue that the fact he is not a native English speaker is a key factor in his vocal delivery.  I say that’s not good enough: when your reputation is on the line, you cannot afford to field a spokesperson who is unable to create the right perceptions among viewers and listeners.  Crisis communication training is essential to identify and enahnce the skills of your crisis spokespeople

In this later clip, again featuring Alain St Ange, a further problem arises:

3) Poor preparation leads to unwanted headlines

Mr St Ange continues to defend the actions taken by the Seychelles to protect tourists, but in an apparently throw away remark – again communicated in a casual tone of voice - he concedes “we did try, but maybe not enough”.  Guess what the headlines were after this interview?  Almost universally, along the lines of “Seychelles tourism chief admits we could have done more”.  My criticism is not so much the message itself – acknowledging mistakes and committing to address them can be a very powerful and engaging message – more that it appeared to emerge in an unplanned way.  More than this, it seemed to conflict with earlier messages which sought to distance the Seychelles from blame.  To be successful, crisis spokespeople must know exactly want they want to communicate in a media interview and be pro-active in getting those messages across.  Consistency of message is crucial: media interest in crises can be sustained much longer in the event of mixed or conflicting messages.

The role of spokesperson in a crisis carries significant responsibility.  In addition to successfully communicating important information to stakeholders, the impression they create will influence longer term perceptions of the affected organisation.  Choosing the right person for this task, training them properly and providing them with the right messages can make  the differnce between preserving reputation, and seeing it severely damaged.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

News International has applied many of the right crisis communication tactics to preserve its reputation.  So why is it still suffering criticism and damage?

The first reason is of course the sheer magnitude of the issue, the alleged cover up and the time it was allowed to fester without resolution.  But the timing and sequencing of News International’s crisis management response is also partly to blame.  Let’s take a look at three golden rules of successful crisis communication, how News international applied them and why they failed to prevent reputational damage.

1) Take decisive action to address the problem

News International’s announcement of the closure of the News of  the World on 7 July was the epitome of a decisive move and could have marked a significant turning point in this drama.  It failed to do so because the decision left Rebekah Brooks in post, one of the few current employees who was working for the News of the World at the time the hacking took place.  As a consequence, the decision was seen as expedient, and current News of  the World journalists were perceived more as victims than villains.  More than this though, News International’s action in closing the paper and the words that accompanied it, still indicated an organisation in denial of the scale of its problem.

2) Say sorry

In a crisis, lawyers advise never to say sorry; communicators recommend that it should be the first step.  When News International said sorry via full page advertisements in the national press on 15 July, it started to get its tone of voice right for the very first time.  Even more powerfully, when Rupert Murdoch met with Milly Dowler’s parents to express his regret, even Mark Lewis, the Dowler’s lawyer, commented on his sincerity.  But the apology was way too late to have the  impact that News International desired: it was the right message at the wrong time.

3)  Communicate pro-actively

As a media organisation some have found it surprising that News International’s crisis communication has been so lacking: I see it as a very high profile example of “cobbler’s children”.  It was interesting to note that when Murdochs senior and junior spoke to the Commons Select Committee, News International’s share price went up.  By communicating willingly and pro-actively, organisations begin to exert control over a situation and their reputation.  But it doesn’t help when you appear to have been cajoled, kicking and screaming, to that point.

News International’s crisis really began with a culture which allowed – maybe implicitly encouraged – phone hacking and an inability or unwillingness to confront the problem.   When it exploded, its use of all of the right crisis communication tactics, but not necessarily in the right order, meant that recovery was all the harder.

Jonathan Hemus

www.insigniacomms.com

Yesterday we considered the crisis communication lessons that businesses could learn from the News of the World hacking scandal.  Today, guest blogger Nick Woods, head of Publicis Consultants, considers how the paper might recover from its current crisis management challenges.

If you believe Rousseau, man is essentially good. He, or she, has flaws but the start point is that they are born good.

Your view on how this applies to Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Glenn Mulcaire or the coppers that sold stories is yours to ponder but it raises an interesting point about brands.

Very few brands are ‘born good’, rather they are created with the express purpose of making money for their owner.  But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do good, as the NotW is proving – doing good isn’t just a useful pillar when things begin to go wrong it also provides a new potential strategic direction.

The News of the World has, undoubtedly, behaved appallingly and it seems likely we’ll see inquiries, new laws and hefty punishments for those who thought they were above the law.

But, as Colin Myler said in his letter to staff yesterday, the paper has also done some very good things:

“We are the paper that campaigned to enshrine the Military Covenant in law, fought for ten years to establish Sarah’s Law into legislation, the paper of Children’s Champions, the paper that has fought tirelessly against bullying and so much more.”

On top of these they have been one of Help for Heroes’ leading champions; the irony of last night’s reports that they also hacked into the phones of dead servicemen is lost on no-one.

This ‘good’ work could form a part of the brand’s recovery (and recover it surely shall – I predict a circulation spank this Sunday and then a full recovery over subsequent weeks with advertisers quietly returning).

The paper will undoubtedly have to be contrite, apologise and maybe wear some sack cloth, cover its head with ashes and do a fair amount of public wailing but it will also, eventually, need to move on and one possible route is an even more campaigning future.

This is a paper which is read by around 7 million people every Sunday, not just an impressive figure but a powerful one. This is a paper courted by politicians of every hue because of its influence over so many. This is a brand with an enormous opportunity to re-define its entire brand story, to put its shady and seemingly illegal past firmly behind it by finding a new narrative to follow, a narrative that is entirely positive.

If you look across British life there are lots of areas we could improve and if you begin to break it down even simplistically into political, environmental, social, technological, legal and economic, you can probably come up with a few yourself. Now imagine the most widely read newspaper in Britain running multi-platform campaigns in some of these areas.

I know some are talking about the ‘end of the News of the World’ but they’re kidding themselves. Some people there have behaved abominably and will, rightly, suffer the consequences. But like all crises this one represents an enormous opportunity and maybe it’s the NotW’s opportunity to redefine itself as a brand ‘for good’ in both senses.