Is there Really No Such Thing as ‘Bad PR’?
In today’s Wall Street Journal Francesco Guerrera contemplates the degree of damage caused by recent corporate crises at JetBlue (pilot breakdown), Global Payments (personal data exposed) and BATS Global Markets (IPO killed). Looking at stock performance, customer bookings and credit card usage in the wake of the individual disasters, the piece questions if our socially-networked, information-saturated society has helped reduce the lifecycle and impact of crisis situations. Living in a 24 X 7 news cycle certainly means there is more noise in the market and the potential for negative headlines to be replaced quickly with breaking news, however, organizations still have an opportunity and a responsibility to respond to crisis situations with strategic communications and messages.
The most powerful way to weather a corporate crisis is to build a solid brand reputation that engenders loyalty, trust and passion among core audiences (customers, partners, employees, investors, etc.). Brand reputation and loyalty isn’t built overnight – it involves all facets of the organization – and, is reflected in a variety of ways, including communications campaigns that articulate the vision, mission and corporate values. Guerrera’s sources rightly point out that brand reputation helped companies like JetBlue overcome a recent crisis. But, brand reputation can’t be taken for granted and it can’t sustain multiple corporate crises. Each situation slowly chips away at brand value and trust. As a result, organizations need to make changes to ensure that missteps don’t occur again and these changes need to be communicated to appropriate audiences.
We always advise clients to have a crisis plan in place and to revisit the plan often to ensure all facets are current. The plan should include the roster of internal and external executives who will comprise the Rapid Response Team along with roles and responsibilities for each party. Scenario building in the plan will aid with tactical implementation roadmaps and initial message development, all of which will expedite an organization’s ability to quickly and effectively react to breaking situations.
In our experience, organizations that develop a crisis framework move fast and fare well in a crisis situation.
No Comments » | April 3rd, 2012


