The Do s and Don ts of a Public Relations Crisis Managing Crisis Crisis any situation that can affect the well being of an organization Crisis v Emergency there IS a difference o Will the org company go out of business because of what happened o Emergency All lights go out during our final exam emergency because school will still be open the next day o Crisis Business located on 100th floor of World Trade Center lost most of employees a lot of information paperwork etc Those people were in the middle of creating projects and proposals that no one else knows about and can continue to finish for the client Timeframe of a Crisis crisis can either be quick or it can drag out for a long time Shock can t believe it happened Anger get mad Siege mentality shut out the rest of the world o hunker down naval picking close ranks Adjustment do things differently leave their home Adaptation you ve adopted to it now Types of a Crisis If you do the right thing you CAN recover Fire Explosions Product tampering o Tylenol classic good case After 9 11 many restaurants went out of business because no one wanted to Airport security take shoes off belt etc Adjustments may last forever Someone took the capsules poured out the medicine and replaced it with poison People bought the product and died Johnson Johnson immediately took ALL capsules off the shelves everywhere They adjusted to the crisis Have codes on bottles now that tell you where it s made and when wrapped cap etc Outcome They did the right thing and are still 1 selling headache medicine today o Gerber Baby Foods bad case Found slivers of glass in their baby food jars this happened after Tylenol so that had them as an example of how to react Media did report about it and company said it was just an accident didn t do anything about it Outcome Sales went down The private company had to go public just to survive Law suits o Asbestos chemical company Their buildings were full of asbestos which causes cancer Trial bar put a bunch of companies out of business when they found out o Tobacco companies o Alcohol companies Tobacco litigation continues since cigarettes cause cancer People saying they didn t know it would make them sick Companies are learning from others past experiences Starting to dodge the possible future bullet of people suing them Budweiser Campaigns about Don t drink and drive On New Year s Eve they paid for all taxi services to promote responsibility If people try to sue later down the road they can say Well look at all that we ve done Environmental damage o Exxon Valdez Spilled oil in pristine area killing tons of animals It took two weeks for the CEO to get to the crisis area Outcome 25 years later and law suits are still occurring o BP Oil Spill CEO said I d like to get back to my life now Product defects o Ford Pento car Terrorism Car tended to flip over Wasn t really the car though it was how they were testing it Whole DIFFERENT set of project management different circumstances than other types of crisis Can happen domestically or internationally 2 things can happen 1 they can threaten never take action 2 Take action threaten to do it again o PETA Org They don t think we should use monkeys to experiment vaccines even though we have medications now because of them PETA goes into experiment places break in and let out monkeys into the town that are infected with HIV AIDS since they were being tested o People who spike forests with steel nails to save the environment loggers can t cut trees down and many have died trying Other types of crisis he only mentioned in class Labor actions strikes Cover ups o Watergate Scandal Extortion Sabotage o Eastern Airlines unions wouldn t budge so company went down o Coors guy bought 6 pack of beer and stuff a mouse into one of the cans Got the company s attention and basically said If you give me 10k I ll stay quiet Company knew he was lying extortion o Pepsi someone found syringe in can and company knew it couldn t have happened at the manufacturer plant so invited all of the media to look around and inspect since they knew they were innocent o Stock will go down since no one wants to buy anymore company may not be able to Takeover battles o Companies taking over companies Management continuity o Lose all of management Regulations o From government trying to help creating new regulations Ramifications of a Crisis after Stock devaluation survive Decrease in consumer confidence o Don t want to buy product anymore since company doesn t care Loss of the public trust o People don t believe you anymore Lawsuits costly o Quicker you write the check smaller it ll be Government may come in to help Types of Crises Immediate here right now in the middle of it Emerging isn t here yet but you can see it in near distance o Ex Alcohol companies Sustained won t go away still in litigation o Ex Exxon Valdees BP spill Communicating during a Crisis Do not speculate on the cause of the crisis o 11 different questions are asked when a crisis occurs who what when etc o Create sound bites for TV since you know what they re going to ask o DON T speculate about whose fault it is or why it happened say I don t know buy yourself time because you may be wrong and then will have to spend time undoing who what you accused Make your point and repeat it often o Talking points KEY POINTS that you repeat over and over commit these to memory Ronald Reagan good example Establish yourself as the most authoritative source o PR practitioner most authoritative source media will want to talk to CEO Tylenol antithesis of this CEO was very intellectual and well spoken could talk to the media himself Stay on the record o There s no story off the record Characteristics of Today s Reporters Newspapers TV rely on ads to make money don t sell as many ads so have to lay off people Inexperienced probably didn t go to journalism school Young left with new young people Not well trained in journalism Don t understand organizations and government and how they work but still covering these stories Skeptical of any public relations effort older reporters are skeptical think we re trying to manipulate them trying to spin things o When a crisis occurs there s so much against the PR pro o speculation fills the void aka if you don t talk they ll fill their story with speculation o All you have as a PR pro CREDIBITLITY Talking to the Media highlighted key words to help remember Speak first and often Don t speculate Stay on the record Stay with the
View Full Document
Unlocking...