Posts Tagged ‘stakeholder’

How Litigation Actually Helps Your Company Improve Its PR Capabilities

June 16th, 2010

Surprise – your widget-making mom-and-pop/mid-sized business/global corporate behemoth has been sued!  Apparently Timmy Goodkid Thompson tried to eat a decidedly non-edible product your business sells, and hurt himself quite amazingly in that effort.  Did we mention it’s your flagship widget, the one that drives 99% of your revenue?

The Thompson family – farmer father, teacher mother, rambunctious and adorable Timmy – have hired a media-friendly law firm, one that has perfected the art of PR stagecraft.  The firm has called a press conference to publicize the lawsuit.  All the 24/7 networks will be there, not to mention local reporters your neighbors know and trust.  Since the scrum will be streamed live, product safety bloggers are all over this one, riding a high-wave of backlash against corporate malfeasance.  Someone (the law firm?) has launched a fake Twitter account in your company’s name, a parody that sarcastically communicates abject, tone-deaf insensitivity with tweets like “next time blend the widget, it’ll digest more easily.”

Your company isn’t sweating, though, because you’re confident your product was not the cause of injury, and that your customers likely will understand this.  More importantly, long ago you hired a smart crisis management PR firm to draw up a crisis response playbook… right?  You did an inventory of interested media, have a holding statement in place, along with a grid that anticipates an escalating public relations meltdown… right?

Ok, enough about the PR nightmare, let’s shift to reality.  Litigation PR makes any company nervous.  No matter how small a lawsuit, the potential for media attention is limitless.  Yet in a way, that’s the beauty of litigation PR – in anticipating lawsuit scenarios, business leaders must identify every stakeholder, and that includes everyone in your company hierarchy.  Imagine the human resources involved in the widget lawsuit:

• Are the front office staff prepared to answer initial phone inquiries, do they have talking points?

• Have the interns been told to stay quiet and report inquiries to supervisors?

• Has the communications office reviewed and updated crisis PR procedures to ensure relevancy? (Note: Big Oil – walruses in the Gulf of Mexico – seriously?)

• Has building security been consulted regarding protestors who may show up at the front door?

• Has a point-of-contact been designated to oversee the entire crisis PR response?

• Has legal counsel examined your supply chain to identify each choke point of liability, and in turn relayed that information to your communications staff so they have statements and talking points ready to address each vulnerability?

• Are the IT staff ready to update the company website immediately with relevant messaging?  Do you have a dark site in waiting for this special occasion?

• Has everyone signed a NDA regarding trade secrets and the relevant aspects of litigation?

Such thorough preparation is essential in litigation PR.  As the company head, you can only achieve this level of care by engaging every tier of staff within your business operations.  That’s why an effective crisis playbook fundamentally requires looking inward, and in doing so your company encourages discipline amongst the ranks and knowledge of the situation.

Nothing looks worse than an erratic or empty media response to a lawsuit, so embrace the possibility of litigation and run the traps to get all employees on the same page.

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Posted in Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Crisis Clients, Crisis Management, Litigation Public Relations, Public Relations Strategy, Public Relations Tips, Reputation Management

Crisis Corner: If the End is Near for BP, What Does That Mean for Your Company?

June 9th, 2010

When the New York Times runs an article implying the end is near for BP, then you know the end is indeed possibly near.  Interesting that one event like an oil spill can do a global behemoth in, even one like BP with a miserable track record on safety (or lack thereof).

Normally, crisis public relations aim to see a client through to resolution of the problem in front of them.  A smart crisis management plan usually incorporates a grid of escalating threats and their consequences.  For example, a negative op-ed about the client might be considered a low-level threat, and the PR response would be proportionate, such as a rebuttal op-ed.  Or, a product recall may be a high-level threat, with the appropriate response being customer engagement and recall information presented on several online platforms.

But, if like BP your company faces a death knell, how should you plan your public relations response?  The scenario is real, and mega companies do implode – think Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers.  What usually follows is a string of scorched earth litigation and restructuring, much like political sausage making that no one likes to see.

If the end is near for your company, that doesn’t mean you can shirk on stakeholder communication.  Here are some reasons why:

• Everyone loves a comeback, so your crisis PR plan should include steps on making yourself accessible post-fallout.

• Reporters, historians, academia and others will continue to write and report about your company – so make sure that your side of the story gets a word in edge-wise.  Explain the domino effect from your own view, so people don’t put words in your mouth.

• If you are ever able to breathe life into the company again, you will need to generate a positive narrative from where you left off, and this requires keeping communications fluid.  Staying engaged with your stakeholders after the company dissolves will allow a better transition.

• As silly as it sounds, closure is just as important in the business world as it is in our personal lives.  Make sure the last word is yours and yours alone. This is the first and perhaps most important step to moving on in the wake.

As of now, BP is playing defense for its short-term response, and has given some hint as to paying claims in the future.  But if there’s no afterlife for BP, then it should start planning for the real worst case scenario, a total corporate meltdown.

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Posted in Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Crisis Clients, Crisis Management, Litigation Public Relations, Public Relations Strategy, Public Relations Tips, Reputation Management

Crisis Corner: Resolving the Company PR Crisis Before It Begins

April 19th, 2010

In most public relations crises, the common denominator remains, maddeningly, the same – a change in tactics and statements, mid-game, that throw more gas on the fire.  Perhaps it’s easy to understand why; we only need to think of our own personal ordeals fraught with anxiety and panic.  In the face of uncertainty, it’s easy to lose grip on rational thought, and even easier to disregard consistent steps that offer a careful exit to safety.

That’s why Praecere’s philosophy on media crisis management and crisis communications places a premium on planning discipline.  After all, crisis aversion is a heck of a lot more fun exercise than crisis management.  From Fortune 100 companies to small businesses, every company – if they haven’t already – must take the following steps:

• Be honest with themselves and others;

• Identify each potential weakness in their product or service;

• Know how these weaknesses may affect relevant stakeholders

• Analyze the most effective way to communicate with these stakeholders;

• Have default and standby messages ready to communicate quickly and buy time;

…. and ….

• Remind themselves to be honest with themselves and others.

Of course, it’s impossible to anticipate every possible permutation of mistakes, miscalculations or flat-out wrongdoing that may occur.  Still, a small investment in crisis management now can avert much more painful outcomes down the road.

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Posted in Corporate Communications, Crisis Clients, Crisis Management, Public Relations Strategy