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Lots of people say you should call your politicians to demand change. What about feeding them? East Haven, Connecticut, Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. ruffled a lot of feathers this week when he told a reporter that he would address Latinos' concerns over police discrimination and abuse by "eating tacos." Maturo has since apologized numerous times, but activists around the country continue to take him to task. Some, like Connecticut's Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, have asked for his resignation. Others have gotten a bit more creative with their protest....
Joe Maturo is a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Well, perhaps that is not the best fast food metaphor but the East Haven, CT Mayor delivered a whopper of a bad interview the other day. While being questioned by WPIX-TV about the arrest of four police officers who were charged with unlawfully targeting Latinos in town for searches and abuse -- the mayor was asked what he was doing for the Latino community. Kind of a broad open question. The Mayor opened his mouth and stuck his foot in it by saying "I might have tacos when I go home." Yeah, that will help....
Communicating in an environment of risk is one of the more difficult roles for senior communications strategists.... In a recent article Maule cites research that identifies five key attributes for effective risk communication: competence, objectivity, fairness, consistency and acting in good faith. He cites research that suggests communicators should understand how each stakeholder group looks at risk, and at the world. This may require research in the form of traditional focus groups and surveys, or through metadata from social intelligence that unpacks the public dialogue and what it means for a company, product or issue.... [Valuable crisis management insight - JD]
Cineplex Australia Pulls Uncensored Twitter Feed After Embarrassing, Foul-Mouthed Tweets... A movie theater chain is in hot water after an incident with an uncensored Twitter feed on their website. This is a perfect case study for businesses considering integrating Twitter into their websites, complete with a big flashing “Warning” sign.... [Not just McDs; cautionary tale - JD]
When organizational crises occur, such as plane crashes or automobile recalls, public relations practitioners develop strategies for substantive action and effective communication. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that the way in which news coverage of a crisis is framed affects the public's emotional response toward the company involved....
You guarantee your clients confidentiality. But then one of them bashes you in the media. The client’s story is false. What should you do? You represent an organization with a vulnerable client base, say victims of domestic abuse or recovering addicts. As a matter of policy, you guarantee your clients confidentiality. But then one of your clients bashes you in the media. The client’s story is false. What should you do? If you respond to the specific charges, you’ll betray your promise of confidentiality and hurt your work with other clients. If you don’t, your organization will be portrayed as clueless, heartless, or downright inept....
The latest round of damage control initiated in the wake of a Tweet involves pizza, a receipt, and an understandably irritated customer. But once again I’m left wondering if the entire situation should have been handled differently. For some background, a teenaged cashier at a Papa John’s franchise used a racial slur to identify customer Minhee Cho for a takeout order, and Cho posted a picture of the receipt on Twitter. The picture received thousands of re-Tweets, and Papa John’s did respond to her about seven hours after she posted it. There are a bunch of issues here. I’ve seen it suggested that seven hours is too long, even though this was on a weekend and involved a franchise....
[Rich Becker tackles a tough issue - JD] Bill Sledzik is right. The Penn State scandal is not really a public relations case study. It can't be "fixed." The only thing left to do is continue to cooperate with transparency and suggest remedies to minimize such atrocities from happening again. Attorney General Linda Kelly described it precisely: "This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys. It is also a case of high-ranking university officials who allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury that was investigating a series of assaults on young boys."...
Harassment charges are important. But so is so much else. And so here we are, into the second week of Cain-demonium: the breathless reporting, speculating, and opining about the late-1990s sexual harassment—or is it something more now?—controversy that has come to haunt (or help?) the candidacy of Herman Cain. Just when it looked like the media had finally tired of the matter, enter Gloria Allred and the biggest break in the story yet: a press conference with Sharon Bialek, the first accuser to go public. Yesterday’s press conference was deemed roundly big and newsworthy, live-blogged by Andrew Sullivan and livestreamed by CNN, Slate, and Politico. And TMZ....
Like most crises, this one was predictable and mostly avoidable. With the volume of passengers and cargo handled by major airlines, missing or damaged luggage is common. A missing pet should set off crisis management alarm bells all over the place but apparently not at American Airlines. The story began when Karen Pascoe and her longhair cat Jack arrived at New York’s JFK airport for a flight to California six weeks ago. That’s when the fur began to fly....
From hurricanes and tornadoes to wildfires, co-ops are harnessing the power of social media to reach out to members during times of crisis. “Ignore using social media for crisis communications at your own peril,” cautioned Chris Powell, director of public relations at Albemarle Electric Membership Corp. “Members not only expect real-time information, they expect to be able to respond back to it,” said Powell, adding that members always have the option of creating their own sites offering positive or negative feedback. “Within five years I expect social media to be the dominant force in crisis communications.”...
The crisis at the News of the World broke in July 2011. ...From these quite modest beginnings grew a scandal whose revelations have laid bare journalistic practices which were not confined to phone hacking, nor to the NotW, and involved issues even more serious: the assumption by leading journalists working for the most widely read section of the British press that the private lives of anyone in whom they wished to take an interest should be open to their gaze and use; increasing subordination of the political class to tabloid pressure; and the possible (as yet unproven) corruption of officers of the Metropolitan Police....
PR professionals are familiar with the crisis drill, because we’re called upon when crisis strikes and we’re prepared with our crisis plans in place. Today, executives realize that crisis takes precedence, as their companies are in the public’s critical eye, their brands are the topic of constant conversations and communication travels more quickly than ever before through social media channels. The difference between the PR crisis manager and the pre-crisis doctor is the ability to use the very channel that causes the crisis, to prevent the situation from either starting or spiraling out of control. It’s one thing to prepare how you would manage the situation but it’s an entirely different strategic process to try to prevent it from happening. Today we’re able to scan, monitor and respond more proactively to all different types of media, including the negative conversations in social media communities. There should be no waiting or hesitation. If two hours of crisis goes by, then those two hours have the potential to lead to serious reputation issues and damage....
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Handling multiple crises at once is something we in public relations don’t talk about, because it rarely occurs. But it is occurring now with the Carnival Line and the wreck of the Costa Concordia. Here are the crises within the crisis...
Speed, sensitivity, and consistency are just a few of the elements necessary for having things go as smoothly as possible during this difficult process. There is no end to plant closings and layoffs, whether in good economic times or bad ones. How a company conveys this awful news reflects its values. Every situation is unique, but here are communication guidelines I hope you never need....
Last week, Erica wrote about how a Facebook promotion landed Timothy's Coffee in hot water. McDonald’s is suffering a similar fate after losing control over a recent #McDStories hashtagcampaign. Although it started as a way to engage and share stories about the fast food chain, suppliers and staff, the hashtag instead brought out consumers making fun of and negatively commenting about McDonald’s. (The Huffington Post has a slideshow with some examples of the Twitter backlash.)...
PR and customer service are becoming intertwined because of social media. Check out three case studies on the topic, and takeaways for your business. In the wake of the N-Control customer-service-turned-PR disaster, last week shined light on three more companies that faced PR issues driven by social media mishaps. Quick overviews...
The pizza chain became a lightning rod for criticism after it insulted an Asian-American woman, and the incident provides crisis lessons for all PR pros.
During a crisis, the most credible voice may not belong to you. So who’s going to help you by speaking on your behalf? ...Have you identified and written down the names of third party surrogates from outside your organization who might help you defend your brand when a crisis strikes?... [Smart crisis planning strategy - JD]
Yet Eggleston is also quick to note one problem that the digital revolution has created and that companies can address to manage the reputational burden on companies embroiled in high-profile enforcement actions. “The real problem is that the headlines related to the case live forever on the Internet. Years after a company has remediated the situation, the bad news still pops up on the search engines and continues to tarnish the company’s reputation.”... [The importance of proactive, post-crisis PR - JD]
Every day, public relations professionals help people understand the reasons why an organization says and does the things it says and does. But one thing public relations professionals cannot help people understand, and should never have to, are an organization’s moral and legal failings. Example: The ongoing crisis at Penn State, which entails its failure to report allegations of sexual abuse of minors by former Nittany Lions assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, to the proper legal authorities....
David Marriott never visited Amanda Knox during her four years in an Italian prison. He met her this month, when she stepped off a plane in Seattle. Yet for Knox and her family, Marriott was as important a player in her ordeal as anyone in the courtroom. As Knox’s publicist, beginning three days after her arrest, Marriott worked to convince the international public that she did not murder her British roommate while studying in Perugia.
Social media crises are on the rise, but 76% of those that occurred since 2001 could have been diminished or averted with the proper social media investments, according to a report by Altimeter Group released on Wednesday. For the report, entitled “Social Business Readiness: How Advanced Companies Prepare Internally,” Altimeter Group analyzed 50 social media crises that have occurred since 2001 and found that those reaching mainstream media have risen steadily through the past decade, with just 1-2 incidents per year in the first five years and a total of 10 social media crises last year alone....
...Whether you're dealing with bungled distribution channels, a spokesperson scandal, or an environmental disaster, the way you respond has a direct impact on the future of the company. Here are the seven most common mistakes made by companies during a PR crisis. Avoid them at all costs...
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....
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