Tradigitalist.com

I'm back.... (and so are the crises)

Well its been a while. Things with work and life has been a bit crazy, so the blog has taken a bit of a hit and  for that I apologize.

While I've been away, the crises have continued, and I'm not just talking about the economic downturn that we've faced. Every thing from the peanut butter recall, Blogovitch, Steve Jobs might have a heart attack, no he's fine, no he's under treatment, he's taking a leave to the Michael Phelps "bong" photo, to the A-Rod steroids story.

Now, I am a Red Sox fan (those who know me are instantly saying duh!). But when I heard the news at the gym, and was honestly saddened. Say what you want about the problems of Baseball over the past few years, but I was hoping that the ONE guys who could possibly take out that cheating SOB Barry Bonds records would be actually clean, thus negating the benefits of the drugs. Even though he is a Yankee, I was comforted with the thought that the best player of my lifetime was clean.

Well that blew up in my face didn't it. In an instant, A-Rod becomes A-Roid and we are all stuck in an era that will FOREVER be linked to cheating (I'm an optimist that only thought it was a couple of people who were on da juice). 

But as a person who examines and works in crisis communications, the way that he handled the story coming out in the media was dead on perfect. (The people who say he should have gotten a head of the story are unrealistic). A-rod's interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons (easily the best sports writer working today) was honest, authentic and contrite. He admitted that he took steroids over a certain period, and he essentially asked for forgiveness. (BTW, the background of the interview that Gammons gave to MIke and Mike this morning was fantastic. You can find it on ESPN.com).

Executives (or Baseball players) who constantly blame someone else and do not take responsibility for their own actions make their situations ten times worse. Acknowledging a mistake and how you are going to fix it are the perfect tools in handling a crisis, both in traditional media, and online.

Your Internal Crisis

So everyone is worried about the economy and they are asking the same questions:

 

Is my job going to still be there tomorrow? 

What about my mortgage? 

And my retirement/401K/Savings? 

Yeah forget about that one. The entirety of the United States' the world's workforce are having their sleep affected by worries of trillion dollar deficits and idiots on wall street who don't know good investments from their... well you know.

From an employer's standpoint, how do you deal with a generally anxiety ridden workforce? If you have to layoff some people, how are you going to handle the inevitable gossip, worries and rumors that are ALWAYS left in a layoff's wake?

Most employers forget about the communications that need to accompany an economic downturn. With or without layoffs, your employees are nervous. They need reassurances that things will OK and that you know what you are doing to succeed while others will struggle. If you are going to have to "downsize," a plan needs to exist on how to communicate to those who remain. Its needs to focus on the positives that come out of a downsizing. Its not that far off from how a company needs to treat crisis communications. If this isn't done, you run the risk of not only having bad press coverage regarding your companies longevity, but you also run the risk of having those internal rumors spread around the world (see, social media is a real thing).

Now I may not have the most extensive work history, but I have seen drastic differences on how negative news is communicated. On one hand, I've been in meetings where financial information is communicated to an entire company by senior management in a " here's where we stand, here's what we have to do. We're all in it together" mentality. I've also worked for a company where every week someone else was getting fired, with no word from the man the glass office looking down on his worker bees. It was drastic to see a growing number of empty cubicles and office in a space that was full of people not more than two months prior. The moral of the company was low and the gossip and whispering were unreal.

How do you feel? Do you think that your workplace can endure the economic downturn?

Happy (Insert the holiday of your choosing)

With the year wrapping up, I just wanted to wish everyone out there a happy whatever-it-is that you celebrate at the end of the year. I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked this year (employment will do that to you), but there is a lot that I am happy for this year. 

All I ask is that, particularly now, you think of something nice to do for other people. The economy sucks. People are losing their jobs. Families are separated with loved ones fighting in the middle east (check out changefor20.com). There is no time like right now to just be nice to each other (whether you're shopping for that last minute gift, or you go buy that homeless guy in front of your building a cup of coffee).

I'm off to Boston for the holidays, to spend time with my family, hear stories from my father who just came back from his pilgrimage to Mecca, and take the wife to her first Hometown Throwdown. But soon I will be back with some continued ramblings about the world of crisis communications and the pitfalls that companies continue to find themselves in (the fallout of the financial crisis is starting to hit the communications world- just look at this unbelievable statement that came from the spokesperson of JP Morgan Chase). But for now, hold on to that special someone (or pet, plant, or other inanimate object) and enjoy the holidays. 

Don't Forget the Advertising...

When I was at Boston University getting my undergrad degree in public relations, their was an heir of superiority within the program towards the kids down the hall in the advertising program. Essentially, the PR kids felt that because what they were doing was based on intelligence, the crafting of prose, and creating the messages for brands to communicate with their customers. The advertising kids were coming up with monosyllabic posters.

This is obviously ridiculous, but the PR vs. Advertising debate continues. Is a brands website an extension of the visual advertising that they are putting forward? Or, is the website a vehicle for a brand to put their messaging together and should be run by those on the public relations side of the business. The answer to this debate, I think, wont really matter in the next couple of years.. The truth is that in the next few years, "PR agencies" and "advertising agencies" will be a thing of the past. The agencies that succeed will be able to combine all facets of communications in a single offering.

The same thing applies to crisis communications. Even though crisis communications and public relations are synonymous with each other, its necessary to include all aspects communications. While the concepts of public relations and social media are important in manganging a crisis, ignoring advertising is something that will cost you. 

Whether it a paid search campaign to make sure that your messaging is staying top of mind, or buying a full page advertisement to come clean on how you may have ruined an industry (in case you see GM's recent apology ad) it is necessary to include advertising components into your crisis preparations.

A little Levity for your Crisis....

Please enjoy the funniest interview I've ever seen on blogging...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Arianna Huffington

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

The Tourism Industry and Crisis: You must Act, and You Must Act Fast

There are many industries that can be hit hard by a crisis: food and agriculture, pharmaceuticals and anything that is made for young children will always get increased scrutiny from the public. Another industry that constantly has to plan for a potential crisis is travel and tourism. Whether it be a hotel that is rocked by an outbreak of bad food, to the effects of bad weather on a cruise ship that causes everyone to stay in their rooms, to a terrorist attack on a hotel, travel and tourism is susceptible to be hit by more crises than other industries. 

It is with this in mind that this industry must be better prepared in how to handle such situations. When this horrible images of the situation in Mumbai hit the airwaves on Wednesday, we were all huddled around a television hoping that this horrible situation would turn to the better. By Saturday, I was still trying to figure out what exactly happen, with no easy answers. In my search for some news on the situation,  I came across a blog post that looked at the Taj Mahal Hotel's website and realized that the site was still accepting reservations. 3 days after the initial attack.

Now, I completely understand and find it reasonable that the hotel staff were concerned with more important and pressing matters (to say the least). But, lets assume that the hotel outsources its website. There are people around the world worried about their loved ones who might have been killed or held hostage, but there was no centralized place for all of the appropriate information. That is, until Saturday when the Taj Mahal's wesbsite was changed.

 

From a crisis communications perspective, their site is an example of a comprehensive black site. There was a statement from the hotel management company; they provided a helpline to assist those trying to find out information about their loved ones who might be in danger at the hotel; they had current updates about the situation, that were date and time stamped; the site also provided a message-board for those away from the situation to relay messages; finally, there was a statement that the hotel, and the city will thrive again.

For those who are curious about what to include in a black site, this is the pinnacle, but there is one problem. This took over 72 hours to be posted. Companies need to be ready to have these sites available much faster. Particularly because this site is outsourced, there should have been some messaging placed no later than 24 hours after the event (the faster, the better).  

While I'm happy that the appropriate messaging is on the site now, there were days when the loved ones of the victims of this tragedy were somewhat left on a lurch.  

Its time to start thinking like a lawyer

 I love these mac ads. They are easily the most creative ads out there and do a fantastic job at positioning  mac as the young and hip machine. It also tugs on everyone's psyche. Regardless of how conservative a person is, everyone wants to define themselves as a "mac" whether we use a mac or not. Even the stodgiest blue-blood thinks that they are cool and hip.

In the crisis communications world, our friends "mac" and "PC" are also  a great metaphor for how people look at the discipline.

Crisis communications traditionally is a conservative practice. Back in the day, a bunch of senior executives would sit in a conference room, decide on a statement and essentially tell a reporter "no comment."

But what has grown with the rise of social media is the need to directly reach customers. Companies are monitoring and engaging with their customers via Facebook and Twitter. These creative and interesting methods of communicating to your brand's audience are seen as the new frontier in Public Relations and every major PR industry has made "digital" their number one focus.

In continuing our "mac vs. PC" metaphor everyone should aspire to be just like mac right?

Wrong. You need to a combination of both.

And its not just about integrating the traditional skills that have been in place with the latest ways to communicate to your audience via social media. What digital communicators don't realize is that when they get involved in crisis work  the most creative, best developed plans will always get crushed before them have time to implement them. Why? Because the one person whose voice is given more weight in the corporate landscape is the lawyer. And it is their job to be conservative (which is exactly why I do not practice law).

But that doesn't mean that you can't be creative, you just have to do it in a vacuum. You have to understand where the lawyer is coming from and act accordingly. For anyone who has worked in health care, we do the same thing. The FDA has very strict rules about how and what you can do, who you speak to, and most importantly who you can listen to. Regardless of your thoughts and how cool your ideas are, you will always lose an argument if you are outside the lines. What you need to  do is show your clients that you can do "interesting and cool things" and do them within the FDA's landscape. 

Essentially you need to be cool and exciting but at the same time a little conservative in your approach. We all live a world of regulation (as much as we don't want to admit it). The digital communicators who succeed are the ones that can l appear to be cool, free and unhinged, but do so in a world where there are rules to be followed.

The Crisis in Detroit

I spend a lot of my day reading about recalls, crisis, and how companies respond to the various issues that hit them (I'm working on writing more about them) but what I've seen today from the CEOs of the big three is unbelievable. 

For those who haven't watched the new today, during a congressional hearing this afternoon it was revealed that the leaders of the big three auto makers flew into Washington on private planes to come, hat in hand, and ask congress for a $25 billion dollar bailout. They flew from the same town, on their own private planes at a cost of $20,000 each.

Now I understand the benefits of a private plane, and I actually believe that under certain conditions they should get the bailout, but what are these guys thinking?

The minute this got out, the rest of the story became irrelevant. There is a story on abc.com with almost 800 comments of angry people blaming the Unions, blaming the CEOs, asking for bailouts to help cover student loans (amen!). Everyone is on edge and hoping that they can ride this though. While we are generally an optimistic country, I'm not sure the image of three rich CEOs on their private planes was the appropriate image that they needed when asking for help from Congress (who ultimately have to respond to their constituency).

So, the lesson here kids: be a little humble and in a crisis don't do anything that can take away from your message. It might cost your industry...

The Motrin Controversy

Here you will find the impetus for the latest social media crisis. Once this Motrin ad was shown, twitter and YouTube went crazy with angry mothers complaining that the advertisement was offensive. In fact, McNeil Consumer Healthcare (the makers of Motrin) VP Kathy Widmer spent her weekend apologizing.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare Responds to Amy Gates, Crunchy Domestic Goddess. Amy posted the email: 

Dear Amy - I am the Vice President of Marketing for McNeil Consumer Healthcare. I have responsibility for the Motrin Brand, and am responding to concerns about recent advertising on our website. I am, myself, a mom of 3 daughters. We certainly did not mean to offend moms through our advertising. Instead, we had intended to demonstrate genuine sympathy and appreciation for all that parents do for their babies. We believe deeply that moms know best and we sincerely apologize for disappointing you. Please know that we take your feedback seriously and will take swift action with regard to this ad. We are in process of removing it from our website. It will take longer, unfortunately, for it to be removed from magazine print as it is currently on newstands and in distribution. -Kathy Kathy Widmer
VP of Marketing - Pain, Pediatrics, GI, Specialty
McNeil Consumer Healthcare

Its seems that the blogosphere has been abuzz with this over the last 24 hours, check out the Diva Marketing Blog who provide a great overview of the situation.

My only comment is that while I'm glad to see that McNeil is taking the situation seriously, I wonder if they are monitoring Twitter. It seemed that their response time was awfully slow (Plus they didn't even put a response video up on YouTube to the negative videos that are there currently). If you constantly monitoring, you should be able to respond within 24 hours, even on the weekend. McNeil should consider setting up a better plan in place to handle their next crisis.

Ignore Twitter at your Own Peril

Companies talk about the need to monitor the conversations that are taking place about their brands and their company as a whole. Traditionally, that monitoring was done exclusively in the media (print, radio, and TV). Over the past couple of years communications professionals have consulted on the need to add blogs to their monitoring repertoire. However, with the rapid growth of social media, just looking at blogs is just scratching the surface. 

We are starting to see services like Twitter and other social networks like Facebook and MySpace as the places where the tremors at the beginning of an issue or crisis are starting from. A company who is truly serious about monitoring must actively  look at social media to determine the how the world perceives their brand.

Take the Mylicon recall that was announced on Monday. (For those who are unaware, Mylicon is a anti gas drop that parents give to their young babies. Apparently, some bits of aluminum and other metals have gotten into the bottles during the manufacturing process). If you were to follow twitter within 24 hours of this announcement you would have noticed some interesting information. 

 

                           

Using Twitter(url)y, you can see the start of this conversation. Where one person is telling the masses(at least 4 times during this 24 hour period) about the dangers of the recall. You might read this and think that, well, its only one person. Except that the reach of this conversation was available to over 9,700 people. 

Another point worth mentioning is that if you were doing monitoring for the manufacturer of Mylicon, you would have had the opportunity to engage the one person who kept hitting home with the information. You might not have been able to change her opinion, but you could have at least let her know of your plans to fix the issue, and how sorry you are for any fears that might have arisen.

I'm telling you, companies who think that social media is just a place for "people in their pajamas" are going to miss crucial opportunities in addressing brand issues. These issues, if left alone, turn into crises. Good luck trying to tell your board of directors that you had the opportunity to stop a crisis, but chose to ignore the signs.