Column on Crisis Communication

PREPARE YOUR COMPANY TO COMMUNICATE IN A CRISIS

By Roger Rosenbaum

“Thank you for suing us,” is how Taco Bell recently responded to a lawsuit filed by a ticked-off customer claiming the company’s beef recipe was full of filler.

Taco Bell President Greg Creed fought back with the unconventional ads and a YouTube video that quickly set the record straight. Creed deserves credit for looking customers straight in the eye and saying,“I want you to know the truth….I want you to have all the facts.”

The video clarified the situation by saying the recipe included 88 percent beef--fully inspected by the U.S.D.A. “What’s the other 12 percent?” he asked in the video.

“It’s our secret and I am going to tell you,” said Creed.

The video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah05FEWcJWM) then listed all the ingredients. Taco Bell bought full-page ads in newspapers with nationwide reach proclaiming: “Plain ground beef is boring.”

Creed asked rhetorically,"who makes chili with unseasoned ground beef?" The lawsuit suit alleged that Taco Bell’s meat only had only 35 percent beef. 

Taco Bell also bought online advertising and key word searches. Creed said in the Wall Street Journal,” "We will spend whatever it takes to restore our reputation.”

Taco Bell’s slightly risky strategy turned the story around. The media, public relations professionals and customers applauded the honesty and the story turned from the claim to the response.

The rapid social media response is a stark contrast to the textbook crisis communication blunders made by BP in the wake of last year’s gigantic oil spill.

More than setting the record straight, Taco Bell’s honest human response might actually lead to greater customer loyalty and increased sales.

Effective responses to a crisis capable of crimping company cash flow should be a concern to businesses even in the Hudson Valley. The event does not need to be catastrophic in order to dramatically impact work flow, employee morale, sales, reputation and customer loyalty. It can be perceived, misconceived or even fabricated.

Rosenbaum Media has worked with clients caught in the middle of a massive snowstorm, tense contract negotiations, threat of a class-action suit and a single customer complaint leading to a wave of negative media coverage.

Just like Taco Bell, our responses included high-quality video showing a wide variety of stakeholders the client’s perspective and response.

One example I am proud of is the video shot at a hospital news conference that led to the rapid end of tense contract negotiations with one of the largest health benefits providers in the country.

Reaction to a crisis needs to be carefully planned, yet timely and accurate. These days, news travels fast in social media circles and around-the-clock news cycles. A company’s reputation can be tarnished in twenty minutes after a post is made on Twitter or Facebook.

Trying to hide or ride out a wave of negative news can be bad for business. The once-common default defense, “no comment” does not serve the company, the media or customers. 

Tips:

-Gather and brainstorm with key team members in marketing, PR, executive decision makers, finance and legal;

-Avoid trying to “spin” a story;

-Stick with known facts;

-Present one single source of accurate information;

-Open lines of communication with members of the media;

-View the situation from a multitude of angles—who, how and why does the situation impact customers, employees, suppliers, board members and in some cases stockholders;
-Consider long-term legal and financial impact of incident and response;

-Strongly consider how the message might create legal liabilities in the future;

-Embrace the online and social media community to set the record straight if media coverage paints an inaccurate picture;

-Show how the situation impacts and benefits real people and

-Watch and make sure that staff fatigue over a long period of time does not lead to mistakes or sound bites that bite back.

Taco Bell’s sarcastic response is not for every company. Serving up a timely and accurate response must be. It’s just good, smart business.

Roger Rosenbaum is president of Rosenbaum Media Group, a company that integrates high-definition video into PR, marketing advertising and social media campaigns. Rosenbaum received awards for reporting from the Associated Press and New York State Broadcasters’ Association. Rosenbaum Media has locations in Albany, Rhinebeck and New York City. He can be reached at 845-943-5366 or info@rosenbaummedia.com

Clinton Wedding Ushers In New Era in PR

Public Relations and the news business will never be the same after Chelsea Clinton tied the knot in the Hudson Valley town of Rhinebeck.

A fastidious wedding planner worked for months under the radar planning the now famous lavish wedding for 500 at the former Astor Estate. Part of that work included creating an almost airtight veil of secrecy surrounding the event. Never in my 25 years in newsgathering and PR I have I seen this kind of message or story control.

A local newspaper publisher broke the story of the rumored event. Rumors of the summer event snowballed. Soon satellite trucks and camera crews from national news organizations rolled into the village. News hounds came hungry for news bites and the potential of a scoop on an international story.

The bad news: No one was talking with facts that could be confirmed. A firm “no comment” became commonplace response from shop owner to restaurant owner. It was like an entire town and village of 10,000 got high-level media relations training overnight.

Rhinebeck has a history of low-key treatment of celebrity-types. Or, maybe it was the rumored $1 million non-disclosure agreement allegedly given to contractors, vendors and companies working on the wedding. Even this plausible rumor was later proven to be false.

Village of Rhinebeck Mayor Jim Reardon couldn't even confirm that the wedding would take place the weekend of July 31. He did confirm doing nearly a dozen interviews with international media outlets leading to what he called multimillion dollars worth of exposure for Rhinebeck. "We could not afford what Madison Avenue would have charged us for this exposure," the Mayor told local YNN reporter Beth Croughan.

I joined the army of members of the media covering the event and shot footage for Entertainment Tonight’s show The Insider.

Without facts, the buzz grew bigger and bigger. The story went from being called “wedding of century” to “wedding of the decade” and finally “Wedding of the Season”. Some media outlets treated each classification downgrade like The Weather Channel reports on downgrading a large storm.

A vacuum of facts presented a fascinating scenario to me. The media had to follow the event not like a news story, but more like an unfolding reality show. The key difference had to do with the Clinton’s indifference to media coverage.

The media was not in the drivers seat.

Chelsea and Hillary Clinton kept a low profile--as they are certainly entitled. It was an historic event--the wedding of a first daughter where the mother of the bride is a sitting secretary of state.

A new band of citizen journalist armed with high quality cameras and smart phones amplified the family’s silence. Media outlets found themselves competing with locals for key shots and interviews.

This became evident when President Bill Clinton got out of a Secret Service motorcade to munch on lunch at Gigi’s Restaurant. Crowds grew as residents texted friends, posted photos on Facebook and posted tweets on Twitter.

For the first time, residents could distribute local news (text, photos and video) via smart phone faster than well-funded media outlets with giant satellite trucks. The difference--the information was sent to friends, family and co-workers inside social circles and not to large broadcast audiences.

Some news organizations and websites now rely on this ad-hoc band of citizen journalists often referred to as crowd sourcing. Even I fell into the gray area of citizen journalist when I posted footage to CNN’s iReport for which I was not paid. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-469442 and http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-474592

Now anyone can capture an event. The ability to tell a memorable story separates pros from amateurs. This interesting scenario poses opportunities and threats for businesses and PR pros. More people can create content, but there is more content that is uncontrollable. Another angle: if national media crews won’t cover your story perhaps there are ways to create content to build buzz on your own.

Media relations strategy now must include content development and harnessing the power of consumers and customers.

On July 31^st, the village of Rhinebeck became the most watched community in the world. The story and how it was told are now history.