Saturday, September 18, 2010
Chapter 11 - Risk, Uncertainty, and Crisis: How to identify and Manage Them?
In life, there are uncertainty and potential risks in almost every decision we make. Whether it be a dilemma of taking a girl out for that first date to either a posh restaurant or the nearby fast-food joint or whether to plough down the entirety of your monthly salary for that brand-new spanking smartphone on the market - there will always be a certain amount of risk in that decision not turning out well or it being the best one you ever made in life.
It's not very different in the world of Public Relations as well. As explained in the chapter of readings stated in the title above, there are risks and uncertainty in a media campaign too. It's not a guarantee that when a media campaign is launched, the outcome will be positive and the public will endear themselves to you. As such, in order to execute a successful media campaign for a client, they have to be aware, first, of the entire issue at hand. A media campaign is designed to garner as much good publicity or, in the words of Richard Stanton, reputation capital from the public at the very least.
When an appreciation of the situation has been put forward by the PR practitioners to the clients, the next step will be to evaluate as much of the possible risks involved at every step of the way and ensure the best outcome possible in terms of public perception for the client.
Case studies are usually easier to remember if they were botched (think goalkeepers who never get remembered for their great saves but get castigated for an error leading to a goal). Hence, the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill involving petroleum giants British Petroleum, or BP as it is widely known to the masses, will be used as an example. BP's handling of the public fallout from the spillage can only be described as lacklustre at the start but steadily recovering towards the end. Looking back at the incident, it seems like an oversight on BP's part to downplay the severity of what is now the largest accidental marine oil spill in its history. What got the masses angry was not the negative effects the oil spill had on the eco-system in the Gulf but rather the perceived ignorance of BP officials. If the initial claims from then-CEO Tony Hayward were true, then the "relatively tiny" oil blotch in the "very big ocean" will not have resulted in the mass destruction of the Gulf's eco-system and places of natural attractions such as National Parks and beachfronts.
If the above was a sign of poor decision-making by the PR people at BP, then the next move by them seemed to work like a charm. Hiring Anne Kolton, a former head of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy and also a former spokesperson for ex Vice President Dick Cheney, was seen as a last throw of the dice for BP as they look to salvage whatever reputation they have left in tatters in light of political and media criticism for their earlier ignorance. A new division was set up to deal with the aftermath of the initial fiasco.
Cue a masterstroke as BP went about first publishing print ads in major newspapers apologizing for their part in the spillage and that they'll do everything in their power to salvage the situation before airing a television ad with Hayward personally apologizing for everything and assuring viewers that they will "make this right". The petroleum giants then went on to bid for several search terms related to the oil spill on Google and other search engines so that the first sponsored search result links directly to the company's website - this was hailed as a PR tactical masterstroke as prior research has shown that most people cant distinguish between sponsored links and real links so for them to be led to BP's website and explore the content there and ultimately learn more about their efforts to rescue the situation, it'll help repair their reputation a little bit.
Soon after, Hayward resigned as CEO of BP and he was to be succeeded by board member Bob Dudley, who led the new division set up to handle the crisis responses.
The above situation shows the need for a PR practitioner to think fast in terms of situational awareness and ensure that a public decision or announcement made by their clients are as beneficial as possible to their reputation and the incident/crisis at hand. Even if a wrong move was made, it is still possible to salvage the situation and it is not over until the fat lady sings, or as BP has shown at least.
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I agree that risk management is one of the more important issues to be looked at in a media campaign and should be re-evaluated from time to time at every possible step.
ReplyDeleteA good case study provided to showcase the importance of having a risk, uncertainty, crisis management plan. BP obviously did not anticipate the necessary actions to be taken when the actual oil spill occurred. In their line of work, the immediate affected groups are marine or environmental activists. In the course of the oil spill disaster, everything was kept harsh including the U.S. government.
Transparency and accountability is also an important factor towards addressing a crisis to the public. As you mentioned, it is possible to salvage the situation even at the very last moment. Take the Toyota defects crisis just this year - Toyota President, Aiko Toyoda took steps to apologise to the public and announce the recall shortly thereafter.
An excellent insight overall about quick response and situation awareness. Keep it up.
Good case study! I read about the case and BP procrastinated and waited way too long to make a statement. To a certain extent, this has done considerable damage to their reputation.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough, there are potential risks in every media campaign. When a company prepares for a media campaign, many aspects needs to be thoroughly planned. Deriving a proactive risk management plan might recover any potential damage to their company's image.
Reputation of an organization is built solely on trust and belief from the publics. And, there is no doubt that during times of uncertainties, corporate reputations are at stake. Reputation, whether real or perceived, can literally damage & destroy a well-developed brand over a long period of time.
Because this involves the reputation and image of the organisation, I feel crisis management is the most important aspect. I agree with you that people usually remember more of the bad than the good.
ReplyDeleteInstead of learning from the bad, a good case we can refer to for crisis management would be how Singapore handled the situation during the 2004 SARS period. Although it was an unfortunate episode, Singapore gained world-wide recognition for the management of the circumstance. By using doctors as spokespersons, Singapore managed to educate the public and encouraged them to prevent the spread of infection. At the same time, it chose to withold certain information that might cause panic within the country. It is a good example of how PR is moving towards serving not just the organisation but also the public.
What is deemed newsworthy is often associated with negative situation or crisis. This is an inevitable part of human interest. Hence the media likes to blow up crisis situations as it attracts readership and garner lots of attention to it. Therefore it is of utmost importance that the PR practitioners learns how to manage crisis, and in the process salvage their already tattered reputation as portrayed by the media.
ReplyDeleteA local example of crisis management is the case of local bakery Prima Deli causing salmonella poisoning to 204 customers. However they managed to come out with thier reputation intact and salvaged. The visible steps they took include:
- Stopping further productions
- Recalling simialr products
- Set-up hotlines for public enquiries
- Cooperate with health authorities on investigations
All these steps show a willingness to be transparent and open to the media and public. As such, all is forgiven and Prima Deli remains a strong and profitable business.