Posts Tagged ‘facts’

In Crisis PR, Consider the Half-Life of a Tweet or Comment

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Too sensitive?

Posted by Tom Gable

How quickly to respond to negative blogs and comments? Gable PR had a recent experience with a client that announced progress with a controversial technology for drug discovery. We anticipated feedback and had assembled an extensive array of data, links and citations for outside validation. Unfortunately, we soon found ourselves in an imbroglio that went far beyond questions on the technology

The CEO, we soon learned, had personal and financial issues in a previous business almost two decades ago. The science story drew mostly positive coverage. A science blogger probed into the technology and a skeptic’s manifesto. Worse, a former girlfriend to the CEO soon added to the comments. She wrote under a pseudonym and blasted the CEO for a bad real estate deal, other business transactions that went sour and even previous jobs held by the wife (personal shopper at Nordstrom). Others popped in via Twitter.

The CFO of the company responded with facts and suggested that perhaps the personal attacks weren’t relevant and bordered on defamation, which generated more personal attacks!

Long story short: the company stopped responding and the commentary died a day later. Lesson learned: answer succinctly and factually to correct the record; don’t get caught up in continuing the negative dialogue and personal attacks, which seems to get progressively worse and more personal once the opposition figures out that the facts are against them.

Understand that the half life of a Tweet is two to five minutes, according to a study of an Audi program that used Twitter for branding, and hot blogging topics, particularly on obscure topics, flame out and die in a day or two.

The plan, then, is to set aside ego, which is often difficult, especially when the attacker and his or her motives are known. Stick to the facts, post and move on. You will be amazed how quickly the issue goes away (well, it never totally goes away, since the Internet is forever).

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, News and Media, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Crisis PR — The Lightning Round in Dealing with a Badly Babbling Blogosphere

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

Disaster Landing!

Posted by Tom Gable

What happens when bad conversations bubble up in the blogosphere and elsewhere about the quality of your client’s product, services, science, people, culture, character and customer service, among other things? For Gable PR, we had two very different experiences recently that indicate a core truth about public relations and issues management when conducted at the speed of light: fast, fact-based, non-emotional but human responses based on intrinsic core values of the organization win; non-rational responses that don’t deal with the issues fail.

I am probably restating the obvious to most PR professionals, but our approach and tools used may provide additional creative resources to some. Read on.

In one instance, a prominent blogger took issue with the scientific foundation of our client’s work, which generated many negative comments about the client. The client chose to take an aggressive stance and question the sources of the blasts, rather than deal solely with the content and trying to change the direction of the conversation with new data on the basis for their science. The debate deteriorated rapidly into dueling comments on the blog about things other than science, nasty tweets and links to previous issues the client had gone through in a previous business 20 years ago! The negative conversations careened along for two weeks when the client stopped responding; it could have ended in two days. And through the wonders of the Internet, it is all searchable, which doesn’t add much to the client’s credibility when it tries to raise money and the analysts start doing their due diligence.

In the other instance, a medical device company set aside ego and took an analytical, clinical look at complaints about one of its products, thanked everyone for the input and promised to move quickly to remedy any shortcoming. The client focused on doing the right thing, in addition to doing things right. The result: a fast end to the negative conversation and a 180-degree switch by some critics to becoming fans.

Gable PR used an emergency issues management check list for both clients. The results varied, as noted above. Each had a Crisis PR Plan, with extensive details. But this “lightning round” list might prove helpful for a PR firm helping its clients or an internal staff putting its organization on the right track – fast!

Speed of Light Crisis PR Check List

  • Source of the communications, legitimacy
  • Issues being raised
  • Internal analysis of accuracy, validity, magnitude of the issues and conversation; duration, desired end-point
  • Analysis of potential impact on reputation of the brand, company, people, technology, etc.
  • Beyond communications, are internal changes needed to the organization, product, service, culture and core values?
  • If analysis indicates the fundamentals of the organization seemingly aren’t lined up with the outside audiences, how to move toward better alignment?
  • Launch issues management and Crisis PR plan if required, to include response strategy, core values, messaging, tools, tactics and timing (in some cases, you don’t have to respond immediately, especially when the attacks are emotional and personal)
  • Set goals for moving the conversation
  • Add resources to the Crisis PR team if needed, including outside experts
  • Respond in a sincere, human voice and work to build trust
  • Conduct minute-by-minute tracking, analysis of trending in tone, content
  • Adjust the response strategy and tactics as facts and circumstances indicate
  • Continue to evolve the internal culture and organization as needed
  • Celebrate success!

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It’s NOT a PR Problem. Think Real Values, Mission and Culture.

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Disaster Pending

Posted by Tom Gable

What do BP, Tiger Woods, the TSA, Toyota, Apple’s Antenna Angst and HP’s CEO scandal have in common?

Most are included in the inaugural “Top 10 PR Disasters of 2010” poll, conducted late November by Cantor Integrated Marketing Staffing in partnership with CommPRO (we added TSA because of its late surge in media attention). They reported sending an email survey to 25,000 professionals in PR, communications and related disciplines, generating 167 responses, a return of just 0.67 percent. But this anti-popularity poll is worth looking at for similarities. The ranking:

  1. BP Oil Spill Response
  2. Toyota’s Great Recall
  3. Tiger Woods’ Marital Mess
  4. Action for Children – Autism Ad Campaign Backlash
  5. Apple’s Antennagate
  6. HP’s CEO Scandal
  7. EasyJet Volcanic Ash Cloud Saga
  8. Nestle’s Palm Oil Crisis
  9. Johnson & Johnson’s ’10 Recall
  10. Al Gore’s Trysts

An interesting exercise, but I would argue that these go beyond having PR disasters. More importantly in each case those swept up in the tornadoes of negative media coverage for their transgressions had deviated from the strong core values and behaviors that made them successful in the first place. They violated consumer trust. As a result, each needs to solve deeper and more important cultural, organizational and other shortcomings before PR can start persuading many different target audiences to take a new look.

When a brand tumbles after a successful rise to stardom and success, there is a disconnect. Psychologists call it cognitive dissonance, where conflicting ideas battle for loyalty in your head (Toyota quality versus Toyota cost cutting to drive profits; the world’s greatest athlete versus the world’s worst philanderer; important need for ensuring air travel safety versus the brutish behavior and public theater the TSA pursues in subjecting everyone to delays and indignity rather than focusing attention on the most viable terrorist candidates).

The fix is to embrace image as a part of corporate strategy, then PR can work to regain reputation and trust.  As written about before, this requires consistent communications over time and delivering what scientists and engineers call proof of principle. What do you stand for? Can you consistently demonstrate evidence of these values? The value of reputation has been proven over time in studies by many brilliant authors in the world of reputation management (Charles Fombrun, Leslie Gaines-Ross, Al Ries, etc.). The fix requires not merely whipping up new communications plans in hopes of fluffing and puffing up deflated images. Once the deeper organizational flaws have been solved and a new visions established, PR can work to rebuild reputations for the long term from a solid foundations of facts and deeds – values-based PR at its best.

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Editors panel: Online journalism standards lacking; no guarantees of accuracy, verification, trust

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

Daily and Sunday

Posted by Tom Gable

The title of the news panel was “It’s Not Your Grandparents’ Newspaper or Newscast Anymore” and although it occurred in San Diego with local media, one can find several lessons learned with broader implications:

        • - The ability to self-publish on the Internet has created a world where journalistic principles most likely don’t exist and readers now have the burden of determining what is journalism and what is not
        • - Evolving newspaper business models, with 24/7 reporting and fewer copy editors, has resulted in more errors
        • - The competitive nature of the broadcast media can creating feeding frenzies, such as the one experienced when the loon preacher in Florida threatened to burn a copy of the Koran on Sept. 11
        • - Viewers need to distinguish between entertainment shows and news shows
        • - Journalistic standards are lower with online media (or nonexistent)

The panel was held Sept. 17 at a biweekly luncheon meeting of the Catfish Club, founded by the Reverend George Walker Smith in 1970 to spur dialogue and understanding among different segments of the community. More than 70 attended, including community leaders, elected officials, retired Sheriff Bill Kolender and a couple of gadflies.

The moderator was Michael Grant, former columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and now journalism and media instructor at Grossmont College. He was joined by: Jeff Light, editor of the U-T (www.uniontrib.com); J.W. August, managing editor of KGTV (ABC affiliate, owned by McGraw Hill); Andrew Donohue, editor, Voice of San Diego, 100 percent online newspaper; and Leon Williams, now retired, the first black elected to the San Diego City Council and also the county Board of Supervisors, who has a long history of promoting positive deeds in minority communities.

Grant set the stage by noting that with the evolving world of self-publishing, there are no guarantees online news is journalism – accurate, verified and worthy of trust. He said in pre-Internet days, the news media acted as gateways to screen out the questionable, objectionable, unverifiable and other non-news. Now, with everyone being self published, journalistic principles may simply not exist. (I had one former editor hand back a daily business column written on deadline saying it wasn’t writing, it was typing; glad he was around to make it right.)

Grant, a droll former Texan, said the authors of websites, blogs and other self published information and mostly never been to journalism schools. As a result, it is now up to the citizens to have the burden of determining what is journalism and what is not.

Donohue said he sees “churnalism not journalism” because of the 24/7 news cycle being chased by media with smaller staffs and more pressure. He said if gatekeepers of old had been at work, the preacher who threatened to burn the Koran on Sept. 11 might never have been covered.

August, of Channel 10, said cable beats things to death. He also used the Koran story as an example. The cable news networks picked it up and it turned into a feeding frenzy. If they had just dropped it at the outset, August said, the story would have gone away. He noted the growth of fake news programs and the challenge of confusing real news with entertainment.

Williams said the media has a duty to be accurate. He told the audience that the reporters often ask leading questions (“Don’t you think it’s the end of the earth?”) and complained about reporters twisting things to create conflict. He said the media need to keep their feelings and prejudices out of the news and present the news as fairly and objectively as they know how (in whatever the format).

Light, recruited from the Orange County Register where had driven web-based initiatives, said the new owners of the U-T bought into a losing operation and now wanted to find a way to “improve lives and build a stronger community.” When the new owners arrived, they found an aging, shrinking and dissatisfied audience, Light said. They did research and people were interested in values and improved community coverage. Rather than do incremental changes, the U-T made major changes to give a strong signal to the community. This included a complete design overhaul and making website news coverage the driving force, with section editors later determining what should make the print edition.

On accuracy, Light said the time-honored process within the news business was to have reporters arrive at a different level of trust, based on experience. They would turn in their stories, which would go through the editing process. Does it ring true? Have the facts been checked? Then the story would print. He said news media hear quickly if the are wrong, or if not all sources have been used.

In answers to questions from the audience, he said they have reduced the number of copy editors at the U-T. It was a financial necessity. He said he was given a certain budget for reporting. Under the old news model, 40 percent of the staff covered the news and the rest was infrastructure, including copy editors and editors. Now, they’ve reduced the number of copy editors to increase the number of reporters in the field and improve community coverage.

There will be a spike in errors, he noted, but they will be cosmetic. The reporters are getting closer to each community they serve, which he believes will be well received. He said he likes the online comments to stories because they help the media learn. But he hopes to eliminate anonymous postings.

The panel agreed that online comments are great, but need attribution. Light said the blogs and the various voices with anonymous comments get into demagoguery. Donohue said online platforms can generate ranting. Since the Voice of San Diego changed to eliminate anonymous postings, the quality of the comments has gone up considerably. They also moderate the comments.

Grant noted that with anonymous comments, most of the harangues turn into people ragging the comments of others rather than the story.

Donohue said Voice of San Diego, the online paper, has a tight editing procedure. The reporter prints the first copy of the story and gives to Andrew to edit with a red pencil in the old-fashioned way. The reporter is then challenged to prove the accuracy of the story. As a third step, copy editors conduct fact checking. They also require that reporters to footnote their stories. The footnotes are hidden, but give the editors of the opportunity to research and learn more. On big stories, the material is sent to their lawyers. This diligence hasn’t prevented Voice from breaking some big stories in politics and education and winning awards. Its processes could provide a model for any legitimate media outlet, online or otherwise.

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COP-16 Climate Change Panelists Told to Avoid Media; NYT Chides IPCC for Bunker Mentality, Bad PR

Friday, July 16th, 2010

IPCC Media Training

Posted by Tom Gable

Imagine that you have been selected and agreed to participate with other noted scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess climate science and policy options related to global climate change, with a major event set for late November 2010 in Cancun where the world would be watching.

You are pleased as a scientist but wondering if it’s worth the commitment. Coverage of the previous meeting in Copenhagen, the Conference of the Parties (COP 15), was mixed, at best. Recently, global media questioned the authenticity of the climate change scenarios, citing hacked emails from English scientists who appeared to be conspiring to keep opposing opinions and contrary studies out of peer reviewed journals. Although outside studies cleared the scientists of wrongdoing (but urged improved communications and openness with those on all sides of the issue), skepticism did not wane.

Now, you are four months away from COP 16, to be held from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 in Cancun and you receive a letter from the IPCC advising you to keep your distance from the media. The directions: refer questions to group leaders or the Secretariat. Do you feel stupid – your expertise, education and credentials not valued? Is IPCC afraid of new issues surfacing?  What are they hiding?

As reported by Andrew C. Revkin in The New York Times, several scientists worried that the IPCC bunker mentality would “do little to build its credibility after a trying year of attacks by foes of restrictions on greenhouse gases and skeptics of climate science.”

Revkin opined: “But any instinct to pull back after being burned by the news process is mistaken, to my mind. As I explained to a roomful of researchers at the National Academy of Sciences last year, in a world of expanding communication options and shrinking specialized media, scientists and their institutions need to help foster clear and open communication more than ever. Clampdowns on press access almost always backfire.”

Revkin asked for input from Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman of the climate panel. His response, as reported by Revkin:

“My advice to the authors on responding to the media is only in respect of queries regarding the I.P.C.C. Some of them are new to the I.P.C.C., and we would not want them to provide uninformed responses or opinions. We now have in place a structure and a system in the I.P.C.C. for outreach and communications with the outside world.
The I.P.C.C. authors are not employed by the I.P.C.C., and hence they are free to deal with the media on their own avocations and the organizations they are employed by. But they should desist at this stage on speaking on behalf of the I.P.C.C.”

Instead of a bunker mentality, adopt the tenets of authentic PR. In this model, research, preparation, fact-based communications and authentic engagement with the media (and all constituencies) can be the keys to success in building reputations and changing perceptions. For the IPCC, they have a wealth of talent they should be engaging in the communications battle. Scientists are used to presenting and answering tough questions, particularly when their work is subject to peer review. But working with the media requires different approaches, so investing time up front in education and training could make the engagements much more productive for the scientists, leading to more positive results in the media.

As the NYT and other coverage and comments in Discovery reported, the media from around the world will be seeking input from representatives from individual countries. Interest is high, particularly in third world countries where they feel they will be punished for the sins of the big polluters, such as China, India, the United States and other industrialized nations. They need energy to grow their economies. How will the global process translate to local impact?

As PR and news people know, readers and viewers want to know how decisions will impact them personally.

With some work, the IPCC organization turn its brilliant cadre of scientists into global ambassadors for the credibility and integrity of the IPCC process and advance local understanding. The scientists can be trained to easily transition away from IPCC issues and focus on individual areas of knowledge and expertise. They can refer to their own published works and those of their peers or other organizations as additional resources for the media.

With trained scientists, IPCC staff can serve as more than a news bureau and controller of messages. It can connect with the media in new ways by facilitating interviews with scientists, conducting interviews on key emerging topics on video and posting them to YouTube, holding a series of briefings with scientists from different regions of the world for select regional media and providing instant updates through Twitter, streaming videos and active blogging.

Instead of jumping into the bunker and getting defensive, the IPCC can use the Cancun meeting as an opportunity to open new lines of communication with the media and improve understanding of the issues and the nuances. Creating new media relationships with scientists from throughout the world can only help improve the overall quality of news coverage. Bottom line: an open, engaged program of pro-active media relations will have a positive impact on the long-term reputation of the IPCC, its people and the process.

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Posted in Authentic PR, Brilliant Counsel, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Hype Free PR, In the Beginning, Social Media | 2 Comments »

60 Seconds to Glory: Outline for Crafting the Essential Elevator Pitch

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Make it quick!

Posted by Tom Gable

Elevator pitches are finely crafted and rehearsed monologues that in 30 to 60 seconds create a positive picture of you, your organization and vision for the future, with a goal of capturing the interest of your audience and leading to positive next steps. The concept had its roots among entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley who struggled to set meetings with venture capital and angel investors who were besieged with proposals. Since time was at a premium and real meetings hard to secure, how to connect during brief encounters in public spaces? (more…)

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The PR Hurt Locker: Ten Land Mines to Negotiate in a Crisis (six through ten)

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Bye Bye Reputation

Posted by Tom Gable

The previous post covered the first five of ten land mines to avoid in a crisis: guilt, no plan, lack of culture and core values, big hat (no cattle) and CEO ego. The following delve more into hazards to negotiate during implementation.

6. Attorneyitis – This land mine occurs when otherwise good messages and communications that the CEO and crisis team have approved get handed off for legal review and come back bruised, bloated and infected with the deadly disclaimer virus. Short, compelling copy turns fuzzy around the edges. Statements of fact become weighted down with convoluted clauses and abundancies of redundancies (In one set of Frequently Asked Questions that Gable PR crafted to explain a law suit our client filed against a magazine for libel and slander, a sharp 19-word sentence nailing the editor for deceit was turned into 100 words of circumlocution without a verb). The test: read a sentence out loud and if everyone’s eyes glaze over like you were reading from C-Span transcripts or they laugh so hard they herniated, start over. (more…)

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Ten Land Mines to Avoid in Your Next Crisis (one through five)

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Tred Lightly!

Posted by Tom Gable

Crises come in all forms and sizes, from global product recalls to local political scandal, the nuisance law suit about spilled hot coffee at a fast food restaurant, corporate malfeasance, alleged embezzlement in a not-for-profit, sexual harassment issues, hazardous waste spills, to manufacturing, transportation or other accidents that take human lives.

Skilled public relations professionals have been dealing with these issues and more for decades. They have honed best practices and tempered them under fire, increasing the odds of success in any crisis program. Good advice and case histories abound. But advances in how the world communicates instantly and in living color (photos Tweeted from cell phones, drive-by videos of transgressions, amateur news casts, rumors in the blogosphere, a consumer issue going viral via Twitter, etc.) have added new complexities to the art and science of crisis communications. The race is increasingly to the swift and, as detailed later, the trustworthy. (more…)

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Crisis PR: Three Core Principles and Planning Checklist to Guide Your Actions

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Reputation Skewered

Posted by Tom Gable

Most major organizations create crisis plans in advance of need, update them regularly, have a strategic array of tools and tactics ready to go (hidden Web sites, video, audio, fact sheets, media kits) and even rehearse their responses. The better job an organization does before a crisis strikes – or at the beginning to quickly manage a crisis based on sound principles should a plan not be in place – the better the result. These fundamentals came to mind in tracking the Toyota recall, the changing communications strategies and lack of responsiveness early in the game.

In creating a crisis plan and carrying it out in any crisis communications situation, three basic principles should guide your actions:

One – Be honest and stick to the facts. Do not speculate, hypothecate or exaggerate. Those impacted by the crisis deserve nothing less – and your reputation may be damaged irreparably if you aren’t truthful and authentic. (more…)

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Beyond Crisis PR: Can Toyota Change Its DNA?

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Road to Recall

Posted by Tom Gable

The Toyota crisis PR case is not just about the recent recalls, global media scrutiny and potential Congressional action in the U.S. It has metastasized from neglected issues within the body corporate to impact vital functions in every fiber of the Toyota being.

Possible deeper issues were discovered by Ken Bensinger of the LA Times and others in major media. He started following the case after an off-duty CHP patrolman and three family members died when the accelerator stuck on their Toyota and they crashed in rural San Diego County in August 2009. Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, apologized. Soon, Toyota recalled 4.3-million-vehicles, its largest recall ever. (more…)

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Posted in Authentic PR, Client Service Results, Crisis PR, Horizon Management, Hype Free PR, In the Beginning | 1 Comment »

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