Marketing Communications

336 CHAPTER 10 PUBLIC RELATIONS

Th e company should not pretend that problems do not exist. It has to show confi dence and

knowledge, but also humility. People with complaints may be disregarded, but the complaints

will not go away and will rebound on the company in times of crisis. In many cases, people

have only limited contact with the company, oft en if they have a problem or a complaint. Th e

way in which the company responds to their problem will largely determine the way they feel

about the company. Trust has to be built by communicating, being honest and being a good

corporate citizen. Image-building is a long-term and sometimes expensive process, the return

on which becomes visible only when the reservoir of goodwill is needed to compensate for the

negative image caused by a crisis. Building brand equity is important. A positive corporate

image can oft en be established most eff ectively through well-known and highly valued brands.

Finally, a company has to learn to prepare and build scenarios for the unexpected.

Although many crises cannot be predicted, the likelihood of some of them can be taken into

account. If you operate oil tankers, one of them may sink, causing great damage to the environ-

ment; if you operate a steel mill, a serious accident may occur; if you manufacture drugs,

people may die as a result of a human error in manufacturing, as in the B Braun incident in

which two babies died as a result of a lethal confusion of ingredients and labels. In the pre-crisis

or scanning phase, the company should make contingency plans. In a broader context, an issues

audit should be carried out. Issues are those potential areas that could have an important

impact upon the operations of the company. Th e aim of an issues audit is to identify all that

might be of consequence and help the company react to it and to plan ahead.^30 In general, a

crisis can be prepared for by building contingency crisis management plans. Table 10.8 presents

a checklist for preparing for a crisis.

In spite of all the preparations and the investment in goodwill, a crisis may occur and

damage the company’s image overnight as a result of mishandling the crisis. Oft en this counter-

productive approach has to do with the way in which communications are organised – or,

more oft en, not organised – during the impact of the crisis.

During a crisis, the following rules have to be implemented:^31

z Designate a single spokesperson. Oft en, the damage is done during the fi rst few hours and

days of a crisis when all kinds of company executives give their – oft en contradictory –

assessment of the facts. Every employee that comments speaks for the company.

Table 10.8 Preparing for and handling a crisis

z Prepare a list of issues, and their potential impact, to be circulated – which crises can occur?

z Identify areas of concern and of opportunity

z Monitor potential legislation that could affect markets

z Establish which publics should be taken into account

z Identify the executive responsible for leading on each issue

z Set up a crisis management team in advance

z Is the crisis management team well trained?

z Incident facilities are needed at all company locations

z Use simulations to test procedures – fine-tune all policies and procedures in ‘peacetime’

z Establish a well-equipped crisis communications centre

z Develop and train your company spokespeople

z Develop policies that clarify how decisions will be made

z Provide each member of the crisis communications team with detailed background data on the

company

Source : Based on Haywood, R. (1998), Public Relations for Marketing Professionals. London: Macmillan Business; Seymour, M.

and Moore, S. (2000), Effective Crisis Management: Worldwide Principles and Practices. London and New York: Cassell;

Anthonissen, P. (2002), Murphy Was an Optimist. Tielt: Lannoo.

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