Has Crisis PR Taken One on the Chin This Year?

This week, some communication friends of mine (Thanks Allison and Gentry) sent me a copy of an article in the “Big Money” section of Slate that claimed crisis public relations is in a crisis of its own http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2010/07/20/crisis-crisis-pr .

My takeaway point from the article is that multiple failures of crisis pr in the last year (take your pick..BP, Tiger, Toyota, etc) means the old way of handling a firebomb tossed on your lap won’t work. The article says the old way was to hire a high-powered East Coast pr firm that could bludgeon the bad news (and those who deliver it) to death. And, the article says, the blame for letting the air out of the tires of the crisis pr machine falls squarely on the head of our favorite bogeyman this days…the Internet.

Why? Because social media moves so quickly, your crisis has been chewed up and spit out by Twitter, Facebook, Fox News, CNN, conservative blogs, liberal blogs, all before you even find that little flash drive with the crisis communication plan and dozens of pre-written news release templates.

I really think the article is barking up the wrong tree. What has failed over the past year is major entities (who really should know better)   ignoring basic principles of crisis pr….confront the issue early, bluntly, and most importantly, with empathy and caring.

Crisis communication works when it is part of your everyday communication and image efforts, not a three-ring binder that sits on the shelf you hope you never have to open. That’s why you make your CEO available on a slow news day to help a desperate reporter fill the minute-40 hole he/she’s been assigned for the 6 p.m. broadcast. That’s why when the print reporter who covers your beat calls and needs something to fill some column inches in Monday’s lightweight paper, you’ve got some “evergreen” story ideas, with an articulate subject matter expert (SME) who is willing to spend some time with a reporter and not bore them to tears.   

Successful crisis communication occurs when the practitioners work at it year-round, and not just when Mike Wallace shows up with a video of your CEO taking candy from a little kid.

The one thing the Big Money article does correctly point out, however, is the importance of one little five-letter word…something we’ll talk about in a future visit.

KT