The PR crisis that crippled OC Commonwealth Games makes me wonder whether big organisations like OC are supported by the right kind of PR professionals.
Consider for example the Commonwealth Games where 30,000 Crores spent. Only Rs.1600 crores was the budget of OC. Few days ago the media started splashing that large scale corruption happened in Commonwealth Games with DDA,MCD and other bodies under scanner. Just the time when the media intensifying the story about the corruptions by civic authorities Times Now, a leading TV channel in India came out with an alleged money laundering between OC and a company called AM Films. The amount was Rs.3 Crores. To make matters worse the Chairperson of OC came out in open in a press conference with an allegedly forged letter saying that his team members are right and he is going to sue the TV Channel Times Now. The rest is history. The world witnessed the media lynching OC over an amount of Rs.3 Crores while all attention shifted towards OC. The alleged corruption amount was Rs.3 Crores, but the media did not stop its analysis. One TV channel made other TV channels get in the same way to lynch OC while ignoring other stake holders in order to get the right TRP.
It compels any PR person to ask the following questions:
1. Why the media attention shifted from big scale corruption issues to a small scale corruption worth of Rs.3 Crores.
2. Why instead of chasing behind authorities like MCD,DDA, and other civic authorities with a bigger budget the media preferred to chase OC with a budget of only Rs.1600 Crores.(The total budget for the Games was Rs.30,000 Crores)
My answer: a very wrong PR crisis management style by OC, especially those persons who are in the advisory level to the Chairperson. How can a chair person with an Organisation representing the image of a country come out in public with a letter, without going through its authenticity, and on record in camera threaten to sue a TV Channel, while ignoring the rat within the Organisation.
There are many scales of PR Crisis over the years, where some companies turned a crisis in favour of them while some sank like a Titanic under the crisis due to the lack of PR management.
Consider for example Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, went into hiding and sent American CEO Jim Lentz to make apologies. Meanwhile, he let serious product quality issues spiral out of control by understating safety risks and product problems. This left the media, politicians, and consumers to dictate the conversation, while Toyota fumbled the responses. Disingenuous quasi-apologies and disjointed plans for resolution have been Toyota's substitute for crisis response. As accounts pour in about declining quality, the company parades out relatively unknown mid-level managers to quell the firestorm.
So if you are the Chairperson of the company, and you are the face of the company then what you should or should not do at the face of a PR crisis. Going through the OC case I have the following suggestions:
1. Always have a crisis management team with the right authority should be in your team. The team should have the right people with the right PR knowledge such that quick decisions can be taken. Make sure your crisis management team has the authority to access the resources. In OC case I doubt there were any Crisis Management team at all or any right PR advisor with the Chairperson.
2. At the instance of negative news popping into media the first thing the crisis management team should find out the authenticity of the report. Remember if the report is not authentic then the battle is on your side, but the problem starts when the negative reports are true. What you will do matters on how true you are for the cause of the reputation of your enterprise.
3. If the problem lies with your organization, the people in it or the products then first acknowledge it. Accept the flaws because by accepting you are sending the message that you are accountable for the flaws, errors, or whatever be the cause of the negative news. When you accept it you will give the media less ammunition to lynch your Organization. The best example is Tylenol.
4. Rectify the errors. Go back to the source of the problem and eliminate it. Then announce it in the media, first apologize for the mistakes that your Organization did, then announce the rectification. Remember that being naïve won’t solve the purpose, because no one would like to listen to you if you say you are too naïve to know that things will happen this way. Announce the world what actionable steps that you as the head of the organization taking to ensure that same mistakes won’t happen. If there is a flaw in the products then bring it back….if any damage happened to customers compensate it or replace the products. In other words do whatever it takes to eradicate the problem. The best example is the Tylenol crisis in the 80s. When terrorists laced Tylenol capsules with cyanide in the mid-1980s, Johnson & Johnson CEO Jim Burke understood his company credo challenged him to put the needs of customers first. Although J&J was not responsible for these problems, Burke nevertheless recalled every Tylenol product from the market.
5. Never create a communication gap. When the media breaks out a negative news about your company the countdown clock starts clicking in the opposite direction. Every second matters. Your call of action or the time when you meet the media with all the actions makes or break the brand. Remember that if you make delaying meeting the media and clarifying then you are making information vacuum which the media is going to fill up with their side of the story. And that’s where you lose the control over the situation. The best example is the Tiger Woods scandal. Once the scandal broke up Mr. Tiger Woods preferred to go into oblivion, never taking the courage to meet the media and clarifying the wrong doing. He preferred to be silent and went underground for a month. So the information vacuum which was created filled with all kinds of stories. The media was in control of the situation. After one month Mr. Tiger Woods called for a press conference and started reading a note which seemed to the world like that he is not apologetic about anything, indeed he was acting like an actor of a play. Probably the worst kind of PR crisis management.
This is a challenging menu, and this crisis is the true test of a leader’s leadership. As a leader are you up to these challenges? I believe if you want to make your company a great company then its better to be ready for this challenge and accept my menu
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