This blog I'm writing is based on BrandAnthem's recent pitch for an upcoming hospital which belong to a major real estate group. Though we have lost the pitch but the lesson will be remembered in the long run.
For the purpose of presentation we have done thorough analysis of the recent situation in the health care industry, specially in the scenario of big hospitals like Apollo, Max, Fortis etc. Our research has shown that most of the hospitals position as maximum number of hospitals,maximum number of beds, care,technology. The big gap is missing emotions.
Now ask a simple question: have you ever been to a hospital with the expectation that those guys will take care of you just like they are your mother.On the contrary you will feel...this hopital going to steal my money for unnecessary tests which is not required.
Our pitch emphasized that the new hospital should position it self as a center where staffs are emotionally connected with the patients(just like Munna Bhai MBBS), where its not the being profitable but its the empathy which will be the core etho. A hospital where a old lady feel that its a home away from home, a hospital where the mother goes through labour pain, her child learns rhyme from the staff, a hospital where staffs are selected on the basis of their desire to serve people and get connected rather than being competing for the number of surgeries they have done.
Unfortunately the founders daughter did not like the concept. She asked me why you are positioning it based on Empathy instead of positioning it as a hospital which is equipped by latest technology(and they spent million on this). My answer was since most of the hospitals positioned as a technology driven health care centers its time to differentiate your hospital as an Empathy Driven Hospital equipped with latest technologies. I also suggested that since this hospital belong to one of the largest groups in Asia pacific, so by deafault people will percieve it to be equipped with latest technologies.
In the principle of brand positioning the first exercise is to do the POP(Points of Parity)Vs.POD(Points of Differentiation) analysis. You have to position the brand based on combining the competetive offering(in this case technology) and highlight the competetive differentiation(in this case Empathy). But unfortunately the founder's daughter along with top management which consist of prominent doctors did not like the concept.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Business Innovation: Branding by Tata Steel
Soon after Indian steel industry freed from regulatory controls in 1991, all controls on pricing and distribution were removed. So Indian steel industry got the competetive edge and companies became more market focussed. Globalized outlook of customers, put pressure on steel manufacturers to add value, and incresing information savvy made the market prone to competition.
Tata Steel, established in 1907 by J.N.Tata commenced its production in the year 1911. The opening of economy made the steel industry face huge glut that affected the profit margins of the companies significantly. The Industry was staring at inefficient operations, excess capacity, project delays and a big steel plan mindset. The concept of serving the customer was hardly practiced. In order to beat the ups and downs in the industry and to face emerging competition, Tata Steel started a branding exercise to achieve revenue stability and an ability to charge premium prices. It realsied that the old way of selling steel is no more a winning proposition and aggressively positioned its products as superior brands to reckon with.
The company launched many internal campaigns in the 1990s for the employees to identify with and align themselves to the objectives of customer service and product. The company set up a branding task force to explore the possibility of branding its steel products. This task force was divided along three functions-market development,order generation, and order fulfillment.The entire sales and marketing team was overhauled and brought on a par with the best practices of the top global steel companies. The changes were carried out with respect to three crucial elements-product,distribution and service.
Inorder to decommoditise steel, the company launched product brands in the identified markets. It realised that the premium on branded products was higher than the non-branded ones. In order to assure the market about the authenticity of products, the brands/names were embossed on them. During this time brands like Tata Shaktee, Tata Tiscon was launched.
To support the branding effort, Tata Steel launched Retail Value Management(RVM) in the year 2002 a model which was usually adopted by FMCG companies. Under the RVM initiative aggressive market mapping,education of traders, and idea generation were undertaken.
In the brand journey of Tata Steel, the simplicity of rules permeated across profit centres. These rules were uniform and measurable and pertained to the brand and channel service partners.Some of the rules are:
1.The field should adhere to brand guidelines in terms of logo, colour scheme, by-line, positioning, and ad campaigns.
2.The brand will be sold only through an authorised service partner.
3.The brand will be positioned as a premium product over all other players.
4.The retailer shops should adhere to the brand guidelines.
Tata Steel shows us how an initiative in branding could organise a market.
.
Tata Steel, established in 1907 by J.N.Tata commenced its production in the year 1911. The opening of economy made the steel industry face huge glut that affected the profit margins of the companies significantly. The Industry was staring at inefficient operations, excess capacity, project delays and a big steel plan mindset. The concept of serving the customer was hardly practiced. In order to beat the ups and downs in the industry and to face emerging competition, Tata Steel started a branding exercise to achieve revenue stability and an ability to charge premium prices. It realsied that the old way of selling steel is no more a winning proposition and aggressively positioned its products as superior brands to reckon with.
The company launched many internal campaigns in the 1990s for the employees to identify with and align themselves to the objectives of customer service and product. The company set up a branding task force to explore the possibility of branding its steel products. This task force was divided along three functions-market development,order generation, and order fulfillment.The entire sales and marketing team was overhauled and brought on a par with the best practices of the top global steel companies. The changes were carried out with respect to three crucial elements-product,distribution and service.
Inorder to decommoditise steel, the company launched product brands in the identified markets. It realised that the premium on branded products was higher than the non-branded ones. In order to assure the market about the authenticity of products, the brands/names were embossed on them. During this time brands like Tata Shaktee, Tata Tiscon was launched.
To support the branding effort, Tata Steel launched Retail Value Management(RVM) in the year 2002 a model which was usually adopted by FMCG companies. Under the RVM initiative aggressive market mapping,education of traders, and idea generation were undertaken.
In the brand journey of Tata Steel, the simplicity of rules permeated across profit centres. These rules were uniform and measurable and pertained to the brand and channel service partners.Some of the rules are:
1.The field should adhere to brand guidelines in terms of logo, colour scheme, by-line, positioning, and ad campaigns.
2.The brand will be sold only through an authorised service partner.
3.The brand will be positioned as a premium product over all other players.
4.The retailer shops should adhere to the brand guidelines.
Tata Steel shows us how an initiative in branding could organise a market.
.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Successful Brand Identity Design Process: Bridging the Left & Right Brainer Thinking Process
Theres a lot of time my marketer friends in the marcom department of companies told me they are going for a logo revamp or a new logo and sometimes our friends in competing agencies said the same thing...that they are designing a new logo. Being curious i've asked them how do you go ahead with this kind of project.....what is the approach and the process involved. The answer was quite vague, and disheartening. Those who are marketers/in the marcom department go with the philosophy of Kotler/Al Ries theory of positioning and come about with a draft plan like the target audience profiling, the colors, heritage, so on and so forth. Going through this brief the designers come out with XYZ design with punch lines to match it. But have you ever asked your target audience whether they like it or not??? Now here is the classic example of brand identity design where some what left brainer marketers try to collide with the right brainer consumer.
At BrandAnthem being a new marketing communication agency we do not want to be critique to others, but simultaneously we want to claim that we have a process laid down for a logo design, which we follow very seriously. This blog describes that process in detail.
Its a fact that as marketing professionals we are left brain thinkers as we analyze, segment, disseminate, define a particular situation......and its true for the logo design also. We see brand as a complex structure where we try to add definition all the time. But for customers its always a right brain thinking works. They are less complicated in their thinking process. They are dominated by the right brainor ingredients which are love,hate,passion etc. And they take always the visual perception and like it or reject it without going much into detail of it. For customers brands that are acceptable are those which are most clear, striking, as well as very strong rather than those brands which are very complex.
So you can design successful brand identity by simplifying your brands special difference rather than adding layers and layers of it and making it very complex. Brands that could be interpreted in a very few words are more successful that other brands.
Instead of defining brands through verbal, we suggest our clients to define their brands visually. Because when you think about it many of the ways to influence the customer is visual oriented, and many of the mediums used are visual medium. Our process of bridging the left brain and right brain thinking prevents us defining the brand identity with more verbal oriented and maximise the visual orientation.
At BrandAnthem being a new marketing communication agency we do not want to be critique to others, but simultaneously we want to claim that we have a process laid down for a logo design, which we follow very seriously. This blog describes that process in detail.
Its a fact that as marketing professionals we are left brain thinkers as we analyze, segment, disseminate, define a particular situation......and its true for the logo design also. We see brand as a complex structure where we try to add definition all the time. But for customers its always a right brain thinking works. They are less complicated in their thinking process. They are dominated by the right brainor ingredients which are love,hate,passion etc. And they take always the visual perception and like it or reject it without going much into detail of it. For customers brands that are acceptable are those which are most clear, striking, as well as very strong rather than those brands which are very complex.
So you can design successful brand identity by simplifying your brands special difference rather than adding layers and layers of it and making it very complex. Brands that could be interpreted in a very few words are more successful that other brands.
Instead of defining brands through verbal, we suggest our clients to define their brands visually. Because when you think about it many of the ways to influence the customer is visual oriented, and many of the mediums used are visual medium. Our process of bridging the left brain and right brain thinking prevents us defining the brand identity with more verbal oriented and maximise the visual orientation.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
HOW DOES MARKETING WITH ONLINE VIDEO WORK?
There are six concepts that you must remember market your videos:
1. Create ads that work as content
2. It's all about dialogues/conversation
3. Ideas come from everywhere, so keep an open mind.
4. Connect the dots to create a meaningful campaign
5. Make feedback public
6. Give emphasize on metrics.
1. Create ads that work as content
2. It's all about dialogues/conversation
3. Ideas come from everywhere, so keep an open mind.
4. Connect the dots to create a meaningful campaign
5. Make feedback public
6. Give emphasize on metrics.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The Internet Usage Landscape in India
The recent survey conducted by IMRB and IAMAI on the internet penetration and online usage pattern in India across more than 31 cities and metros provides valuable insights which could be used for marketing strategies:
As per the research Nearly 25% of Indian population stays in cities. Out of which 32% of them are PC literate. Of the PC literate population, 72% claim to have used internet. Of these claimed users, 73% are actively using internet (have used internet in past 1 month)
Internet usage growth trajectory:
Given the continuous growth of internet users over the years, the smaller towns have overtaken top 8 metros in internet usage. Internet has reached to remote masses in urban India.
Internet Access Points
Various Purposes of Accessing Internet
As per the research Nearly 25% of Indian population stays in cities. Out of which 32% of them are PC literate. Of the PC literate population, 72% claim to have used internet. Of these claimed users, 73% are actively using internet (have used internet in past 1 month)
Internet usage growth trajectory:
Given the continuous growth of internet users over the years, the smaller towns have overtaken top 8 metros in internet usage. Internet has reached to remote masses in urban India.
Internet Access Points
Various Purposes of Accessing Internet
Friday, November 5, 2010
INDIAN COFFEE SHOPS: IT’S ONLY COFFEE VS. MORE THAN COFFEE
Caffe Coffee Day, Costa Coffee, Barista........when it means coffee it reminds us those three coffee retail stores. I’m trying to remember certain associations with those three coffee shops. Tried to think a lot about those stores.............didn’t get any significant association to remember apart from coffee. A coffee shop is about coffee and will remain all about coffee. So how to differentiate? And how to build the brand, when there is no loyalty to your menue.
In todays competetive edge the differentiation between Coffee Shops could not be established based on significant product offerings. It’s the experience while having a cup of coffee in a store that could make the difference. A coffee shop is all about coffee and so a consumer will drop inside with the expectation of having good coffee only. Now the point of winning a customer is less significant than turning the customer into a loyal customer. Winning customer is easier and it depends on the presence and visiblity of your stores at strategic location. But the challenge is to make things possible such that one customer makes your store as the most preferred place. in the building of retail brands, you have to create awareness and attract peoples favorable attention. You need opinion leaders who naturally endorse your product.
Consider the story of Starbucks and compare it with Cafe Coffee Day, or Costa Coffee. StarBucks has a customer base which is loyal to the brand and some times drive through their way to office only to get a coffee. Its a religion for few people. What is the secret behind star bucks that people are responding. Why is Starbucks, and similar cafes strike a chord in so many disparate places? What need Starbucks was fulfilling? Why do somany customers willingly wait in the long lines at Starbucks stores and not in front of Cafe Coffee Day or Costa Coffee?
The success of StarBucks could be attributed something more than coffee.........its something more psychological and described by Howard Schultz, C.E.O, Starbucks in the following words(Excerpt from Pour Your Heart Into It) :
A taste of romance. At Starbucks stores, people get a five-or-ten minute break that takes them far from the routine of their daily lives. Where else can you go to get a whiff of Sumatra or Kenya or Costa Rica? Where else can you get a taste Verona or Milan? Just having the chance to order a drink as exotic as an espresso macchiato adds a spark of romance to an otherwise unremarkable day.
An affordable luxury. In a Starbucks Store you may see a policeman or a utility worker standing in line in front of a wealthy surgeon. The blue-collar man may not be able to afford a Mercedes the Surgeon just drove up in, but he can order the same cappuccino. They are both giving themselves a reward and enjoying something world class.
An oasis. In an increasingly fractured society, Starbucks stores offer a qucuiet moment to gather your thoughts and center yourself. Starbucks people smile at you, serve you quickly. A visit to Starbucks can be small escape during a day when so many other things are beating you down. Satrbucks is considered by its customers as breath of fresh air.
Casual social interaction. One of the advertising agencies that pitched for Starbucks, interviewed Los Angeles- area customers in focus groups. The common thread among its consumers was this comment: “Starbucks is so social. We go to Starbucks stores because of a social feeling.”
Its indeed the most significant brand values probaly missed by Coffe Shops in India. A Coffe Shop could be the integral component of Indian social scene in part because they fulfilled the need for a non threatening gathering spot, a “third place” outside of work and home.
Sociologist Professor, Ray Oldenburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oldenburg ) described in his book, The Great Good Place, the significance of a gathering sport, or a “third place”. Oldenburg’s thesis is that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside the concerns of work and home, relax and talk. Germany’s beer gardens, Englands pubs, Delhi’s Delhi Haat or a food court of Metropolitan Mall, Viennese Cafes created this outlet in people’s lives, providing a neutral ground where all are equal and conversation is the main activity. Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city. Deprived of these settings, people remain lonely within their crowds.
This is the gist of this blog. Coffee Shops should emphasize the design of consumer experience inside their store while making it a “third place” just like Ray Oldenburg’s thesis. You cant be only coffee.........you need to be more than coffee.
In todays competetive edge the differentiation between Coffee Shops could not be established based on significant product offerings. It’s the experience while having a cup of coffee in a store that could make the difference. A coffee shop is all about coffee and so a consumer will drop inside with the expectation of having good coffee only. Now the point of winning a customer is less significant than turning the customer into a loyal customer. Winning customer is easier and it depends on the presence and visiblity of your stores at strategic location. But the challenge is to make things possible such that one customer makes your store as the most preferred place. in the building of retail brands, you have to create awareness and attract peoples favorable attention. You need opinion leaders who naturally endorse your product.
Consider the story of Starbucks and compare it with Cafe Coffee Day, or Costa Coffee. StarBucks has a customer base which is loyal to the brand and some times drive through their way to office only to get a coffee. Its a religion for few people. What is the secret behind star bucks that people are responding. Why is Starbucks, and similar cafes strike a chord in so many disparate places? What need Starbucks was fulfilling? Why do somany customers willingly wait in the long lines at Starbucks stores and not in front of Cafe Coffee Day or Costa Coffee?
The success of StarBucks could be attributed something more than coffee.........its something more psychological and described by Howard Schultz, C.E.O, Starbucks in the following words(Excerpt from Pour Your Heart Into It) :
A taste of romance. At Starbucks stores, people get a five-or-ten minute break that takes them far from the routine of their daily lives. Where else can you go to get a whiff of Sumatra or Kenya or Costa Rica? Where else can you get a taste Verona or Milan? Just having the chance to order a drink as exotic as an espresso macchiato adds a spark of romance to an otherwise unremarkable day.
An affordable luxury. In a Starbucks Store you may see a policeman or a utility worker standing in line in front of a wealthy surgeon. The blue-collar man may not be able to afford a Mercedes the Surgeon just drove up in, but he can order the same cappuccino. They are both giving themselves a reward and enjoying something world class.
An oasis. In an increasingly fractured society, Starbucks stores offer a qucuiet moment to gather your thoughts and center yourself. Starbucks people smile at you, serve you quickly. A visit to Starbucks can be small escape during a day when so many other things are beating you down. Satrbucks is considered by its customers as breath of fresh air.
Casual social interaction. One of the advertising agencies that pitched for Starbucks, interviewed Los Angeles- area customers in focus groups. The common thread among its consumers was this comment: “Starbucks is so social. We go to Starbucks stores because of a social feeling.”
Its indeed the most significant brand values probaly missed by Coffe Shops in India. A Coffe Shop could be the integral component of Indian social scene in part because they fulfilled the need for a non threatening gathering spot, a “third place” outside of work and home.
Sociologist Professor, Ray Oldenburg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Oldenburg ) described in his book, The Great Good Place, the significance of a gathering sport, or a “third place”. Oldenburg’s thesis is that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside the concerns of work and home, relax and talk. Germany’s beer gardens, Englands pubs, Delhi’s Delhi Haat or a food court of Metropolitan Mall, Viennese Cafes created this outlet in people’s lives, providing a neutral ground where all are equal and conversation is the main activity. Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city. Deprived of these settings, people remain lonely within their crowds.
This is the gist of this blog. Coffee Shops should emphasize the design of consumer experience inside their store while making it a “third place” just like Ray Oldenburg’s thesis. You cant be only coffee.........you need to be more than coffee.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
What to do When your Company Engulfed in a PR Crisis
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
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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