By David Brimm
Bad things sometimes happen to good companies, so it is up to public relations professionals to communicate bad news in such a way as to minimize the long-term damage to the reputation of the organization.
A panel of experts addressed this topic during the November meeting of the Publicity Club of Chicago, entitled, “Communicating Bad News: Planning and Executing a Solid Message.”
The panel featured:
· Brett Chase, deputy managing editor, Crain’s Chicago Business
· Luis Diaz-Perez, communications manager, ComEd
· McKinley “Mack” Reynolds III, founder and president, Reynolds Communications Group
Dan Miller, executive vice president and publisher, The Heartland Institute, moderated the session.
Following are highlights:
Luis Diaz-Perez
As part of a team responsible for the communications strategy and corporate reputation of ComEd, the largest electric utility in Illinois, serving more than 3.8 million customers, Diaz-Perez manages both internal and external communications with a focus on media relations, crisis communications, issues management, executive speechwriting and positioning. He serves as ComEd’s principal spokesperson for both English and Spanish-language media.
“Don’t wait for a crisis to become a crisis of character for your company,” said Diaz-Perez. “Waiting to institute damage control carries with it high stakes — stakes that are often under-estimated.” He strongly advocated that a crisis plan is not just written and forgotten, but regularly maintained. “Don’t let it collect dust on the shelf.”
To ensure that ComEd is prepared for almost any emergency, the utility holds regular crisis drills throughout the year. In fact, all 5,600 employees participate in seasonal drills. The communications group and executives hold four drills a year, fine-tuning messages and response strategies. But Diaz-Perez warns that holding drills is an effective teaching exercise as long as it’s not overused; otherwise, people may get tired of it and lose their edge.
Critical to the planning strategy is maintaining an internal contact list of numbers of key personnel. “Own your organization’s messaging, noted Diaz-Perez. “It should be part of you, so you can react properly in the event of a crisis.”
He also recommended that PR professionals establish relationships with key reporters well before a crisis, so that a dialogue built on trust can ensue. This kind of outreach builds goodwill not only for media, but also for consumers and customers.
Once a crisis occurs, regular updates should be available. “In the absence of news, reporters will go with what they know about the situation,” said Diaz-Perez. “Silence is associated with guilt. The news hole is always gaping and reporters are reporting 24 hours a day. You need to be available to fill that information gap.”
Once a crisis subsides, Diaz-Perez and his team evaluate every aspect of the crisis. “We hold a lessons-learned session. It improves our future performance.”
Brett Chase
Chase joined Crain’s Chicago Business in 2005 as a reporter, and was named an assistant managing editor in September 2005. He became deputy managing editor in February 2007. Before joining Crain’s, he served as deputy business editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I had a boss who told me that if you can’t get a hold of a key contact on Christmas Eve, you’re not much of reporter,” said Chase. That also sums up the approach of Crain’s when it comes to having PR professionals give their beat reporters access to top company executives.
Chase suggested that reporters “earn their way to the CEO office.” He advised PR professionals to reach out to reporters to allow them access to a CEO before a crisis occurs. A reporter should not meet a CEO for the first time in the midst of a crisis. Chase suggested that a “get acquainted” meeting occur during a relaxed breakfast or lunch so that the reporter can get to know the CEO.
“In the event of a crisis, come clean. Get everything out at once. We want to talk to the top people involved in the crisis. The story is better if we can balance it with CEO comments or a company response. If we have to go to a third party to comment, it doesn’t usually help the company’s story,” explained Chase.
Chase reminded PR people that Crain’s tells its stories “through people,” so access to people is important.
Even though Crain’s is a weekly, with today’s 24-hour news cycle reporters are essentially becoming wire service reporters.
“We live and die on exclusives,” said Chase. He couldn’t remember when Crain’s was given bad news as an exclusive. However, he cautioned that “if a reporter is working on a story, and you give it to someone else, that’s the worst thing. It creates ill will.”
Mack Reynolds
Reynolds is a 20-year veteran of agency public relations, and began his public relations career with Burson-Marsteller in Chicago. He later served as a vice president with Porter Novelli and as vice president/associate director of Ketchum.
Reynolds said reporters gravitate to three types of stories: innovation. “news you can use,” and conflict or controversy. In the event of the last category, he encouraged attendees to establish relationships with beat reporters before any bad news can impact an organization.
“In the event of a crisis, the company needs to tell the story first, relaying everything we know at the time. This helps us shape the story. People want to know that, in a crisis, you’re doing everything you can to make it right,” said Reynolds.
During a crisis, Reynolds said he prefers to go to the best reporter who knows his client best and give them an exclusive. “This helps us get the best shake, even if other reporters are unhappy,” he explained.
When a crisis winds down, Reynolds’ policy is to evaluate the news story — good or bad — to see if the story was told fairly and accurately. He wants to ensure that the whole story was told.
“Our job is to shape the story on behalf of our client. If the story appears without our slant on it, we didn’t do a very good job.”