CRISIS MANAGEMENT

DISASTER RECOVERY COMMS

WRECKS

WORST PRACTICE EXAMPLES

EUROSTAR

The Challenge:

Five Eurostar trains suffered electrical breakdowns in the channel tunnel, leaving passengers stuck on trains in very unpleasant conditions, and even more were left stranded as services were cancelled.

The Campaign:

In the aftermath of the crisis Eurostar admitted that their social media programs – focused narrowly on push marketing activities – were of limited use to communicate with customers during the crisis.

Learning from this:

Relying on existing care lines to cope with the sudden influx of queries is out of the question. Companies need to be ready to quickly put the right contact solutions in place when a critical situation arises. 

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BP

The Challenge:

An explosion at BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil rig Deepwater Horizon killed 11 people and resulted in 4.9m barrels of oil being discharged, threatening marine life and hundreds of miles of coastline. While multiple organisations were responsible for the maintenance of the platform, BP took an enormous reputation hit being the only consumer brand involved.

The Campaign:

Sponsored local tourism drives and used employees living in the area as ambassadors for BP’s clean up initiatives. However because they had no social media resource set up, angry campaigners took it upon themselves to set up a spoof account.

Learning from this:

Train up and use employees as a way to disseminate information within their own social circles to help stimulate a grass roots positivity towards the brand.

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BLACKBERRY

The Challenge:

An internet blackout that was caused by a complex series of hardware and software failings at RIM left Blackberry users around the world without service for more than three days.

The Campaign:

After mixed messages from the (uninformed) mobile operators and a vague acknowledgement of the outage from RIM on Twitter, RIM founder Mike Lazaridis left it until the service was on the road to recovery before issuing an apology.

Learning from this:

The real damage was done by allowing the competitors to communicate before Blackberry did.

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TOYOTA

The Challenge:

Toyota announced that it would be recalling more than 420,000 vehicles in the U.S. due to reported problems with the steering.

The Campaign:

Toyota ran a campaign across print (in 20 of America’s largest newspapers) and TV as well as social media. They also put the president-chief operating officer, Jim Lentz, on the “Today” show. A dedicated website about the recall provided clear information about why Toyota halted production and sales. However, once again, they came under fire for failing to respond quickly enough.

Learning from this:

A strong straightforward offensive with an apologetic but reassuring tone need to be put in place as quickly as possible.

SUCCESSES

BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES

BRITISH AIRWAYS

The Challenge:

In March 2008, cancelled flights, baggage delays and a temporary suspension in check-in blighted the opening day of Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5. At this time British Airways had sole use of the terminal.

The Campaign:

BA cut right to the chase with the tagline 'Terminal 5 is working'. The campaign adopts a documentary style and emphasises how key aspects of the airport experience - such as going through security, flight punctuality and baggage handling, which were some of the core issues effecting the terminal launch - are now working smoothly.

Learning from this:

A raw, behind the scenes look at the company offers an honest and human base from which to have a conversation.

DOMINOS PIZZA

The Challenge:

An employee posted a video on YouTube showing a staff member abusing food in the kitchen of a branch of Dominos.

The Campaign:

Once the employees were reprimanded and the store was thoroughly cleaned, Dominos dealt with the bigger problem; their product was not good. They used this incident to re-evaluate their brand – reinventing their entire product whilst demonstrating humanness and transparency via a documentary.

Learning from this:

Dominos put its money where its mouth was by listening to its consumers and not shying away from their negative statements.

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TESCO

The Challenge:

On the 15th January, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) found that a number of beef products, including frozen beef burgers sold by Tesco, contained horse DNA.

The Campaign:

Tesco immediately withdrew from sale all the products in question and issued a statement. This was followed by a full-page ad in national newspapers as an apology to UK consumers.

Learning from this:

With crisis communications, the critical realisation is that perception (of the media, of the public, of your customers) is the reality – regardless of your handling of the events themselves.

NATWEST

The Challenge:

On the 21st June 2012, The RBS group suffrered a computer failure which knocked out much of the bank group’s ability to process payments through their computer system. The problem lasted almost a week, in which time over 11 million NatWest customers were affected.

The Campaign:

The plan was simple and the timing was quick. The NatWest team and agency worked closely to understand what the brand could deliver, this message was then communicated through clear mass media in order to alleviate negative sentiments.

Learning from this:

Tweets directed at NatWest were sorted into “Shouldn’t”, “Could” and “Must” (be addressed) so that they could gauge the level of resources required.

APPLE

The Challenge:

iPhone 4 users experienced reception issues caused by the phone's exterior-antenna design.

The Campaign:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at Apple's headquarters to announce that all iPhone 4 users would be receiving a free case designed to solve the issue. They changed the way they displayed signal strength to give users more confidence in the accuracy of the signal and admitted to

Learning from this:

The free cases solved Apple’s image problem without significant expense or damage to Apple’s reputation. A strong figurehead admitting to the problem ultimately creates more trust in the brand rather than denying it or shifting the blame.

SO GOOD SOY MILK

The Challenge:

So Good was the clear market leader with a 52% market share but in June 1998 they received an anonymous threat that their beverages had been purposefully contaminated.

The Campaign:

The strategy was to let people know exactly what was happening and when it was happening, creating an open-book scenario with each of their consumers. They communicated simple messages encouraging their customers to switch back to So Good once the product was back on the shelves.

Learning from this:

The issue may not trail for as long as the word ‘crisis’ would imply. So Good recovered its share of market within eight weeks of the initial recall.

KEY POINTS

A SUMMARY

CRISIS ‘HOT SEAT’ FACTORS

Speed of response15 minutes on Twitter

1 hour on Facebook

Visibility – it’s all playing out in the public eye

Unpredictability – You’re dealing with the public and don’t always know what their agenda is

Lack of control

Social media is still a very young industry – everything is being scrutinised

The boomerang effect – When you’re trying to be creative and push the boundaries it can come back on you

AVOIDANCE TACTICS

Plan for a crisis

Decide what constitutes a crisisBoycott page, media response

Ensure all related agencies work especially closely

Monitor social media when campaign breaks

Accept criticism

Know when to walk away

Know when to take action

Make sure that the product is up to it

http://wearesocial.net/blog/2009/12/note-todays-eurostar-crisis/

http://europe.eurostar.com/2009/12/19/our-apologies/

http://publicrelationsrogue.wordpress.com/2009/12/25/eurostar-crisis-shows-social-media-not-optional/

http://mashable.com/2010/05/27/bp-public-relations-twitter/

http://www.businessinsider.com/fake-bp-pr-tweets-2010-5?op=1

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/blackberry/8825661/BlackBerry-blackout-how-it-happened.html

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/13/rim-founder-apologizes-for-blackberry-outage-weve-let-many-of/

http://adage.com/article/news/recall-toyota-sends-jim-lentz-damage-control/141856/

http://pizzaturnaround.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5164216/Dominos-Pizza-defends-reputation-on-Twitter-after-YouTube-video-shows-employees-abusing-food.html

http://www.slideshare.net/fishlily43/crisis-communication-case-study-tesco-horse-meat-scandal

http://www.slideshare.net/jamieriddell/how-natwest-handled-their-banking-crisis-on-twitter

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20016113-260.html

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/16/apple-to-give-away-free-bumpers-to-iphone-4-users/

http://www.warc.com/Content/ContentViewer.aspx?ID=87b3db57-8859-49ab-a09e-4be9ae462853&q=crisis%20management&MasterContentRef=87b3db57-8859-49ab-a09e-4be9ae462853&GUserID=4a440493-22f7-4bc6-b8c5-bb1706042c2d

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPnfQnOwrhzZJEAxLT9IWLAHS3HNJjZAo&feature=edit_ok

SOURCES