Crisis Management

crisis management the range of activities that helps a company respond to its business partners, the general public, or the government in the event of an unforeseen disaster affecting its image or its products

Public relations practitioners typically assume a reasonably stable client when they submit plans for public affairs, corporate communications, media relations, or financial relations in connection with advanced technology, healthcare, or other areas of business. It doesn’t always work out that way, though, because the political or economic environment surrounding a client can sometimes change drastically. At other times, unforeseen events within the client’s organization can spiral out of control and create a major problem. These changes are crisis situations, and a key area of the PR industry is set up to help companies manage crises.

CULTURE TODAY: PR AND THE TELENOVELA

Telenovelas are incredibly popular among America’s

Spanish-speaking population. Though telenovelas have similarities with soap operas, they are different from soap operas in that they are scripted to air for a prede­termined duration.

Social messages and calls for public service are not uncommon in the telenovela. Episodes frequently tack­le issues such as AIDS or alcoholism. Sometimes, the plot twists or actor’s comments are written with the help of outside health or advocacy organizations in order to spread the word about such issues.

In 2009, Telemundo introduced a message into one of its telenovelas designed to help the company as well as its audience. Perla, one of the central characters in the popular telenovela Mas Sabe el Diablo (or The Devil Knows Best), took a job as a census recruiter. The plot- line stemmed from an informal partnership between the U.S. Census Bureau and Telemundo. The Census Bureau holds a vested interest in appearing favorable to Hispanic populations. Census officials estimate that a quarter of a million Hispamcs were not counted during the 2000 census, which they explain in part by a distrust Hispamcs have over the census process. Telemundo certainly has a stake in making sure Hispanic popula­tions do not go undercounted. Nielsen Ratings bases the number of Hispanic households included in its sampling methods on census data. The more Hispanics counted by the census, the more Hispanics that participate in Nielsen Ratings, which could mean greater clout for Spanish-language networks and higher ratings and advertising revenues.

Sources: Luis Clemens, “Plot Twists for Genre,” Multichannel News, October 25, 2006. http://www.multichannel.com/ article/81696-Plot_Twists_for_Genre.php (accessed August 11, 2010); David Montgomery, “To Engage Hispanics About Census, Telenovela Steps Up to Be Counted,” The Washington Post, October 7, 2009, Style, p. C01; Brian Stelter, “U.S. Census Uses Telenova to Reach Hispanics,” The New York Times, September 23,2009, Section B, p. 1.

Crisis management refers to the range of activities that helps a company respond to its business partners, the general public, or the government in the event of an unforeseen disaster affecting its image or its products. A classic example of crisis marketing in the healthcare area was Burson-Marsteller’s handling of a 1982 crisis involving Tylenol for the manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. Health officials name Tylenol as the product that had been used to kill seven people around Chicago. Whi e law enforcement and health officials were searching for the person or persons responsible (a culprit was never found), Burson-Marsteller s mandate was to make clear to the public that its client had America’s best interests in mind and would take steps to ensure that Tylenol would be absolutely safe. An obvious comparison to this case is Toyota's troubles in the late 2000s with faulty accelerators that led to death, injuries, and many recalls. As Newsweek pointed out, “Back in 1982, even as people in Chicago were dying of cyanide poisoning from tampered Tylenol bottles, the drugmaker’s parent company, Johnson & Johnson, didn’t have to worry about Internet message boards inciting panic or fueling rumors and fear-mongering. I he strategy of corporate crisis management hasn’t necessarily changed, but in the Google, Twitter, and Facebook era, the execution has.” Public relations firms have to be conversant with all these vehicles, both to monitor what people are saying about their clients and to try to head off ill will. Most experts agreed in 2010 that Toyota had not done a good job. One expert called it “the worst-handled auto recall in history in terms of the consumer anxiety that persists and the mixed messages that were being sent at the outset.”

Large PR firms such as Burson-Marsteller not only specialize in helping companies when a disaster arises but also teach executives how to prepare for a crisis that might happen. These PR experts perform risk analyses and set up seminars to go over various scenarios with employees. In addition, they write instruction manuals, often in different languages, to help the staff of far-flung companies come together efficiently in times of emergency to try to keep the company’s image from being tarnished. Public relations campaigns that emerge from such thinking generally involve mass media. Although advertisements are one way to reach various constituencies, PR strategists believe that influencing the news about the client that these constituencies receive is more effective. The reason is that an advertisement so obviously represents the client’s position that it may not be effective in convincing skeptics. In contrast, a properly influenced reporter will often present the client’s interests as one legitimate side of a debate. Receiving this sort of legitimacy in the press can help rebuild a company’s battered image with stockholders, with its employees, or with government regulators,