Crisis Communications (4/01)

Valerie Denney
President, Valerie Denney Communications
John Mose
BSMG
(Director of strategic and creative direction and client relations for the Archer Daniels Midland and Philip Morris Corporate Contributions account teams)
Susan Prather
Senior Vice President and
Director of Public Relations
Cramer-Krasselt

Currently heard on WSCR/Sportsradio 670, Dave Baum has spent more than three decades in reporting and interpreting issues-based news events to his radio, TV and print audiences in Chicago. In 1974, Baum worked as a media trainer for J. Walter Thompson during the U.S. oil embargo, the first of its kind executive spokesperson and crisis communications training program.

An award-winning reporter, he has been the recipient of a Peter Lisagor Award and currently serves as an adjunct professor of corporate education at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management as well as having his own media-training firm.

"What happens when defecation hits the ventilation?" Baum asked rhetorically. "Effective crisis communication is a balancing act between fixing the problem, showing concern and compassion and using operational tactics to come up with solutions" as well as sharing appropriate bits of information with the media.

He cited the example of a north side shooting in an alley a few years ago. Even though the young man, who was shooting hoops and was shot in a drive-by, was only feet away from a hospital emergency room, the staff said they could not help him as they could not leave the hospital campus. No one wanted to talk and, in no time, the "hospital got hammered"; the negative reputation of the hospital went global in no time.

"You need to tell how you are trying to solve the problem," Baum said. "Perception is what it is all about. When in doubt, it is best to err on the side of the public and try to fix the problem."

Valerie Denney

Valerie Denney's firm specializes in organizations involved in issue advocacy on the grass roots level; during part of her career, she served in Mayor Harold Washington's press office.

According to Denney, the role of public relations helps clients realize the solution is simpler than it first seems and involves the ability to calm the client and come up with media solutions. One thing smaller organizations need to realize is that, when a crisis is underway, "they need to drop everything and handle it now!" The most effective way to handle a crisis is not only to have a credible person talk to the media, but to do so proactively. PR counsel can be in on the conversation, but the truth needs to be told.

She cited an example of a Tribune reporter looking into a program because a famous person was involved. The reporter was allowed full reign, but the story that resulted turned out to have a negative slant and, as a result, attracted the interest of the Washington Post.

Denny grilled her clients on the facts and errors in the Tribune story and told them they needed to meet with the Post but to drag it out, putting some time between the incident and meeting with them. Therefore, the agency called the Post and said they wanted to meet with a reporter, but the director would be on vacation for two weeks. A series of delays followed, dragging this "interview" out over a couple of months, always portraying the client as eager to talk. As they hoped, the Post lost interest.

The moral of this is to think about the media involved and their needs, then see how you can avert the crisis at hand.

Susan Prather

Susan Prather was involved with the construction crisis involved in the Rosemont Stadium -- now the Allstate Arena. The structure gained national notoriety when its wooden roof collapsed while it was being built; a Sun-Times photographer happened to be driving by and sot his Pulitzer-prize photo of the incident. As a result of this crisis, Prather came up with her 10 Commandments of Crisis:

1. Thou shall be prepared.

2. Thou shall garner information from all sources

3. Thou shall show compassion for the victims but be quiet until you have something important to say

4. Thou shall gage public opinion

5. Identify the obstacles for each group

6. Determine a spokesperson (when American Airlines suffered the crash of Flight 191 at O'Hare, the sole role of the spokesperson was clearly on what to say and how to say it)

7. Determine when to respond and when to keep quiet

8. Work with a media-trained spokesperson and rehearse what you are going to say

9. Manage internal communications.

10. Think on your feet! Don't allow speculation and consider what is appropriate for local, national and international audiences.

"Remember," Prather said, "if you look at the crises that have taken place, even the Exxon recovered from its Valdes crash. Hopefully, we will handle each incident well. The keys are being responsible and using ethical communications."

John Bose

Among his other responsibilities, John Bose leads the effort to generate positive media coverage surrounding Philip Morris' corporate charitable contributions. Some of his accounts, while working at other agencies, have included Kraft General Foods, Proctor & Gamble, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, 9-Lives Cat Food and Sara Lee.

He was brought in to work with the German-based Storck candy company to solve a problem that had evolved with one of their products, Mamba candy -- or what came to be known as "Mad Cow Candy."

All it took was a news story that filtered into the Polish press that 9,000 products with bovine products included were quarantined, leading the story to arrive in the United States via e-mail. Once here, it blossomed.

Some of the problems began due to a time difference, along with company executives all being at a conference in Switzerland when the story broke, in addition to the cultural differences. "People don't want to hear how the food was made," said Bose, who headed the Chicago crisis management team. "The U.S. executives hopped on a plane, contacted their attorneys and got BSMG involved to create a response. Speed is of the essence in a situation like this. All crises can become global."

After assuring the public of product safety, Bose reached out for third party support B the FDA and its European counterpart B to further assure the public against health risks. The stories were monitored globally. "A lot of erroneous stories were generated," said Bose.

"We faxed corrections to reporters in an effort to slow them [the stories] down. It was a four-day news cycle before the FDA could claim product safety. Until that time, 140 stories were generated, including 12 in one day; 33 percent of them were inaccurate. What we wound up with was a sadder but wiser client. The Germans learned that they needed a [crisis communications] plan."

He added, "All it takes on one person screaming 'fire' to create this kind of problem. The Germans learned that U.S. consumers don=t care about the German FDA and e-mail can be a force for tremendous evil. BSMG believes that global agriculture stories won=t go away for at least five to ten years. If your client is in the food industry, they may be vulnerable. As a result, BSMG formed a task force. By sending out the corrections to the erroneous information, we got people to print corrections and, in radio and TV, we got them to stop talking about this situation."

Bose suggested that by taking responsibility, the public will be more forgiving.

During the question and answer session, Baum agreed with this, indicating that no one spoke for Jewel Foods when it had its salmonella outbreak in 1985 or for the hospital where the workers didn't take the initiative to go the 35 feet to save the life of the child that was shot. Part of the problem there is that attorneys are reluctant to allow their clients to admit fault.

Dave Baum

Baum suggested, that when faced with a crisis, those involved should consider asking themselves these questions:

1. What are the worst questions you can be asked?

2. How will I answer those questions?

3. What can I share?

"Sometimes bad things happen because things are done wrong, however, a bad news story handled well, can enhance the reputation of the organization," he said. "Eighty percent of all crises are 'slow burn.' You need to build a relationship with the legal staff early-on. If a situation arises, you will need a message or you'll get sliced and dices, especially from the media. You cannot just answer the questions."

Prather added, "You need to establish key messages for each audience involved. There is something to be said for being prepared."

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