Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

prevent a mass of comment in dozens of
newsgroups pointing at Tommy Hilfiger
and branding him as racist.
Even the most exhaustive PR campaigns
cannot easily refute rogue information
which is allowed to spread too long. In
spite of well-publicized responses the
newsgroup talk online still disparages
Tommy Hilfiger’s supposed remarks to this
day.
Not included in internet exchanges
In another study by IRS, during June 1999,
in only three discussion groups (support.
asthma, uk.local.surrey and games.
miniatures) there were 3,500 comments on
quality pertaining to UK supermarkets. The
subject of quality associated with named
supermarkets appeared in 36 UK newsgroups.
By extrapolation, it might be said
that there were 30,000 public comments
available for the whole world to see about
the quality of UK supermarkets.
In addition, there was an audience who did
not actively comment in numbers, maybe
vying with the Sun newspaper in total audience
size. By any measure this represents a
sizeable number of people prepared to
make a comment and elect to spend time
reading such comments. A sample of the
postings showed 63 per cent of commentators
recommended a particular retailer and
37 per cent who were critical. Notably,
some retailers came out well ahead of the
others with little criticism and much praise.
The steps of the plan
• For each of the above potential threats it
is worth undertaking a risk assessment.
• Consider the organization’s strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
• Develop a series of realistic scenarios.
• Begin to develop lists of people and contacts
both internal and external who are
important to you and your organization.
• Develop plans in a number of scenarios
from the least threatening to the most
threatening – an escalation plan.
• Prepare key materials, messages, and the
means for communication and include
electronic media.
• Select and train the crisis team.
• Involve the team in risk assessment.
• Simulate.
• Ensure you have the means to manage
when key people are away and if the
operation is not possible on site.
• Find a way of ensuring that for both issue
and crisis management there is a good
management reason (preferably other
than crisis) to keep your information and
capability up to date.
• For each of your issues use a step by step
approach on how to handle a crisis – see
the crisis management plan (Figure 19.7).
Conclusions
Issues have to be managed. The practitioner
role is pivotal and there is a significant cross
over from the public relations role to corporate
management. Being prepared, planning
and training and then teambuilding with dispassionate
and calm people who can work
under pressure in difficult circumstances goes
without saying. It is the skills of the PR professional
that are most significant, which include
the ability to assess the impact of events,
actions and statements on many publics. This
is a critical skill.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors