“When Disaster Strikes…”

PR companies to the rescue when the company faces a crisis

"When is a disaster not a disaster? When it turns into a business opportunity... With good crisis management, a company can even ride the bad publicity of multiple deaths and come out smelling of roses." - Pat Anderson

In today’s world, information is a click away. Very often, the reputation of a company is affected by the way the media perceives an event. The ripples are both in the stock market as well as the company’s bottom lines. If there is a major accident on a factory site, company stocks plummet as soon as news gets out.

Corporations are increasingly turning to Public Relations companies to protect their image, enhance brand recall, and in extreme cases, prevent a mistake committed by the company from affecting its public image.

Microsoft has had to contend with negative media publicity resulting from the anti-trust case that has fragmented the company into two different entities. For Microsoft, this could not have come at a worse time. Competitors have been able to embrace internet technologies faster and they are waiting to take the lead in a market that has the biggest player chopped down to size. The negative media publicity has generated a wave of public opinion that views Microsoft as an out-of-control giant that is trying to control the world.

Using the Media:

PR companies use the media effectively to get the company’s perspective across to the public. A leading PR company has successfully carried out some of the best reactionary campaigns in partnership with an independent news network. Obviously, this has been one of the key reasons behind its success.

Lobbying:

Macro-economic perspectives are often lost and clouded over by sensational issues that tend to take precedence over all others. Good PR companies that specialise in crisis management maintain very close links with the powers that be. In the case of Microsoft, lobbying was crucial in delaying the anti-trust proceedings.

Support from the Ground:

The press is at the doorstep calling for lawsuits and closures. In such a scenario, the company has to identify and use effective support groups. Sometimes these groups have to be created.

Companies that face closure thanks to stringent environmental norms very often join hands with unions and groups that depend on employment. The publicity generated by a coalition of support will help negate some of the adverse publicity.

Third Parties:

A company might be criticised for using bad technology or a process that causes environmental or physical damage. Tobacco companies have for a long time been using independent experts and have been falling back on academic research to substantiate their claims of innocence. The integrity of these experts cannot be questioned and their opinions must be used effectively to smother any public opinion that is going against the company.

Showing a Human Face:

Multinational Corporations are almost always at the receiving end from protestors about environmental damage, economic leakages, employment cuts and a host of related issues. Companies such as Shell have consistently beaten these by showing an interest in community development, preservation of local culture, and environmentally healthy drilling practices. Not only do they implement these policies, but also make them an integral part of their publicity campaigns.

PR is no longer a handy tool to be used only for crisis management. The need is to build the reputation of the company to erase problems effectively and efficiently that might crop up later.

Related Reading:

“Top 7 Ways to Survive a Public Relations Crisis” (1123)
Lee McCaskill
www.top7business.com, September 2000.