Category: Organization Development

Dr. Oz finds reputation risk at the end of yellow brick road paved by bogus claims

“Dr.Oz”, the celebrity doctor frequently seen on TV shouting about how this or that is a “miracle” treatment for what ails you, is learning the hard way that endorsing bad products is likely to land you in the hot seat. Oz took a verbal beating as he sat in a Senate hearing about bogus diet product, being accused of powering scammer’s efforts with his overly enthusiastic support of unproven products.

NBC News’ Maggie Fox reported on the hearing, captured its tone perfectly with this quote

Oz was held up as the power driving many of the fraudulent ads, even as he argued he was himself the victim of the scammers. The hearing is a follow-up to the Federal Trade Commission’s crackdown last January against fake diet products.

“I don’t get why you need to say this stuff because you know it’s not true,” Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who chairs a Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, said at the hearing. “So why, when you have this amazing megaphone…why would you cheapen your show by saying things like that?”

The driving force behind Dr. Oz’s power is his credibility. However inaccurate it may be, he is seen by a huge segment of TV viewers as a credible person. By giving his endorsement to products that don’t do what they claim, or could even be dangerous, Oz is putting his showbiz career on the line. And, considering he dropped several quotes, for example, “When we write a script, we need to generate enthusiasm and engage the viewer”, that completely dismissed the points made by the Senate committee, we don’t think the doc understands the slippery slope he’s sitting on.

With power comes responsibility. If you’re in a position to influence others and you send them down the wrong path, whether on purpose or accidentally, it’s your reputation that will take the hit.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Not taking yourself too seriously is a boon to reputation

The Onion is well known for being utterly satirical, yet many organizations who find themselves the focus of a joke are unable to see it as anything but a threat. Earlier this month the American Red Cross was the target of an Onion article titled, “Nation’s Blakes Cruise Easily Through Lifeguard Training”, which took a shot at “typical” lifeguard names. Here’s a quote:

According to incoming reports from beaches and pools across the country this week, lifeguard tryouts were once again a breeze for the nation’s Blakes. “According to our figures, Blakes from coast to coast have secured more than half of all available lifeguarding jobs, cruising through fitness, CPR, and swimming trials with ease,” American Red Cross president Gail McGovern said, adding that the lifeguard staffs at over 200 municipal pools, seashores, and water parks would be composed entirely of Blakes this summer. “And in addition to Blakes, the country’s Bryces, Gavins, and Rykers also had no trouble passing the various tests. Although, as usual, not a single Saul was offered a position.”

Instead of huffing and puffing with indignation, the Red Cross made the absolute best move possible, embracing the attention drawn by the silly article and inserting a call to action that helps them to reach their goals as an organization, all with a simple Facebook post:

While this situation was never a crisis, the wrong response could absolutely have turned it into one.

Next time someone takes a jab at you, do what the Red Cross did and consider not only whether it really matters, but also how you can turn it to your advantage. You may be surprised just how much mileage you can get out of showing your human side and giving your stakeholders a bit of a laugh.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Words of wisdom on keeping everyone happy

One of our fondest sayings here at Bernstein Crisis Management is, “reputation is your most valuable asset”. Of course, it’s also your most vulnerable asset, constantly at risk of damage from countless angles.

What exactly decides your reputation? Well, besides the obvious, like how you treat your stakeholders and the quality of your product or service there is a lesser known factor, one highlighted in this week’s Crisis Management Quotable, from author, speaker, and Goodwill Ambassador for World Peace, Bryant McGill:

“Unfortunately, your reputation often rests not on your ability to do what you say, but rather on your ability to do what people expect.” – Bryant H. McGill

We’re not saying that it doesn’t matter if you stay true to your word, because it very much does. However, doing what people expect will not only prevent crises, but help you to resolve them more quickly to boot.

How do you know what people expect? The power to put yourself in others’ shoes is a valuable one for crisis management, but the very best one is to ask them! Luckily for you (and us!), it’s easier than ever to ask a few stakeholders how they feel about an issue thanks to the power of social media and ‘net communications in general.

Know what people expect, tell them you’re going to do it, then execute. That’s how you keep your reputation intact.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Could bots sway popular opinion via social media?

Chatbots meant to scam users into visiting phishing sites or those featuring paid services have been employed in online chat rooms and instant messaging services for many years, and now we’re seeing their advanced offspring pop up across social media platforms.

After all, social media presents massive opportunites for not only profit, but also control of public opinion, something that is of ever-increasing importance in today’s world.

In fact, our colleague Andy Russell recently linked us to a BBC article by Chris Baraniuk that examined the experiments of researcher Fabricio Benevenuto and his team, who sought to test just how easy it is to convince Twitter users completely automated bots were real people:

Benevenuto and his colleagues created 120 bot accounts, making sure each one had a convincing profile complete with picture and attributes such as gender. After a month, they found that almost 70% of the bots were left untouched by Twitter’s bot detection mechanisms. What’s more, the bots were pre-programmed to interact with other users and quickly attracted a healthy band of followers, 4,999 in total.

The implications of this are not trivial. “If socialbots could be created in large numbers, they can potentially be used to bias public opinion, for example, by writing large amounts of fake messages and dishonestly improve or damage the public perception about a topic,” the paper notes.

It’s a problem known as ‘astroturfing’, in which a seemingly authentic swell of grass-root opinion is in fact manufactured by a battalion of opinionated bots. The potential for astroturfing to influence elections has already raised concerns, with a Reuters op-ed in January calling for a ban on candidates’ use of bots in the run-up to polls.

The follower numbers gained by Benevenuto’s were not particularly impressive, at approximately 42 each you could gain many more simply by using the tried and true “follow a bunch of people and hope they reciprocate” method, but the fact that most completely evaded detection gives you a hint at what could be lurking on the horizon.

In our opinion, a team of social media experts using a mix of automation and their own savvy to seed sentiment could, and likely already has, swayed public opinion on matters ranging from politics to corporate blunders.

What does this mean to crisis management? Well, just as you wouldn’t (at least we hope!) get your decision-making information from a random person on the street, you can’t trust everyone you hear from on social media. Be careful to fact-check before sharing things you read online, be wary of any and all private messages from users you don’t personally know, and be aware that, while there ARE bots out there trying to trick you into believing something you shouldn’t, the repurcussions that come from believing the wrong thing are going to fall squarely on your shoulders.

We’re sure some of you are wondering how you can compete with these bot nets, and the answer is really quite simple. Use both social media and real-life efforts to recognize and connect with your advocates, and create methods to mobilize them to share when the time comes. People are surprisingly happy to devote some of their own time to organizations or individuals they support if you give them a chance. Just don’t forget to say thank you when they do!

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Another “what were they thinking?” moment from a high-profile ad agency

It’s not uncommon for advertisements to offend, but once in a while one goes so far that you have to wonder how it was ever approved. This week, ad industry leader Ogilvy & Mather came under major scrutiny from the public after its Indian offices created a commercial focused around the extremist shooting of Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai — for, of all things, a mattress retailer.

HuffPost’s Alexander C. Kaufman reports:

The ad, made for Indian mattress retailer Kurl-on, sparked outrage by grapically picturing the attack on the education activist, who was 14 when she was shot in the head by the Taliban with an AK-47 assault rifle. The ad shows the young girl facing down the gun, being shot, and tumbling through the air while injured. After landing on a Kurl-on mattress, she is able to “bounce back” — the theme of the ad — to be honored for her work.

The execs at Ogilvy, no crisis management slouches themselves, quickly responded with a strong statement:

“We deeply regret this incident and want to apologize to Malala Yousafzai and her family,” Rachel Ufer, a senior partner and spokeswoman for Ogilvy, said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “We are investigating how our standards were compromised in this case and will take whatever corrective action is necessary.”

This case actually offers two lessons. The most obvious is to consider how any messaging you put out there could be perceived negatively by stakeholders. The second is that the actions of one branch of your organization can, and will, affect the reputations of the others.

The first one is really all about common sense and the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes.

To steer clear of the second issue, avoid the common trap of creating silos – smaller parts of a larger organization that fail to communicate with one another. In other words, make sure everyone is on the same page regardless of how large you’ve grown. Obviously, the folks running Ogilvy’s Indian office are drastically out of touch with those at their home base here in the States. And as Ogilvy also has a quite reputable PR division, you can bet they weren’t in the loop until it became time for damage control.

Of course, one really must wonder who at the mattress company thought this would be a great angle to push their product, and how their sales figures are looking since this story emerged.

Advertising is an amazing tool, but the risks of employing it carelessly apply to both client and agency. Don’t wind up losing money because you pushed too hard to make a buck.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

[Editor’s note: We’re happy to share another guest article from Tony Jaques’ “Managing Outcomes” newsletter. Not only is the strategy discussed a knee-jerk reaction in many boardrooms, but it’s also one of the quickest ways to make your own crisis situation worse.]

Bashing others doesn’t help your case

It’s not often that outsiders get to see the private detail of an issue management campaign. But the war over premium milk has revealed some of the controversial strategies attempted in pursuit of corporate interests.

Newspapers in Australia and New Zealand exposed a media campaign by Italian dairy giant Parmalat (owners of the Pauls and PhysiCAL milk brands in Australia) to discredit New Zealand-developed A2 milk, claimed to be easier to digest than regular milk.*

It’s no wonder Parmalat are getting nervous. Locally produced A2 brand has gone from zero in 2007 to 5% of Australia’s fresh milk market today. More importantly A2 now holds 9% by value of the important supermarket milk market, and is the only milk brand in the top 20 products sold by Coles and Woolworths.

According to a whistleblower, reported in Fairfax newspapers, Parmalat hired political strategists Crosby Textor to launch a campaign against their kiwi rival. It was not exactly subtle issue management. They decided on an old-school media strategy to plant negative stories attacking the credibility of health claims made for A2 milk.

Apparently, tabloid television showed no interest in the story, but they soon found some willing reporters in print media. Over a few weeks, highly critical stories appeared in Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph, the Australian Financial Review and The Australian (which described A2 milk as a “scam”). And it may be no coincidence that the campaign began soon before Parmalat launched its own lactose-free brand for people with “tummy troubles.”

However, is such a negative media strategy good issue management? Pitching damaging stories against your competitors may seem like a good idea at the time. But it doesn’t seem so smart when you get caught out. It reflects badly on you and your client (not to mention potentially alienating the reporters who played along with the plan). Moreover, it is never good practice when the consultancy itself becomes the news story, because it undermines the credibility of the message and surely reinforces those negative stereotypes about public relations and “spin.”

While bad-mouthing a client’s commercial competitor is not specifically excluded by the Public Relations Institute of Australia Code of Ethics, the Consultants Code of Practice warns against “extravagant claims or unfair comparisons.” Presumably Parmalat would defend any statement about their competitor on the grounds of truth or fair comment, although the truth about A2 milk remains highly contested.

However such an approach on its own is not only questionable in terms of effectiveness, it also smacks of desperation and failure to understand that issue management demands a lot more than just media. With A2 milk now on sale in the United States and reportedly pushing into Parmalat’s home market in Europe, a negative media strategy alone is no adequate response to strong competition and very effective marketing.

Tony Jaques manages Australian-based issue and crisis management consultancy Issue}Outcomes and authors its newsletter Managing Outcomes

*Footnote: The A2 milk controversy has raged for years in scientific circles, in the media and during protracted legal proceedings, and many people are convinced it has improved their health. However the official view of Dairy Australia, the industry’s research body, is that “There is no convincing scientific evidence to indicate that milk containing only A2 beta casein is better for health than regular milk.” For a comprehensive analysis of the controversy see “Devil in the milk: Illness, health and politics in A1 and A2 milk” (2007). by Keith Woodford, Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, NZ.

Crisis plans should include the possibility of even the highest-ranking employees causing reputation damage

Unfortunately, after every tragedy there are some who are going to make wildly inappropriate comments or even joke, and if one of those people is your organization’s co-founder, you have a major reputation management issue on your hands.

That’s precisely the situation the folks behind online lyric annotation website Rap Genius found themselves in after co-founder Mahbod Moghadam left a number of tasteless comments on the manifesto of the California college student who killed six of his peers in a senseless act of violence, which had been posted on the Rap Genius site. Among his comments was speculation that the shooter’s sister is “smokin’ hot”, as well as glowing admiration for the writing skills displayed in the twisted rant.

The backlash, especially on social media, was immediate, and Moghadam’s fellow co-founder and Rap Genius CEO Tom Lehman made the correct, and we’re certain difficult, call to distance his organization from his friend and colleague, announcing the news in a post on the Rap Genius page itself:

Mahbod Moghadam, one of my co-founders, annotated the piece with annotations that not only didn’t attempt to enhance anyone’s understanding of the text, but went beyond that into gleeful insensitivity and misogyny. All of which is contrary to everything we’re trying to accomplish at Rap Genius.

Were Mahbod’s annotations posted by a new Rap Genius user, it would be up to our community leaders, who set the tone of the site and our approach to annotation, to delete them and explain to the new user why they were unacceptable.

Were Mahbod’s annotations posted by a Rap Genius moderator, that person would cease to be an effective community leader and would have to step down.

And Mahbod, our original community leader, is no exception. In light of this, Mahbod has resigned – both in his capacity as an employee of the company, and as a member of our board of directors, effective immediately.

Mahbod is my friend. He’s a brilliant, creative, complicated person with a ton of love in his heart. Without Mahbod Rap Genius would not exist, and I am grateful for all he has done to help Rap Genius succeed. But I cannot let him compromise the Rap Genius mission – a mission that remains almost as delicate and inchoate as it was when we three founders decided to devote our lives to it almost 5 years ago.

It’s not uncommon for high-level employees or even company heads to be caught in the midst of extremely bad behavior, and when they are that behavior can and does reflect on your organization as a whole. For that reason, crisis management planning cannot afford to overlook the possibility that issues could be created by anyone in your organization, from the very bottom to the members of the team doing the planning themselves.

You can’t afford to have blind spots when it comes to crises.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Working together, these two can make a crisis management dream team. Apart, well, watchout!

Getting pairing legal and PR for crisis management teams to work together is a frequent topic on our blogs for a reason. Together, these two can help craft the ideal response to just about any situation, but if they wind up at odds your entire organization could be hurt as a result

That’s why, when we saw Gil Rudawsky’s PR Daily article on qualities attornies and PR pros value in each other, we knew it was a must-share. Here’s just part of Gil’s list:

Qualities an in-house lawyer values in an external PR firm:

Experience: Having a member of the PR team who has worked as a reporter was invaluable in translating the process. What was the reporter looking for? What would he accept from us?

Responsiveness: A media crisis is a 24/7 grind. Members of the media appreciate getting immediate responses to questions and issues. (It is also a two-way street.)

Qualities a PR firm values in corporate legal counsel:

No legalese: Save legal language for pleadings, not the media or communication to non-lawyers. In a crisis, a good lawyer will know less is more for messaging.

Values PR: Understanding the proactive and reactive role of public relations, particularly during a crisis, is valuable, and counsel knows it can preserve or help rebuild a company’s reputation. The court of public opinion is just as valuable as the actual courtroom.

Gil names several more values you’d like each side to have in the article, so give it a look!

The best attorneys and PR pros will work as a team, ensuring moves from PR don’t put your organization on shaky legal ground while also being careful to take measures like double checking wording and tone of legal filings to ensure they don’t stir up negative sentiment among your stakeholders.

If your legal and PR teams can’t work as a cohesive unit, you’re in trouble, especially when it you get shoved into the high-pressure, major consequences environment that accompanies any situation requiring crisis management. If you can’t get the two to cooperate you need to figure a way work out the kinks before you hit a rough patch, or start looking to replace one or the other before it’s too late.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Privacy changes a healthy move for social network’s reputation

Widely blasted by regulators and users alive for a lack of effective privacy settings or respect for the sanctity of users’ information, Facebook is far from the cutting edge of the confidentiality movement. However, a recent change is a surprising step in the right direction and a smart crisis management strategy to boot, especially considering the close looks the social network has been getting from groups like the Federal Trade Commission or privacy officials overseas.

According to a company blog post, new Facebook users will now start out sharing to friends only, and both new and current users will receive messages explaining exactly who can see what they post according to their current privacy settings.

Facebook is going even further, though, adding a “privacy checkup tool”, automatic reminders when posts are set to public, and, something we’re especially excited about, a way to log into apps requiring Facebook authentication anonymously!

Moving from what many have justifiably called confusing and even deceptive privacy settings to this is a huge leap in the right direction, and puts Facebook more in line with platforms like Snapchat, Whisper, and its own newly acquired Whatsapp. Making users happy while satisfying critics is a crisis management win, and leaves us wondering what other tricks the old dog on the social media block may have up its sleeves.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

Stakeholders upset by retiring dolls bombard social media

Dollmaker American Girl was slammed with a major social media backlash after announcing it would be retiring four dolls from its historical character collection, including one of Asian descent and one of African descent. Thousands of Facebook comments and tweets accused the company of everything from ignoring customers of various ethnic groups to brazen racism, and the mainstream media quickly picked up on the story, giving it some serious legs.

It seems American Girl was really caught off-guard by the crisis. While whoever manages its social media presence did make an attempt at getting calming info out there after the group outrage took off, the facts would have been far more effective as a crisis management tool had they been included in the original announcement.

After days of stakeholder complaints, misunderstandings, and repeated news stories featuring the angry comments popping up all over social media, American Girl bit back, releasing a statement to ABC News that puts facts first:

At nearly one million strong, we’re proud of the relationships we’ve built with our dedicated Facebook community. Our fans are very passionate and many of our posts generate a high level of engagement, including comments, likes and shares. Certainly we know that whenever we announce that a character is archiving, it will cause some level of disappointment, especially among our most ardent fans… While demand for characters certainly plays a part in our overall decision making, the main reason for this year’s approach is based on the decision to move away from our friend-character strategy within the historical line. This decision affected Marie-Grace, Ruthie, as well as Ivy and Cecile—the first two racially diverse characters to be archived by American Girl. In comparison, American Girl will be archiving a total of nine Caucasian characters since 2008.

Deciding to lay out the reality of the decision is smart, as well as pointing out that there’s no way they can legitimately be accused of shelving ethnically diverse dolls over others. However, as with so many crisis communications, we would have been certain to include more compassion up front.

Regardless of what type of organization you run, decisions you make hold the potential to create a need for crisis management. While nobody wants to have meetings full of doom and gloom, a little brainstorming session focused on what could go awry, and how to best react if it does, is an absolute must.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]