The new ethos: Be strong on crisis management
Let’s face reality corporate Sri Lanka faced a blow when the 1st Covid-19 wave swept past Sri Lanka even though many of us were not directly affected. The economy crashed to a minus 5% GDP growth in 2020 and most companies had a negative growth in the leisure industry whilst companies that were home Environment focussed had a positive spin as there was disruption at the household end.
The apparel PR issue
As reported in the media it is obvious that the ‘ ‘Minuwangoda Cluster’ gave birth to the second cluster that costs the country over a fifty thousand Covid 19 cases and around 400 plus deaths in Sri Lanka. There was finger pointing in all directions but the lesson was simple - debacles happen and it must be managed.
Lesson from the world
Every company will be faced with a PR issue at some time in your life. Let me pick up some global case in points. Tylenol to Toyota; from Perrier mineral water to the famous beef issue in Europe are some of the examples we have seen in the very recent past pre pandaemic. The reason why these happens is that organisations are run by human beings and one can err. The challenge is that we must manage the situation at hand rather than having to get into confrontations with State authorities, laboratories and finally for Court orders.
Key components of a PR plan:
The priority for a company is to ensure that a customer is safe. The best response is to publicly explain the issue at hand and ask the customers’ help to identify the faulty product. This can be publicly displaying batch numbers, etc. If a customer is a recipient of the mistake Very clear instructions must be given to the trade on what to say when a product is returned. The chances are that customers will go to their favourite store, than call a hotline. This is very true in Sri Lanka. In the case of the most recent debacle, most supermarket assistants were not aware what to say to a customer when asked why the brand of stocks was still on the shelves.
If replacing the stocks, reward the customer. Customers have been inconvenienced and they need to be comforted. Be very clear to communicate what action will be taken on the faulty products so that competitors cannot create viral stories on your brand. This helps the brand rebuild credibility. Acknowledge the mistake and explain to customers how you intend fixing the problem and that it will not happen again. Get the Government and political authorities on your side. If not, the media continues to dramatise the issue and it becomes a political issue between the Government and powerful organisations. The company must develop a new positioning in an aggressive manner. In the case of Toyota, what was proposed was the green marketing positioning where the company was asked to take the high ground by a worldwide initiative of where ‘Green Showrooms’ were to be opened across the world on an eco-friendly platform. This was Toyota’s promise.
Every company will be faced with a PR issue at some time in your life. Let me pick up some global case in points. Tylenol to Toyota; from Perrier mineral water to the famous beef issue in Europe are some of the examples we have seen in the very recent past pre pandaemic. The reason why these happens is that organisations are run by human beings and one can err. The challenge is that we must manage the situation at hand rather than having to get into confrontations with State authorities, laboratories and finally for Court orders.
[The author is the head an South Asian AI based perception company - Clootrack for Sri Lanka, Maldives and Pakistan. The thoughts do not reflect the organisations he serves/ Boards of Management he serves)