I was flying back from a trip to the Europe when I encountered, for the second time in recent months, a newspaper article talking about a rising interest among large companies in insurance against losses caused by misdeeds of celebrities they’ve paid to endorse their brands.  While the whole idea sounds a bit strange, the ongoing litany of celebrity sex scandals (the last year has revealed some real doozies – Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch, and Tiger Woods, to name a few) certainly helps the business case for buying it.  And “death, disability, and disgrace” clauses have in fact been available for decades.

I’m especially curious, however, to hear from folks on the front lines of public relations and reputation management.  After all, an insurer may well pay up under these policies, but damage to a company’s image can take years to repair, and it is very tough to put a price tag on that damage (not to mention the sleep you lose trying to clean up a PR disaster). Read More »

On Monday night, Michael Vick put on one of the most incredible individual athletic performances I have ever witnessed – racking up more than 400 yards of offense and six TDs in a record shattering Monday Night Football game for the Philadelphia Eagles.

As a Philly native, I gobbled up hours of post-game commentary lauding Vick as the season MVP and perhaps the game’s best player.  And yet, less than 24 hours later, as I have my professional hat back on, I can’t help but marvel at the equally phenomenal comeback in his reputation following a conviction for horrific crimes centered around dog fighting.

Let’s examine how Vick seems to demonstrate the capacity for well-directed reputation recovery efforts to redefine a media narrative. First some perspective via the always insightful Google News search results as of Tuesday afternoon: Read More »

My experience with the utility industry began at an early age.  I was always one of those kids that just couldn’t resist a closer inspection of a down power line.  Growing up, I actually thought power outages were fun and assiduously tracked the progress of repairs – if only because the pace was closely related to the potential of a day off from school. 

Hence, it is with years of “expertise” that I announce I have been appointed this blog’s official commentator on the utility industry.  I’ll give some of my thoughts/observations on the industry, and I thought I’d also turn to you all to hear about your specific challenges and concerns.  Below is what I’ve heard in conversations with utility members over the past couple of years.  Please let me know what’s biggest for you.

What Utilities Are Good At:

Utility companies have not only unique characteristics that warrant targeted discussion, but they’re also lead members on a number of common issues.  Here are a few areas of potential expertise  for utilities:

Issue Management: Utility companies face a variety of local, national, and global issues from construction rights, to regulatory philosophies, to global environmental standards — and “winning” the issue is vital to the organization’s growth and, if publically traded, value.  The utility industry must manage a number of complex alliances and rivals on each side of these issues.

Crisis Management: Storms, kids, power lines – enough said.  Seriously, though, one of our members is working on arming the Communications team with a revolving satellite phone in preparation of a particularly debilitating event.

Customer Service and Communications Integration: Many of our members are taking the lead in customer service initiatives, particularly in various forms of online service (social media or otherwise).   As lines seem to increasingly blur among all forms of communication (whether it’s a call to a service center or a tweet about an outage), more and more of you see opportunity in such Customer Service/Communications partnerships. Read More »

By Mike Wellman

There’s a great scene in the first season of Mad Men where Don Draper presents a pitch for a new ad campaign to Eastman Kodak executives.  They had asked Don to emphasize a remarkable new technology used in their new slide projectors and, specifically, how the “wheel” would revolutionize the category.  In typical Don Draper fashion, he ignores those guidelines and instead provides a sentimental, personal pitch that touches on how the product would give people a new way to connect the present with the past.  His campaign doesn’t include busy scientists or tongue-in-cheek cavemen reinventing the wheel, but instead holds an emotionally provocative image of a carousel.  It’s a moving scene and a good reminder that to do our jobs well, we have to look past the blinking lights and understand how people’s lives will change as a result of that technology.

Recently, we’ve been trying to do just this by understanding how the availability of social media has changed consumer behavior and information preferences.  I’ll admit that as a member of Geeks Anonymous, I easily get caught up in all the latest social media bells and whistles.  Some are worth paying attention to, but I think most (Blippy comes to mind) probably aren’t worth the time.  Twitter’s changes are certainly worth paying attention to, as is the elephant in the room – Google Instant.

Read More »

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to generate no shortage of commentary.  Not only on the environmental, political, and economic consequences of the disaster, but also on a topic much more personal for corporate communicators: BP’s communications strategy.  If you’ve seen such commentary from activists (e.g., James Hoggan) or from news outlets covering the broader story (e.g., CNN), you’ve likely noticed a certain schadenfreude that permeates these remarks.  Of course, this makes them interesting, but mostly irrelevant to corporate communications professionals, aside from the minority who are responsible for crisis response in companies capable of major industrial accidents.

For the rest of us – and even for that minority – there are a couple lessons to be gleaned from BP’s handling of the Gulf Coast oil spill.  Lessons that are more subtle than the prevailing commentary and much more relevant.  Read More »

By Mike Wellman

Goldman Sachs.  BP.  Toyota.  Domino’s.  Nestle.  GM.  United Airlines.  Procter & Gamble. Mattel.  In recent memory, some of the largest and most-respected brands in the world have faced public scrutiny, disapproval, and active opposition.  It’s fascinating to see that each time, a slew of critics will comment about how poorly the company in question is handling the crisis, often only to recant in retrospect when public anger isn’t as white-hot. Just as egregious, these critics of opportunity every time point to a favorite case study of Johnson & Johnson’s recall of Tylenol in 1982 as a point of comparison for handling crisis communications well.

Don’t get me wrong—I love that case study too. A speedy response, a clear sense of ownership, and making real change to rectify a situation instead of just changing your messaging are timeless principles that should be emulated. Recently, though, new technologies and stakeholder expectations have changed the parameters of how companies should react to crises.

Read More »

I’m supposed to be flying to Copenhagen today to visit some of our Danish CEC members.  But in fact as I write this I’m still sitting in my home in Ashburn, Virginia.  Ironic. I’m one of the kajillion travelers whose itineraries have been totally ash-burned by the megacloud from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull.

(Fun Fact: If you spell-check that name, a black cloud actually spews out of your laptop.)

While waiting patiently for “the worst travel crisis in history” to come to an end, I’ve been spending my idle hours thinking about volcanoes—and crisis planning.

In my opinion, BOTH can burn you very badly. Read More »

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In the most dissected PR tactic since Bill Clinton first addressed the Monica Lewinsky affair, Tiger Woods delivered a statement in front of a hand-picked crowd unable to ask any questions.  I’ve argued in the past that the real lesson was from his allowing such a disconnect between the perception and reality of his life, but because Tiger is as close to a functioning business as an athlete could possibly be, I believe it’s instructive for professional communicators to assess his performance nonetheless.

My answer: Disastrous (but it’s not all his fault!). Read More »

By Evelyn Ostrovsky 

If two weeks ago you didn’t know about the American Red Cross’s social media use, you do now. The Red Cross’s innovative fundraising efforts for Haiti relief show that a little social media can go a long way in rallying global support for a common cause.

Given this success, it’s ironic that the Red Cross’s social media manager, Wendy Harman, was initially hired 4 years ago to “make the internet stop.” Red Cross executives were concerned about the volume of negative comments about the organization after Hurricane Katrina, and they wanted to somehow make the criticism go away. (Now, all good communicators out there realize that this is impossible, but can certainly relate to the sentiment.) Instead of staying in combat mode, however, Wendy saw an opportunity to enable advocates to rally around the Red Cross cause. Her journey from “make it stop” to empowering supporters took a few rogue experiments, some excellent listening skills, and the know-how to rein in overzealous business partners.

We’re thrilled to have Wendy share her story at a CEC webinar next Tuesday (February 9 at 11 EST). CEC members can register now for this event; if you’re reading this after the fact, you can check out the event replay here.

Now, let’s hear from you. What did you notice about social media’s role in fundraising for Haiti? What takeaways do you find transferable to the corporate setting?

Admittedly I’ve had a bit of an obsession with the Tiger Woods scandal.  He was (or is— I’m not really sure anymore) my favorite athlete and the whole reason I took up golf.  Having followed the minutia of his swing changes for 10 years, I think I’m entitled to listen to a few 911 tapes or double click on the latest Elin sighting.  Usually such pursuits are driven by a healthy dose of schadenfreude, but in this case, it’s utter amazement that a US$1 billion enterprise could nearly fold in a few short weeks.

That amazement quickly gave way to a rather predictable scene: experts using Tiger’s failed response to re-iterate well-known Communications truisms that call for a full public mea culpa.  I don’t know if a trip to Oprah’s couch would really affect the decisions of his sponsors, but I think there’s a more interesting subject at hand: what can corporate communicators—the guardians of valuable brands—learn from the implosion of Tiger Inc.?  I’d argue that the real lessons lie not in the response but in the prevention of crisis. Read More »