Who Dipped Their Hand in the Cookie Jar?

Even the best-planned campaigns run by the best teams with perfect messages and delivery systems are not impervious to somebody doing something stupid. When this happens, it depends on whether it was something trivial and a mistake that anyone could make or if it was something deliberate, premeditated or simply just evil for profit. Perception is very important when handling a crisis and being sensitive to perceptions the cause of the crisis is critical.

It is important to ensure that there is a crisis management plan (CMP) in place before the launch of any major campaign. A CMP goes a long way to ensure that if something does go wrong in a campaign that there is a plan to control the narrative, have a plan to engage the media on talking points, rationale and justifications for different scenarios etc.

The CMP itself should comprise different scenarios that could be expected to play out should the direction of the campaign change. These scenarios should all be detailed, well thought out and responses, solutions, suggestions and apologies formulated to achieve the best results even in the worst case scenario. Also, the person to deliver the messages to the public, write press releases, hold a press conference, respond to queries or engage the media should be determined ahead of time to reduce the level of chaos or confusion that could arise from the situation.

In the event of a crisis happening, the leadership of the company, the team that will be managing the crisis and the public all need to be informed of the situation with messages crafted for them to provide the appropriate levels of detail. This will ensure that all the relevant persons are aware and it doesn’t appear as though the company is avoiding responsibility for whatever has happened. It also signals that there is a crisis internally and that crisis management procedures should be enacted which should ensure that a standard and consistent message is delivered to all parties. It is also critical to determine if only a special subset of people should be authorized to speak on the matter of if anyone is allowed to.

Once the CMP has been enacted and communication has been put out there to make the public aware of the crisis, it is important to gather feedback to determine how well the message is being received and what perceptions are floating around regarding it. One way to do this is to monitor the social media platforms of the company closely to see if the public is reaching out or bashing the company for the recent events that have unfolded. Another is to monitor the media, their social media platforms and lobbyist or activists that are likely to be interested in the matter. If they have an opinion on the matter or if they are trying to get their own spin on the matter to ensure they have the most viewership/readership then this is an invaluable source as they must get it out there. These are the likely sources that will shape public opinion and once information is being put out there to clarify points and control the narrative while ensuring that misinformation doesn’t interfere with the facts of the matter then it makes management of the situation that much easier.

At the end of the day, crisis situations on campaigns are something that we all should try to avoid entirely and management of them are very difficult and can have long-lasting negative effects. Companies should avoid exploitation as well or be bad socially responsible corporate citizens as this will also have negative effects and could lead to the demise of the company and loss in market share. But generally, the public is reassured if swift action is taken to remediate any wrong that has come to light and are more likely to be appeased if said action is done justly.