Category Archives: Crisis Management

P.R. Agency Finds Itself in Paper’s Crosshairs

It’s always interesting to see how PR principals handle criticism of their firm. Usually, it’s their clients that are under fire, but on occasion the news media will turn a critical eye toward the PR firm itself. Such was the case Sunday when The Tennessean ran a front-page story on the main section titled “How a P.R. firm to (sic) powerful tarnished its image.”

It’s hard to know how much of this negative story was due to Editor Mark Silverman still smarting from prior suggestions that the firm coaxed favorable coverage about the civic center from The Tennessean, or whether the paper really thought this story deserved such prominent coverage. Maybe it was a combination of both.

The firm, McNeely Pigott & Fox, is the largest PR firm in Tennessee, and it has represented some prominent Democratic leaders, including Karl Dean, Nashville’s current mayor. The major point of contention was the amount the agency billed the city to promote a proposed downtown convention center. The firm ended up resigning the account.

“…the firm hired to help temper criticism wound up fueling it with an open-ended contract that sent a whopping $458,000 bill to the city in just over a year,” The Tennessean reported. “It was a stunning fall that has raised questions about the entire convention center project, Mayor Karl Dean’s oversight of it, and his close association with the P.R. firm that helped get him elected….”

Well, I have to agree that sounds like a lot of money, and I’d be happy to promote the convention center for a lot less. In fairness to McNeely Pigott & Fox, it’s not clear the extent of work the agency did for those fees and how much time its staff spent on the project. But, whenever you get into large amounts of money going out of government to a firm with significant connections to many of the key players, it’s bound to raise some eyebrows.

Dealing with the perception of having taken advantage of the city through cozy connections is, in my view, the biggest challenge McNeely Pigott & Fox faces.

How effectively it will counter this criticism and weather the storm remains to be seen.

It’s worth noting that The Tennessean article disclosed the firm worked with the paper in 2007. No word on what McNeely Pigott & Fox charged the paper for its services, and whether The Tennessean was happy with its work.

I can’t help but wonder if the firm had a crisis management plan in case something like this happened (the article said, “They never saw this crisis coming…”), and if so how well it’s working for them now?

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies Beware of Smoldering Crisis Situations

Rob Phillips, a friend and client, is director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources. In the summer 2009 issue of Facts & Trends magazine, he has an article about why churches need a crisis communications plan. His observations and advice are helpful for ad agencies and other organizations as well.

Rob cites a statistic from the Institute for Crisis Management that should make every leader sit up and take notice: 77 percent of crises are of the “smoldering” type, meaning that a potentially damaging condition is known to one or more people. Only 23 percent are events that occur suddenly with little warning, such as natural disasters and accidents.

If something is smoldering at your agency or with one of your clients, deal with it now because chances are it won’t go away and may even get much worse if neglected.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Ad Agencies Can Benefit from PR Executives’ Advice for Managing a Crisis

Pacific Business News recently asked 13 executives in Hawaii to recall a PR challenge they once faced and what advice they have for other companies, based on what they learned.  Their stories can be found here: http://cl.exct.net/?qs=d3a3ed404ed8ac7375cba8f825bf196fcbb167cc8db9fb17e7c7dde43d3bdde4

One of the consistent themes is the importance of advanced planning and preparation, so it’s not surprising that in the same issue there’s an article titled “Crisis management: It’s all about preparation.” http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2009/04/20/focus1.html?b=1240200000^1813824

The crisis management article discusses how agencies can be a reality check for their clients.  In a crisis situation, objective third-party PR professionals can provide an invaluable service by helping clients keep things in perspective and avoid making costly mistakes.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

 

Crisis Management: 8 Characteristics of a Crisis Ad Agencies Need to Know

 Burson-Marsteller identifies 8 characteristics of a crisis:

  1. Surprise
  2. Insufficient information
  3. Escalating flow of events
  4. Loss of control
  5. Intense scrutiny from the outside
  6. Siege mentality
  7. Panic
  8. Short-term focus

 (Source: Burson-Marsteller)

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

 

Crisis Management: Ad Agency Objectives When a Crisis Hits

When a crisis strikes your agency or one of your clients, those charged with managing it should have three primary objectives:

  1. Maintain control of the message
  2. Minimize damage
  3. Achieve accurate and balanced coverage through the news media and Internet

 Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

 

Crisis Management: Plan Helps Ad Agencies Identify Real Problem

“Think of a crisis plan as a flashlight:  It doesn’t solve the immediate problem (the lights went out,) but it helps people find their way in the dark so they can discover the real problem – a blown fuse, a tripped circuit or a downed power line – and then begin to solve it.”

– Steven Fink, author, Crisis Management

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

 

Crisis Management: Ad Agencies Need a Written Crisis Plan

One of the best ways to help you and your clients maintain control and minimize damage when a crisis strikes is to have a flexible crisis management plan in place.

 An effective crisis plan:

  • Contemplates the types of crises that could occur
  • Sets forth policies to deal with them
  • Identifies audiences
  • Has a pre-selected crisis management team in place
  • Establishes ways to communicate accurate information quickly and effectively

If your agency or your clients don’t have a written crisis plan, now is a great time to create one.  If you have plan, be sure it is updated regularly.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Crisis Management: Ad Agencies Should Do a Reality Check

One of the most important things an ad agency can do in a crisis situation is help its client see the reality of the situation and what needs to be done.

The agency also needs to help the client keep the situation in perspective and focus on the long term.

 It’s easy to panic and develop a siege mentality when an organization in crisis is under intense scrutiny from the outside, but that only makes matters worse.

 Properly managing the crisis is vital, because facts alone don’t win in the court of public opinion—perceptions do.

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.

Crisis Management: Ad Agencies Need to Engage the Crisis

When I was growing up in Indiana, one of my friends and neighbors was a boy named Billy.  We were both around ten years old at the time.  One day Billy was playing with matches in his bedroom and set the curtains on fire.  He tried putting the fire out, but its flames quickly spread.  Billy was so overwhelmed by the situation that he walked out of his room, closed the door and started watching TV in the living room.

 For a few minutes, he didn’t have to deal with the awful reality of what he had done, and he was able to go about life as usual.  However, it wasn’t long before the entire house was engulfed in flames.  Fortunately he and his family escaped, but the house burned to the ground.

 When I tell that story, people usually are amazed at such irresponsible behavior, and rightfully so.  Yet, I find that many companies with intelligent, well-educated leaders often take the same approach to dealing with a crisis in their organization.

 Rather than face reality, they try to ignore the crisis or put a lid on it.

 More often than not, the crisis grows and becomes consuming, and in the process devours valuable time and resources.  Sometimes the organization’s reputation is severely harmed, and out of the ashes investigations suddenly appear. The pity is that engaging the crisis in its early stages would have made it more manageable and less damaging.

 As Henry Kissinger put it, “A problem ignored is a crisis invited.”

Don Beehler provides public relations consulting services to small- and medium-sized advertising agencies and businesses.