ITIC UK 2024 | PR crisis management and branding
Miriam Boote and Adam Hill from Designate shared some top tips for companies seeking to deepen their understanding of branding and communication during a crisis
The ITIJ team are reporting live from ITIC UK in Bournemouth. Read all the reports here.
Beginning with the question “How do brands navigate a crisis in our current climate, culture and cancel culture,” Boote and Hill explained that, as marketing experts, their role is to take brands out of the boardroom, off the spreadsheet, and “into the hearts and minds of your customers” – they also pointed out that, in a moment of crisis, this connection to a customer is made even more important.
Responding as a brand, and identifying brand truths and principles are vital, they said, highlighting the importance of understanding the customer/end user, getting the tone of voice right, and keeping the promises you’re making to the customer. It’s also vital, added Hill, to understand the tone of the voice of your partners – you can’t have different messaging and different tone, it will jar the customer and the media. Damage can take a long time to recover from as well, so getting it right first is better than getting it wrong and having to fix it.
The duo then proceeded to share some best practice and worst practice of crisis management in the travel industry, including how Emirates responded to the flooding around Dubai airport following bad weather, which saw an open letter from CEO Tim Clark to customers published within 24 hours of the incident. The message was clear: ‘we were not good enough’, and that admission resonated with customers. This also made an impact in a region and culture where generally, bad publicity isn’t an option.
Meanwhile, the alternative was presented in the case of US-based airline United Express, which hit the headlines after forcibly removing a passenger from an overbooked aircraft. The incident, which was videoed and widely shared online (1.2 million people shared it), wiped $800 million off the share price overnight.
Putting your customer first is the take-home message from Designate – further examples of companies doing the right things included LV= using CCTV to check the cars caught up in flooding in a ferry terminal car park in the UK, and they were able to have hire cars waiting for affected customers when they returned from a channel crossing.
In wrapping up, the Designate team had some key points of advice:
- Be human, be humble
- Respond and reassure
- Do the right thing – go above and beyond to change the customer experience.