London Technology Public Relations agency | Social Media Strategy | B2B PR | Chameleon PR

When a trusted brand has a serious crisis – American Airlines and 9/11, BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Qantas and the A380 engine failure, Perrier’s benzene contamination, US Airways Hudson River incident – what happens? Trust is lost, right? Reputations are hard won and trust is just one element that builds a reputation. So why do so many brands destroy their reputations when a trust issue comes into play? This was the topic addressed by Donald Steel, the BBC’s Chief Communications Adviser at our Reptile R.Endezvous (if you would like to join our next event please email me) event this week.

However, Steel clearly highlighted that two of the above brands, American Airlines and US Airways, handled their situations admirably. American Airlines immediately made safety their key message. US Airways responded within minutes of the first footage being posted on Twitter by a guy who happened to be on a passing ferry. It is with no doubt, commented Steel, that if those brands had not acted in an honest, compassionate and transparent way they would not be in business today. On the contrary he continued, BP blamed the contractors, Qantas blamed Rolls Royce and Perrier simply failed to view the contamination as a global issue and went into communication meltdown.

A key point Steel made linked crisis and social media. If US Airways had not built up a following on Twitter it would not have been able to be part of the conversations taking place, globally, about the crash in the Hudson. US Airways would not have been able to provide instant updates on the ground and ensure the public was fully, regularly and consistently informed of the state of play. Social media has changed the face of crisis. If a brand is not engaged, whether it be consumer or business to business, with its audiences via social media channels, when a crisis hits there will be no way to influence trust and reputation. CEOs, Steel concluded, need to rethink their job titles to CROs – Chief Reputation Officer, get connected and put the customer first.

“A good name is like precious ointment; it filleth all round about, and will not easily away; for the odors of ointments are more durable than those of flowers.” Francis Bacon

To the uninitiated in the dark arts of communications campaigns watching Eddie and Patsy in Ab Fab would have you believe that PR in particular was all about swigging vast amounts of `stollybolly`* and talking nonsense.  Well, we’d argue that in tech PR neither of these statements is correct. Well perhaps one, actually, but one thing’s true for sure – we Reptiles are fond of a good Pub Quiz.

And there’s nothing gets our dander up more than a bit of extended question combat with our fellow flacks (that’s “PR people” for those that have found this post accidently). Last night Chameleon PR (accompanied by honoury pub quiz team ringer Chris Mcintyre of Business XL and M&A magazines) was to be found in London’s Covent Garden Grand Connaught Rooms along with 20-odd other PR consultancies at the PRCA’s Frontline annual fact fest.

Not content with not only knowing that Tiger Woods had been dropped as a PR vehicle by Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, Gillette and Tag Heuer, but that Robbie William’s `Angels` is a modern favourite at both weddings and funerals, The Reptile XL Quiz Machine^TM quickly parked its tanks on a few agency lawns by blasting through solving a series of anagrams, dingbats and identifying supposedly famous faces through truly frightening familiarity with technology-lite subjects such as soap operas, glossy magazines and the X-Factor to be neck-and-neck in first place after the final round.  A tie-breaker ensued.  Trying to banish all thoughts of the performance of England footballers taking penalties in crucial championship matches, and blanking out the white wine fuelled cacophony, we stepped up to the plate and promptly buried the ball.

Shutters clicked, flashbulbs popped and the stewards fought the ensuing stage invasion by adoring fans⁺ and we were promptly rewarded with bling that could upstage Eddie’s Lacroix.  Yes, sparkly gold winners’ medals lovingly hand cast from premium plastic in the People’s Republic combined with a genuine silver effect engraved cup.  Having slept in our medals, the cup now occupies pride of place amongst the other gongs in the reception at Reptile Towers, EC3.

You too could have escaped with this priceless booty if you had correctly guessed the answer to `How long is the Suez canal?` It’s 101 miles and we got there first, so there. And who got the answer on our behalf?  None other than our battle-hardened ’58 vintage crisis communications guy, who parachuted into the fray and made damn sure he didn’t screw it up (unlike the ’56 debacle). Wholly appropriate in so many ways…

*a particularly potent combination of Stolichnaya vodka and Bollinger champagne, sweetie.

+ we might be exaggerating a bit here

Following last week’s annual Communication Report from Ofcom, I pulled aside Mo Elnadi, The Reptile Group’s Head of Digital, to talk about the impact of the report and the position of PR and social media agencies in the digital age. Mo is currently completing an MBA on the impact of social media on digital marketing and PR.

Here’s what he thought …

With regards to the report that was published last week, do you feel this information is important to you as Head of Digital?

Absolutely, we still need to further investigate the UK figures that have been given, because in some examples the results are lower than may be expected. I think further analysis and research in to how the survey was conducted will be crucial in helping us to better understand the findings. The results are different to those that we have seen in previous US studies, but this may be due to the technique used to obtain them and how they are measured.

In your opinion, are social media platforms still developing? Does more need to be done by PR companies?

This evolving landscape is constantly developing and social media platforms are now the fastest growing online sector. This is just the beginning, so it is vital that PR agencies follow this trend and embrace new forms of communication channels, after assessing the commercial potential and risk.

What challenges does social media pose to PR companies in comparison to more traditional techniques?

An important aspect of PR is creating dialogue that adds value with the right audience at the right time, in the right tone – so problems that may arise with these new technologies include:

-The real time factor – we have to ensure that we are always on top of the hottest topics that interest the target market in order to engage effectively with our audiences. More importantly, we must understand the dynamics of this new era and adapt our strategies accordingly, which is a challenge to many traditional agencies that are not familiar with those trends.

- Tracking and Monitoring conversations- It is imperative that you are able to keep an eye on what is being said about you or your clients. We use the latest monitoring tools which are able to search the web in real time for any relevant conversations about our cilent’s brands and also to identify key influencers per sector and channel.

- You can’t undo feedback that is written – With the democratisation of information there is far less control for brand image. Therefore in order to turn around any negative feedback you need to be transparent, address the issue and then leverage the opportunity to turn the situation into a positive discussion. One of the interesting facts about social media is how a strong base of fans and followers can jump to defend their favorite brand, or provide support for others on your behalf for low or no cost.

Are all PR operations ensuring they use social media techniques effectively?

While some are ahead of others, when it comes to taking part in this revolution the majority are already aware of the need to adapt to the new “Connective Tissue of the Web”. The problem though is whether they have the right digital strategy, resources and skill level to achieve desired results and to the right quality level.