Archive for the ‘Behind the scenes’ Category

Ryan Gerding

Crisis PR for PR

08.23.10

Don’t blame the message, blame the PR messenger…

As sure as day follows night, the critical focus of the media has turned from straight news coverage of the sad national crisis’s of the last several months to how much better the key players in these crisis’s could have handled their PR responses. Ironical as it may be that it’s this same media that is both the recipient as well as the conveyor of the professional PR’s criticized efforts or lack thereof. It’s as if the media is saying, if you had done a better job, our coverage would have done more to better your company’s reputation. In Case of Emergency: What Not to Do

I don’t believe any professional PR practitioner with a modicum of good business sense or social conscience could universally applaud how BP, Toyota, or Goldman Sachs have handled their recent very public troubles over the last year. And while I expect it does give a valid reason to trot out the old guard “crisis management” gurus or “public relations luminary” for a little authoritative tongue lashing, doesn’t it seem odd for the media to be seemingly chastising PR for not “managing a crisis” better with the result being more positive news coverage? Or perhaps it’s simply a matter of the media smugly stating, “we got it right in spite of your inept or lack of manipulative efforts.”

The end result of such a critical article however is probably far less a course correction by the companies involved as it is a stream of new client leads for the quoted PR gurus firms. The article points out that many of those contacted for comments “required elaborate promises that would not be portrayed as speaking about any particular company.” Never directly criticize another firm or a possible new client…heaven forbid.

Actually, one of the most refreshing and telling quotes in the piece is from Goldman’s head of communications, Lucas van Prang. “The issues we have aren’t rooted in bad communications,” he says. “They’re a direct function of our business model. One of the things we’ve learned is it may be perfectly legal but if it’s too complicated to explain to ordinary, rational people, then maybe it’s a business we ought not to be in.” A lesson he’s often preached but I guess he forgot, when Warren Buffet sank $5 billion into Goldman. However, it’s a lesson many traditional PR firms could learn as well.

A similar, parallel lesson could be adopted by clients and their PR firms alike in all their dealings, not just in a crisis, “Keep your communications honest and simple and don’t try to manage the unmanageable. Lead by surprising even the media, through rising above your history, your special interests, your pollsters, and the current circumstance…and just do the right thing.
(My apologies to Nelson Mandela.)

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Ryan Gerding

Sure, Blame the PR Guy

06.22.10

The saying goes that in war, the first casualty is truth.  And when it comes to embarrassing or unflattering media coverage, the first casualty is usually the PR guy.

At least that’s the case in the current dustup over a Rolling Stone profile of General Stanley McChrystal, the US Commander in Afghanistan.  The profile, titled “The Runaway General” portrays McChrystal and his subordinates as derisive toward Obama administration officials.

Hours after word of the story got out to the national media, McChrystal’s press aide resigned.  From today’s Washington Post

Duncan Boothby, who has been on McChrystal’s staff for roughly a year, was the first casualty of a controversy that prompted White House officials to summon the general to the White House to explain the remarks in the profile that will appear in this week’s issue of Rolling Stone.

Boothby was heavily involved in arranging access for journalist Michael Hastings to McChrystal and his staff this year so Hastings could write the profile, titled “The Runaway General.”

Aside from having a name that sounds like the evil fraternity guy in a Revenge of the Nerds film, I think the only thing Mr. Boothby is guilty of is doing exactly what he was asked to do.  Sure, he may have arranged for the journalist to have access to McChrystal and his staff.  And at the time, he probably got a pat on the back for what could have been a pretty substantial profile.

But ol’ Boothby didn’t do the interviews.  He wasn’t the one criticizing the administration.  That was McChrystal and his aides.  Did they not think that the things they said–over and over–to a journalist writing an article for Rolling Stone might actually, you know, show up in the article in Rolling Stone?  Didn’t they see the reporter scribbling furiously with pen and paper as they ridiculed their Commander In Chief and his representatives?  When we do media training sessions for our clients, we make it pretty clear that NOTHING IS OFF THE RECORD.  If you say it anywhere near a reporter or a microphone, expect that it will be reported.  Just ask Carly Fiorina.

Now, should the PR guy have noticed when the things being said before the reporter were inflammatory? Yes. Should the PR guy have directed the conversations–and there appeared to be many–away from disparaging the administration? Without question. In that regard, the PR guy failed his client.

But blaming the PR guy for this fiasco is like blaming the guy who sold you your car when you get a speeding ticket.

Categories: Behind the scenes

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