The importance of having a PR crisis communications plan in place cannot be underestimated, ensuring that you can minimise the impact that unwanted information makes in the public eye and stay in control of the story.
Flashback to 2016 for a perfect example. I don’t know if you remember the headlines at the time, but things quickly got out of hand for Byron Burgers when news broke of a Home Office sting operation for employees working without the right paperwork. A well thought out and carefully actioned PR crisis communications plan could have spared them a lot of bad press.
Burger off?
The situation was this. Byron Hamburgers, an upcoming independent chain of burger restaurants, had several employees who had given fake or false documents. The Home Office then became involved and asked to get all the people together so they can sort out the issues. Byron Burgers found themselves in the middle of a sting operation and it broke on social media that their workers had been deported.
And it got worse. Their actions caused them a lot of pain and ended up with them being picketed in the streets so they couldn’t open one of their restaurants, as well as being slated in the press and on social media.
It’s easy to think that this would have been the outcome whatever actions they took. But they weren’t prepared beforehand to deal with any negative publicity and it spiralled out of control.
A PR plan
Having a PR crisis communications plan in place is imperative for times like this. Knowing that this was happening should have triggered a meeting between the directors and the marketing department, or agency, to look at the risks of this coming into the public arena.
In this case it would have shown that the heavy presence on social media would be the first place this could break. It’s not surprising that people got upset. Byron has created a caring, open, and honest ethos as part of its brand, so this action really jarred against it. Had they held up their hands and said “sorry” it may have been a different outcome. I think they could have even said they were naïve.
No headlines, no story
Nipping it in the bud at this point could have stopped the picketing. No pickets would have meant no headlines and this story wouldn’t have made the front pages of most national daily newspapers.
Coming through a PR crisis can make a brand stronger. Inevitably the number of people interested in companies during crises is bigger, so it’s even more important that the core brand values are maintained.
By working with an experienced, full service PR agency, you can rest assured that you have the key skills and support in place for when you need them most. Contact us to find out more.
