By Kim Deppe
I have been watching with interest as Subway tries to climb out of the "Footlong" public relations disaster. Clearly, they are in crisis mode now trying to mop up a mess they made when they first responded to the posting of photos on the internet showing their "footlong" sub was only about 11 inches long. The company's initial missteps are causing them to spend a lot of time, and money, trying to repair their brand. There are a few lessons here that any company can learn from.
1. Bad PR can happen to anyone. Yes, even organizations like the Red Cross have had their share of bad PR. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the company itself but rather one person in the organization. A VP can get arrested for DUI, or worse, and suddenly the entire company is under scrutiny.
2. Bad PR is temporary usually. Treat it that way. There is a good reason people refer to newspapers as fish wrappers - they are here today and gone tomorrow. Yes, things on the internet have a much longer life. But the public, especially the American public, has a short memory and they move on to the next bad news story quickly. There is usually only one reason for a bad story to grow legs - a dumb response from the company.
3. For goodness' sake, think through your first response. Subway's first response was something like (and I paraphrase here) "Footlong is a marketing term and doesn't really have anything to do with the size of the sub." Dumb, dumb, dumb. Who believes that? They named it the "footlong" for the precise reason that it was 12-inches long. They advertised it that way. But somewhere along the way during the midst of their crisis communications, some dumb cluck was allowed to put that statement out to the press. The company has been spending great effort to walk that back ever since. The most reasonable, and genuinely believable answer should have been a discussion about the variation in size due to baking.
3. Bad PR can be repaired, but it can take a long time and it can be difficult in the interim. Speaking as someone who had to put out statements that were in serious conflict with what I knew to be best, somedays you just have to suck it up. PR professionals are required to give their best advice, and it is not unusual for CEOs and lawyers to ignore that advice. Ultimately, though, the CEO must make the call and some days that will not line up with what the PR staff has advised.
4. Bad PR can almost always be overcome. While there are certainly examples of companies that never overcame the crisis, certainly some do.The Red Cross did a good job of making changes in the wake of allegations it was paying top executives too much. Subway, too, will get past this as long as they don't do anything else dumb.
5. Turn bad PR around. Subway has an opportunity here to make fun of the company by holding "is it 12 inches? campaigns. Think how much fun it would be to have scores of third graders come into the store, waving their rulers, and letting them do some measuring. Bring in al kinds of things the kids could measure that day. Fun for the kids, a chance for Subway staff to do some community volunteering, and a way to build real good will.
6. Have a crisis communications plan. If Subway had one, then it needs to be fixed because clearly a response went out to the media that was not well thought through. A crisis team must include not only the CEO and legal folks, but the head of PR, HR, Security, and operations. They will all have important issues to contribute as you craft a response. Without a concrete plan, you may miss critical issues. Practice your crisis communications plan at least annually. And with any major PR issue, the CEO needs to be the spokesperson. If he/she is pushing it down to PR, then there is a problem and you need to understand why immediately.
I have been watching with interest as Subway tries to climb out of the "Footlong" public relations disaster. Clearly, they are in crisis mode now trying to mop up a mess they made when they first responded to the posting of photos on the internet showing their "footlong" sub was only about 11 inches long. The company's initial missteps are causing them to spend a lot of time, and money, trying to repair their brand. There are a few lessons here that any company can learn from.
1. Bad PR can happen to anyone. Yes, even organizations like the Red Cross have had their share of bad PR. Sometimes it has nothing to do with the company itself but rather one person in the organization. A VP can get arrested for DUI, or worse, and suddenly the entire company is under scrutiny.
2. Bad PR is temporary usually. Treat it that way. There is a good reason people refer to newspapers as fish wrappers - they are here today and gone tomorrow. Yes, things on the internet have a much longer life. But the public, especially the American public, has a short memory and they move on to the next bad news story quickly. There is usually only one reason for a bad story to grow legs - a dumb response from the company.
3. For goodness' sake, think through your first response. Subway's first response was something like (and I paraphrase here) "Footlong is a marketing term and doesn't really have anything to do with the size of the sub." Dumb, dumb, dumb. Who believes that? They named it the "footlong" for the precise reason that it was 12-inches long. They advertised it that way. But somewhere along the way during the midst of their crisis communications, some dumb cluck was allowed to put that statement out to the press. The company has been spending great effort to walk that back ever since. The most reasonable, and genuinely believable answer should have been a discussion about the variation in size due to baking.
3. Bad PR can be repaired, but it can take a long time and it can be difficult in the interim. Speaking as someone who had to put out statements that were in serious conflict with what I knew to be best, somedays you just have to suck it up. PR professionals are required to give their best advice, and it is not unusual for CEOs and lawyers to ignore that advice. Ultimately, though, the CEO must make the call and some days that will not line up with what the PR staff has advised.
4. Bad PR can almost always be overcome. While there are certainly examples of companies that never overcame the crisis, certainly some do.The Red Cross did a good job of making changes in the wake of allegations it was paying top executives too much. Subway, too, will get past this as long as they don't do anything else dumb.
5. Turn bad PR around. Subway has an opportunity here to make fun of the company by holding "is it 12 inches? campaigns. Think how much fun it would be to have scores of third graders come into the store, waving their rulers, and letting them do some measuring. Bring in al kinds of things the kids could measure that day. Fun for the kids, a chance for Subway staff to do some community volunteering, and a way to build real good will.
6. Have a crisis communications plan. If Subway had one, then it needs to be fixed because clearly a response went out to the media that was not well thought through. A crisis team must include not only the CEO and legal folks, but the head of PR, HR, Security, and operations. They will all have important issues to contribute as you craft a response. Without a concrete plan, you may miss critical issues. Practice your crisis communications plan at least annually. And with any major PR issue, the CEO needs to be the spokesperson. If he/she is pushing it down to PR, then there is a problem and you need to understand why immediately.
Kim Deppe is President of Deppe Communications, an outsource marketing firm located in the Jacksonville, FL area. Deppe Communications provides marketing consulting, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, public relations and advertising services to small and medium size businesses across the U.S. With over 25 years corporate executive marketing experience, Kim Deppe brings a unique combination of strategic marketing experience and online marketing know-how to her clients. For more information, visit www.DeppeCommunications.com, call 904.524.0170 or E-mail Kim@DeppeCommunications.com.
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