Adam Leyland, editor-in-chief for PRWeek, spoke March 27 at the fourth annual Yarbrough Lecture, sponsored by the Grady College. He discussed the public relations lessons to be learned from Bridgestone-Firestone’s handling of the recall of 6.5 million tires. Some excerpts:
On crisis communications plans: “Lots of companies like to talk about their crisis-communications plans, plans they often toss on the shelf somewhere or keep for the day when Mike Wallace shows up at their factory gate. But anyone serious about crisis communications has to have not only a plan, but also a true appreciation of where crises might occur at their company and how to contain potential crises before they become big enough to get the attention of Mike Wallace, federal regulators and millions of angry consumers.”
On key lessons from this crisis: “Firestone first treated its recall as a business problem, not a human problem. That cost it dearly. Remember how customers perceive you during crisis.”
On legal versus PR issues: “Think corporate reputation instead of courtroom. Letting lawyers set the PR tactics for a crisis is a corporate-reputation crisis. Legal costs can be substantial, and lawyers should be included and listened to in crisis times, but everyone needs to understand the company’s long-term reputation, and it’s [the PR director’s] job to persuade them of that. It doesn’t do much good to say that nothing hurts your chances in court only to find no one’s buying your products any more. The business has to survive--if for no other reason than to pay the lawyers.”
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