Crisis Communication: Improvisation is the Worst Thing
5 March 2008
Read by 1834 persons
• In crises, leaders are often helpless
• Communication is not hot air!
ANNOUNCEMENT of phenomenal financial losses, shocking resignation of top management, embezzlement, deadly industrial accident, surprise strike... Companies are not immune to crises. Leaders know this, which does not prevent them from often being unprepared when disaster strikes, as the storm can come from anywhere. Take the case of Citigroup, for example, whose morale is destabilized by the subprime mortgage crisis and the group's losses.
First rule: To reassure customers and shareholders, it is essential to communicate, advises Alain Carcopino, consultant and communication professor at ESCP. But what to say? Not so easy... How to justify internally the 8.5 million euros in severance pay given to the CEO of Airbus when employees received a bonus of 2.88 euros? "Impossible, even for the best communication manager", says the expert. "When you are not prepared, in a crisis situation, the worst thing is to improvise communication: it leads to blunders", notes the Parisian expert. "And then, it's the domino effect", he adds.
"A company that communicates must integrate into its overall strategy a reflection on crises", he continues. All companies should therefore have a plan B. The most exposed companies are not necessarily the best students... The reactions of AZF after the explosion in Toulouse or of Total after the Erika disaster, the oil tanker that ran aground off the Breton coast in 1999, causing an oil spill, show this. "A polytechnician with a mountain of diplomas, surrounded by three communication agents, the president of Total accumulated a cascade of errors in one week: shirking his responsibilities, refusing to communicate...
"Communication is a function as important as production, marketing or finance. Yet, communication teams are often the subject of contemptuous comments from other departments who accuse them of "selling hot air." Even at the highest level of the company, communication is still considered something futile", laments Alain Carcopino.
"At a crossroads, some companies are realizing that things may not go well tomorrow. Sanofi and Aventis, two groups with almost opposite cultures, and despite two different ways of working, merged successfully, notably by reflecting on an identity for the new group. A message was transmitted to the employees: our project is to work for life sciences", reveals Alain Carcopino. The traditional tensions that accompany corporate mergers were thus avoided.
Socially Responsible Advertising
- L’Economiste: Looking at advertising messages, on agri-food for example, we observe a shift towards more "social responsibility." Where does it come from? - Alain Carcopino: It's public pressure. Communication is marketing. The goal is to understand the public's expectations and serve them with products that meet those expectations. Sensibilities evolve, trends change. In the agri-food sector, we live in a world of fear amplified by the media. Advertisers play the trend and now talk about sustainability. Danone has perfectly understood this. In the 1990s, it had an intuition, a simple idea that gives all the meaning of the Danone brand: "It feels good inside and it shows outside." They understood that they were not working in food, but in health. Danone sells its products very well, even if they are more expensive. Any other manufacturer could have had this idea. But in communication, it's like in the schoolyard: it's the first one to say it who is right. You have to say it loud, all the time, and prove it. Danone created a foundation for health, provides educational tools for teachers to talk about healthy eating...
Alain Carcopino
ALAIN Carcopino holds a degree in Economics (Panthéon-Assas) and from IAE Paris-Dauphine. He has worked as a sales representative and consultant in the largest communication groups: Havas, DDB, Séguéla, before working in advertising agencies, companies creating new advertising media, then in commercial prospecting for groups of design companies. He is currently a lecturer at ESCP (Ecole supérieure de commerce de Paris) and a communication consultant. He is part of the AOB Consulting expert network.
March 5, 2008
L’Economiste of February 29, 2008
• Communication is not hot air!
ANNOUNCEMENT of phenomenal financial losses, shocking resignation of top management, embezzlement, deadly industrial accident, surprise strike... Companies are not immune to crises. Leaders know this, which does not prevent them from often being unprepared when disaster strikes, as the storm can come from anywhere. Take the case of Citigroup, for example, whose morale is destabilized by the subprime mortgage crisis and the group's losses.
First rule: To reassure customers and shareholders, it is essential to communicate, advises Alain Carcopino, consultant and communication professor at ESCP. But what to say? Not so easy... How to justify internally the 8.5 million euros in severance pay given to the CEO of Airbus when employees received a bonus of 2.88 euros? "Impossible, even for the best communication manager", says the expert. "When you are not prepared, in a crisis situation, the worst thing is to improvise communication: it leads to blunders", notes the Parisian expert. "And then, it's the domino effect", he adds.
"A company that communicates must integrate into its overall strategy a reflection on crises", he continues. All companies should therefore have a plan B. The most exposed companies are not necessarily the best students... The reactions of AZF after the explosion in Toulouse or of Total after the Erika disaster, the oil tanker that ran aground off the Breton coast in 1999, causing an oil spill, show this. "A polytechnician with a mountain of diplomas, surrounded by three communication agents, the president of Total accumulated a cascade of errors in one week: shirking his responsibilities, refusing to communicate...
"Communication is a function as important as production, marketing or finance. Yet, communication teams are often the subject of contemptuous comments from other departments who accuse them of "selling hot air." Even at the highest level of the company, communication is still considered something futile", laments Alain Carcopino.
"At a crossroads, some companies are realizing that things may not go well tomorrow. Sanofi and Aventis, two groups with almost opposite cultures, and despite two different ways of working, merged successfully, notably by reflecting on an identity for the new group. A message was transmitted to the employees: our project is to work for life sciences", reveals Alain Carcopino. The traditional tensions that accompany corporate mergers were thus avoided.
Socially Responsible Advertising
- L’Economiste: Looking at advertising messages, on agri-food for example, we observe a shift towards more "social responsibility." Where does it come from? - Alain Carcopino: It's public pressure. Communication is marketing. The goal is to understand the public's expectations and serve them with products that meet those expectations. Sensibilities evolve, trends change. In the agri-food sector, we live in a world of fear amplified by the media. Advertisers play the trend and now talk about sustainability. Danone has perfectly understood this. In the 1990s, it had an intuition, a simple idea that gives all the meaning of the Danone brand: "It feels good inside and it shows outside." They understood that they were not working in food, but in health. Danone sells its products very well, even if they are more expensive. Any other manufacturer could have had this idea. But in communication, it's like in the schoolyard: it's the first one to say it who is right. You have to say it loud, all the time, and prove it. Danone created a foundation for health, provides educational tools for teachers to talk about healthy eating...
Alain Carcopino
ALAIN Carcopino holds a degree in Economics (Panthéon-Assas) and from IAE Paris-Dauphine. He has worked as a sales representative and consultant in the largest communication groups: Havas, DDB, Séguéla, before working in advertising agencies, companies creating new advertising media, then in commercial prospecting for groups of design companies. He is currently a lecturer at ESCP (Ecole supérieure de commerce de Paris) and a communication consultant. He is part of the AOB Consulting expert network.
March 5, 2008
L’Economiste of February 29, 2008
