Crisis Communications:
Avoiding the Titanic Scenario
Philip J. Kitchen
University of Hull, UK
p.j.kitchen@hull.ac.uk
Ansett Example
In 2001, the now defunct airline, Ansett, was enmeshed in a major safety crisis
when its fleet of 10 Boeing 767’s was grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety
Authority (CASA) after safety checks revealed engine pylon cracks. The
grounding caused flight cancellations, mass disruption of passengers,
reputation damage and multi-millions of dollars in lost market share for Ansett.
Pan Pharmaceutical
The authors describe the mid-2003 government-ordered withdrawal of almost
2000 complementary and alternative medicines, across multiple brand names,
in Australia and New Zealand.
See Eagle, Rose, Kitchen, Hawkins, ‘Regulatory Oversight or Lack of Foresight?
Implications for Product Recall Policies and Procedures,
Journal of Consumer Policy, 2005.
Global Ads and
Importance of Topic
Call for Papers
An International Conference on “Corporate Responsibility and Global
Business: Implications for Corporate and Marketing Strategy” Hosted by London
Business School
July 13-14th, 2006
London Business School is pleased to invite submissions to the third in
a series of international corporate responsibility conferences
(following the Haas conference in 2005 and the Boston conference in
2003). Topics for inclusion again range widely. We are particularly
interested in papers that explore the implications of corporate
responsibility, globalisation and global business for business and
marketing strategy. Research papers can be either empirical or
conceptual. A selection of papers presented will be considered for a
special issue of the California Management Review. Proposal submission
 deadline (1-page abstracts) is December 31st, 2005.
The Nature of Corporate Crisis and
Management’s Response
Crisis is defined as:
“a people-stopping,
show-stopping,
product-stopping,
reputationally defining event,
which creates victims
and/or explosive visibility”
(Source: Jim Lukaszweski, in Kitchen & Schultz, 2000)
Value and Belief Systems Affect
Crisis Response
 Avoid poor, delayed, or unnecessary communication
NEED
1. An effective communication policy model
2. A method for determining prioritization of actions and
communicating during urgent situations
3. An accountability process, which can move the entire
response to conclusion, while simultaneously
regaining credibility and re-establishing reputation.
1. Crisis Communications Policy Model
Standards
•
•
•
•
Openness, accessibility
Truthfulness
Responsiveness
Transparency
2. Communication Priorities





Address fundamental cause
Assist and care for those directly affected
Inform and involve employees
Alert those indirectly affected
Manage the news media
3. Accountability

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Seven Essential Steps
Candor
Explanation
Declaration
Contrition
Consultation
Commitment
Restitution
But, there are other (well-known)
and avoidable models
Behaviour
1: Denial
2. Victim confusion
3. Testostoris
4. Arrogance
5. Search for the guilty
6. Fear of the media
7. Management by whining around
Community versus corporate
priorities in terms of timeline
Community Priorities
High
1 Health and safety
7
2
Natural environment
6
3
Social environment
5
4
Cultural environment
4
5
Technical considerations
3
6
Financial considerations
2
7
Economic considerations 1
Low
Corporate Priorities
An (unnamed) example: Fast Food
Day 1: Sicknesses, denial, media speculation, reluctant
statement. Notify Dept of Health.
Day 2: Admit possibility, blame suppliers, caution to media.
Day 3: First deaths reported, meat inspectorate condemned,
increased ads, blame industry.
Day 4: More deaths. Company cites safety codes.
Day 5: More deaths. Company sponsors study of food safety.
Refers to problem as ‘a government problem’.
Whistleblowers speak out.
Day 6: More deaths. Litigation commenced by consumers,
criminal charges levied. Company request consumers
come to them, not government, media, or law.
Day 7: Company forced to close down
Don’t Ignore Issues and Crises
“An issue ignored is a crisis ensured”
Dr Henry Kissinger
Circumstances











Disaster
Criminal acts
Terrorism
Ethics failure
Financial / business problems
Clash of cultures
Science/Consumer activism
Changing public values
Demands for public consultation
24/7 intrusive media
Don’t trust “experts” or “government”
Equal real or
perceived risk
Risk issue life cycle
ORIGIN
MEDIATION / AMPLIFICATION
Opportunity to influence
ORGANISATION
RESOLUTION
Difficult to influence
Formal
constraints
Period of increasing
awareness
Pressure
Media
coverage
Issue management
Early issue identification
Potential
Emerging
Current
Crisis
Dormant
Development
(Source; Tom Watson, 2005, used here with permission)
Now apply
Accountability or Avoidability
ORIGIN
MEDIATION / AMPLIFICATION
Opportunity to influence
ORGANISATION
RESOLUTION
Difficult to influence
Formal
constraints
Period of increasing
awareness
Pressure
Media
coverage
Issue management
Early issue identification
Potential
Development
Emerging
Current
Crisis
Dormant


Seven years after its original launch, Mercedes-Benz has introduced an all new A-Class.
And as the old one managed a staggering 1.1 million sales, the importance of this new AClass to Mercedes overall business is huge. Given the history of the original A-Class, this
one needs to be right. And right from day one.
When the original was launched in 1997, it went straight onto the front page of national
papers across Europe. Unfortunately, that was because it had a tendency to fall over
whilst in the hands of Scandinavian journalists attempting the famous 'elk test' avoidance
manoeuvre. Mercedes went into damage control mode and within weeks, had
engineered an electronic stability control to fix the problem. Still, the damage had been
done, with some journalists criticising the ride and handling of the subsequent car. Worse
was to come, as question marks began to appear over the A-Class's quality, from a
standpoint of cabin materials as well as build.
Enough time has passed that Mercedes now feels free to make elk jokes at its own
expense. But tellingly, the first thing journalists were told about the new car was how
good the latest generation of ESP (electronic stability control) is. Read on to see whether
issues over quality, ride and handling have also been buried.
‘There are some dark and disturbing clouds on the
horizon. The darkest is the tendency of many large
MNC’s to make international public relations
management the victim of benign neglect.
As a result of this neglect (this function) has not
developed in large corporations as it should. While this
may seem to bode well for the public relations agencies
and consultancies that are filling the void, I believe that
over the long term it can spell trouble’
Source: Foster, cited in Wakefield, 1999)
Raise - not the Titanic, but the Corporate Umbrella
“The ribs of the umbrella refer to the integrated
communication activities in support of the overall
communication system. Lose, mismanage, or
damage one of the communication ‘ribs’ such as
crisis management …., and the whole
communication coverage of the organisation
becomes unstable in the winds of change, …
allowing turbulence to impact on corporation,
strategic business, and brands”
Source: Kitchen and Schultz - Raising the Corporate
Umbrella, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2001.
Questions or
Comments?
Comments?
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