Thất bại của PR It can be expected that brands will have at least one crisis in their lifespan. If a brand is well known its crisis can also be expected to make the headlines. In most cases though, the crisis does not kill the brand. If the company behind the brand acts responsibly and sensitively, the crisis situation can normally be defused. However, if the company fails to do this, the public will be unlikely to forgive. According to one US survey 95 per cent of respondents were more offended by a company lying about a crisis than about the crisis itself. If the company presents the right information, the consumer will respect it for its honesty. Pepsi-Cola, faced with a syringe discovered in a bottle, ensured that its entire sales force had accurate information to communicate to customers. The press team also relayed this information to the media. As a result, they prevented a bad situation becoming even worse. Other companies, however, are not so good at handling trouble. They believe the best way to deal with a crisis is to deny its existence. ?~Crisis, what crisis??T is their general response. And indeed, this position of denial is exactly what the public have come to expect. Therefore, those companies that are willing to provide the whole truth and nothing but, score points for their open approach. After all, the key *****ccessful brand management is being able to provide consumers with what they want. Normally, this means providing a good service or product. At a time of crisis however, it means providing the truth. Although no company should welcome a crisis, the situation presents an opportunity as well as a threat. This is the time to either establish or destroy trust. If a company tells the truth about a negative incident, it is more likely to be believed later on down the line when it is trying to tell consumers about how fantastic its brand is. Public relations is about exactly that; relating with the public, not ignoring them. In 1999, Dunkin Donuts?T parent company, Allied Domecq, started to grow concerned about a consumer opinion Web site when the company 120 Brand failures realized that it came above the official dot com site on most of the major search engines. Rather than ignore the site in the vain hope it would eventually disappear, Allied Domecq and Dunkin Donuts monitored the ?~anti-sitê?T and frequently responded directly to complaints by private e-mail. Unhappy customers were offered vouchers and discounts and even one-toone meetings with local store managers. The site that was originally set up by disgruntled customer, David Felton, to vent anger at Dunkin Donuts?T poor customer service, soon became a valuable resource for the company. Allied Domecq eventually managed to buy the site from Felton to turn it into an official customer feedback service. Felton later claimed the reason he was willing to sell the site was Dunkin Donuts?T positive response to customer complaints and comments. Today, the site is still up and running and providing both company and consumer with a valuable and informative resource. Dunkin Donuts therefore not only prevented a crisis situation, but also gained a new way to listen to the customer. The examples given throughout the rest of this chapter are of companies who didn?Tt handle their PR so effectively, and as a consequence fanned the flames rather than extinguishing them.
