In a PR Crisis, There's No Room for 'No Comment'

When the recently-resigned president of a Canadian university students' association was into custody following the robbery a Calgary credit union -- and when it was revealed the students' association, which conducted background or criminal checks on candidates, was unaware that its leader outstanding arrest warrants and previous convictions -- the story exemplified term "PR crisis."

A reporter contacted me inquiring how those thrust such negative news stories should respond, I ticked through the PR crisis to-do list: Tell the story. Tell how you're working remedy the problem. Tell what you're doing to prevent the problem happening again.

To this list, PR professional Jocelyn Broder adds a final rule: "Don't say ' comment.'"

What to do when you're a loss for words
"I can think of two words worse in PR than "no comment," says Broder, who managed the communications efforts of Coca-Cola and launched communications programs marketers ranging from nonprofits to self-publishers. "You may as say ‘guilty as ,' because that's how that phrase is most often interpreted."

an example, she points to Newt Gingrich's "no comment" response asked whether he owed a half-million dollars to Tiffany & Co. Any of the following responses, she says, would been better:

- "I don't have anything say."

- "That's not what I'm to discuss."

- "I'm unable to talk that."

- "No."

- Smile and say nothing.

In explaining her list, Broder cautions crisis communicators should say they're unable to respond when they're legally bound to comment. Otherwise they can be accused being evasive at , or lying at worst.

She also explains why the say-nothing option is on her list. "Say nothing only you've been inundated the same question over and or when you truly aren't in a position to talk." As example, she describes former senator John Edwards walking reporters' questions during a pre-trial courtroom entry. "The media can and will quote ‘No comment.' They can't quote you don't say," she says.

Turn a crisis an opportunity
"Depending how you handle it and how equipped your spokesperson is to convey your message, you can turn a publicity crisis [into] opportunity," Broder says.

Recently, when a spokesperson for Mitt Romney compared the candidate's views an Etch A Sketch, the toy's maker, the Ohio Art Company, wasted no time putting a statement that strengthened the brand message while sidestepping a political landmine. "Etch A Sketch has right- and left-hand knobs," said Senior Vice President Martin Killgallon. "We speak to parties. And together we can draw circles."

Move quickly to control the statements made
The longer you wait wringing your hands and deciding to say, more likely others will frame the story instead -- often with inaccuracies or perspectives that favor neither your customers your business.

The most legendary positive example dates the 1980s, when some Extra Strength Tylenol capsules were laced cyanide and placed retail shelves in Chicago. Parent company Johnson & Johnson took action, alerting customers, withdrawing product packages, halting advertising and production, exchanging capsules for tablets, offering rewards and devising tamper-proof packaging use to this day.

Not once the company state that it had nothing to with the tainted product. did it focus on the $100 million expense it was incurring. It quickly action to address two questions: How do we protect people? How do we assure the safety of the product?

In case of the Canadian credit union robbery, the university took smaller-scale and slower steps, but addressed similar concerns. In an early statement, an official said of former student leader, "We are concerned her safety, as we are for all members of our community." In a subsequent statement, the students' association announced that an election-processes review was underway.

Crises, almost by definition, are unanticipated. You can't possibly know advance what you'll say, but you can be clear what your message needs to convey. "In a crisis, keep calm but respond quickly," Broder says. "Don't overpromise, but do assure people that you're working fix the problem and create safeguards to protect against it happening again."


Adapted from: Business on main, 2012.