APM Thames Valley branch - Managing a media crisis - Stephen Carver - 19 July 2017

1. Managing a Media Crisis
Stephen Carver
Senior Lecturer
Cranfield University

2. Don’t want to
do
Want to do
PlannedUnplanned
Strategic
Projects &
Programmes
Serendipity
Compliance
Projects &
Programmes
Crisis
Events
Change…

4. April 2017
An involuntary de-boarding situation”

9. What’s the damage?
Launched 2006 Carnival
Cost $570M
Shipwrecked 13th Jan 2012 Giglio Island
Calm conditions
3229 P/ 1023 C
Evacuation: Law 30mins
Actual 6 hrs
32 dead
Euro 11K pp
Salvage cost
$1.2B
Captain Francesco Schettino
Moldovian Dancer – Domnica Cemortan
Trial 2015:
10yrs Manslaughter
5 yrs Causing Shipwreck
1 yr Abandoning Passengers
1 month False Information

10. It takes 20 years to build a reputation
and five minutes to ruin it.
If you think about that, you’ll do
things differently.
On Reputation

11. Lose money for the firm and I will be
understanding.
Lose a shred of brand reputation and
I will be ruthless.
Charlie Munger
On Reputation

12. A crisis is unexpected change
which could harm you…
or benefit you
What is a Crisis?

13. “Eagles may soar high
but…….
weasels don’t get sucked
into jet engines”

14. ▪ Stop
▪ Think
▪ Orientate
▪ Plan
▪ Action
The Stopa Rule

15. The 3 R Rule
Regret
Reason
Remedy

17. Who am I
talking to?
rule

18. 9th Feb 2010 Toyota president Akio Toyoda 'very sorry'
for safety recalls
Grandson of Japanese carmaker's founder
acknowledges growing consumer disquiet over safety
of at least 8m vehicles worldwide affected by
potentially lethal acceleration problems

19. The 3 R Rule
Regret
Reason
Remedy

20. Expected Costs of producing the Pinto
with fuel tank modifications:
Expected unit sales: 11 million vehicles
Modification costs per unit: $11.00
Total Cost: $121 million
[= 11,000,000 vehicles x $11.00 per unit]
Expected Costs of producing the Pinto without fuel tank modifications:
Expected accident results (assuming 2100 accidents):
180 burn deaths
180 serious burn injuries
2100 burned out vehicles
Unit costs of accident results (assuming out of court settlements):
$200,000 per burn death*
$67,000 per serious injury
$700 per burned out vehicle
Total Costs: $49.53 million
[= (180 deaths x $200k) + (180 injuries x $67k) + (2100 vehicles x $700 per vehicle)]

21. 1995
Brent Spar

22. “The successful company of the future
will also need to demonstrate much
greater openness and greater
commitment to the involvement of key
stakeholders.
Brent Spar was a key turning point in
the way in which Shell take important
decisions.”
Jeroen van der Veer
Group Managing Director
Royal Dutch/Shell Group

24. Mr Knudstorp, CEO of the Lego Group, said
in a statement on Thursday: “The
Greenpeace campaign uses the Lego brand
to target Shell. As we have stated before,
we firmly believe Greenpeace ought to have
a direct conversation with Shell.
The Lego brand, and everyone who enjoys
creative play, should never have become
part of this dispute between Greenpeace
and Shell.
Oct 2014

25. As societies, we have complicated and possibly
inconvenient choices to make about our energy
future. To think we can deal with them by
stigmatising the oil majors is childish – an
acceptable quality in young Lego builders,
but not in the rest of us.

26. Krista Seiden, a Google
employee, was boarding
another flight when the
Asiana aircraft hit the
runway.
She had her mobile phone
in her hand, and her first
instinct was to snap a
photo and tweet it out. All
within 30 seconds of
impact.
The first tweet, was
posted within 30
seconds of impact

27. First photo
from a
passenger hits
Twitter within
18 minutes of
crash
David Eun, a
Samsung
executive was the
first passenger to
post a photo of the
burning wreckage,
18 mins after the
crash.

28. 1975 Bob Newhart
The TV Interview

29. BBC Rule
•Block negative question
•Bridge to the positive
•Communicate your message

30. Framing Rule

31. Islands Rule

32. The Word Rule
What’s your Message!

33. "I think the environmental impact of this
disaster is likely to be very, very modest.
"The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean.
The amount of volume of oil and
dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in
relation to the total water volume."

34. “Perception is
nearer the truth
than reality.”
John F Kennedy
Perception Rule

35. British
Midland
Kegworth
47 Dead
70 Survived
100mph to
0mph
1 second
Michael Bishop

36. When in Happens..
▪ Prepare before
▪ STOPA
▪ Who are your Stakeholders?
▪ What is your 90 word message?
▪ Calm Down
▪ Be aware of speed/networks
▪ Regret Reason Remedy