PBRL 425 Franklin Wk2 Crisis Communication Pet Food Crisis Recall MEMO Technology can add an additional challenge for Public Relations professionals charge

PBRL 425 Franklin Wk2 Crisis Communication Pet Food Crisis Recall MEMO Technology can add an additional challenge for Public Relations professionals charged with communicating bad news. In this assignment, you are asked to compose an e-mail delivering bad news to internal audience. Bear in mind principles of effective e-mail writing (e.g., length, tone, manner, language, appropriateness of content to this communication mode, etc.). If you feel you need a refresher, visit E-mail Etiquette (http://www.iwillfollow.com/ ) and click on e-mail etiquette for more information.

Read the assigned readings to learn about the assignment (attached).
Read Bernstein – 10 Steps of Crisis Comm (paste into your browser): http://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/articles/…
Conduct additional research as needed.
Write an e-mail to those within the pet food organization who would be directly affected in a Microsoft Word document. Note: Assume the role of the Chief Communications Officer of the pet food organization.
Your assignment should look like an actual e-mail and include all appropriate elements.

APA Format is required.

If you have any questions about the assignment please let me know. For the reading, a link is provided for E-mail etiquette and another required reading. Two additional required readings for the assignment are attached. The Year of the Recall Response
By Gene Grabowski
http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/
February/March 2008
It was the day before Halloween, 2007. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Consumers Union Senior
Director of Product Safety Planning Don Mays teamed up to deliver an ominous—and, to some industry
insiders, downright frightening—message about the future of consumer product safety efforts in the
United States. At a Capitol Hill news conference in which they dubbed 2007 “The Year of the Recall,”
the Speaker called for the embattled head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Nancy
Nord, to step down. Don Mays demanded stricter measures to keep dangerous products off the shelves.
And those sentiments were echoed lawmaker after lawmaker trooped to the lectern to chastise industry
leaders and regulatory officials after a record-setting year in which 472 consumer products had been
recalled to date.
It seems as if the politicians have a hot issue on their hands. And recent data reported by legal services
information provider Thomson West only reinforces the fact that it’s going to get hotter in the coming
months. According to the study, which was released in mid-December, 61 percent of Americans are
worried or very worried about product safety; 55 percent are more worried about product safety than they
were a year ago; and 73 percent responded that they have owned a recalled product.
Simply put, 2008 is shaping up to be a very scary year—with increased scrutiny of product safety and
intensified efforts to keep hazardous products off the shelves—not just at the CPSC, but at the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), and any other government agency that has oversight authority. Perhaps most
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important, recalls are attracting ever more media attention on any manufacturer, retailer or wholesaler that
issues a recall.
Of the 73 percent of respondents who reported they owned a recalled product in the Thomson West
survey, only those owning recalled automobiles outranked those who had purchased a recalled food
product. And with words like E. coli, melamine, and Salmonella still permeating newspapers,
magazines, the airwaves and the Internet, one can safely assume that every food brand logo potentially
looks like a bullseye to lawmakers, regulators or media outlets eager to make headlines.
With the deck so heavily stacked against the food industry in 2008, what can those caught in the recall
crosshairs do to avoid losing hundreds of millions of dollars in litigation, and even more in brand
credibility and trust? The answer is simple: Take a lesson from those who have been there before—for
2007 could just as easily be have been dubbed “The Year of the Recall Response.”
Pet Food: Taking Decisive Action
The public has very little patience for companies or industries that are perceived to have caused harm to
vulnerable populations—and, other than children, there is no more vulnerable population than pets. FDA
officials have reported that the number of inquiries they received with regard to the 2007 pet food crisis
dwarfed the number they received for any food-related recall in recent history. In cases such as these,
emotions run high and the potential for disaster increases exponentially, making an effective
communications response absolutely imperative for companies, or entire industries, that must protect their
brands and calm a nervous consumer base. What can we learn from the pet food industry’s crisis
response?
1. Think like your consumers. While every recall response is different, there is one piece of
advice that applies across the board: Think like your consumers. What is their mindset? What do they
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need to hear? From whom do they need to hear it? These factors will ultimately decide whether a
company’s brand credibility and trust are going to survive. In the pet food recalls, it wasn’t hard to
approach the situation from the consumers’ point of view. Pet-owners were worried and extremely upset.
They wanted to know that every precaution was being taken to keep their pets safe. And, above all, they
wanted to believe the person telling them that everything was going to be okay. These early
determinations guided every aspect of the recall response and greatly contributed to the success of the
measures outlined below.
2. Take action. As the old adage dictates, actions always speak louder than words. But, in this
regard, the pet food industry faced a unique challenge in that, at the outset of the campaign, there were no
answers available as to the source of the pet food adulteration. Because of the situational analysis
described above, the industry knew that fast action was necessary. So, rather than go into period of “radio
darkness” until answers could be provided, they established the National Pet Food Commission, a group
of industry, regulatory and scientific leaders charged with getting to the bottom of the crisis. This move
shifted the pet food industry from a perception that they were part of the problem, to a perception that
they were part of the solution—and it bought valuable time for the industry to identify the root cause of
the crisis.
3. Let your allies speak for you. In crisis communications, the messenger is often more
important than the message itself. And because the credibility of those telling the public that the vast
majority of pet food products (99 percent by some accounts) still on the shelves was of critical
importance, the pet food industry wisely let trusted and disinterested voices do the talking. In an example
of crisis preparedness that is all too rare today, the industry had cultivated relationships with veterinarians
long before the crisis hit and was able to —with the help of outside crisis communications counselors—
get them placed for television and print interviews and assist them in posting to the high-authority blogs
covering the recall. Letting third-party advocates deliver the key messages greatly enhanced their
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believability and made it that much harder for the industry’s detractors to make their case. A Synovate ENation survey conducted just weeks after the first pet food recall led one researcher to say, “For the most
part, people feel their pets were unaffected by the recall.” Industry leaders credit third-party advocates
with much of that success.
Spinach: Targeting the Media
The spinach recall of 2006-2007 was, in many respects, a classic food recall case. But, an examination of
the recall response that followed the E. coli outbreak that nearly crippled the spinach producers of
California demonstrates the power of communications tactics that are often overlooked by those
embroiled in a recall crisis. What can we learn from their efforts?
1. Control the picture of the crisis. To quote yet another clichéd adage, a picture speaks a
thousand words—but in an age when communications battles are fought in thirty-second TV and Internet
clips, pictures can be worth a lot more than that. At the outset of the spinach crisis, the only pictures of the
crisis available for public consumption were of spinach being pulled from shelves and questionable
farming and handling industry practices. Soon thereafter, however, farmers in California opened their
doors to visual media outlets in order to show rather than tell the public all that was being done to
safeguard spinach crops. Pictures of modern processing facilities that took great care in protecting crops
from contamination were beamed all across the country and helped the public come to the conclusion that
the crisis was temporary and not the fault of responsible spinach growers.
2. Identify which media outlets the media is listening to. Whenever a big story
breaks, there are always particular media outlets, depending on geography, subject matter or other
considerations, that jump out in front and control the story from start to finish—and from whom other
media outlets take their cues. The spinach recall was no different. By focusing greater attention on
California’s local TV stations, the Los Angeles Times and the regional California Associated Press
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bureaus—the spinach outbreak’s media outlet leaders—the spinach growers were able to influence every
subsequent story about the recall, no matter where in the world it was being reported. The grower’s made
these media outlets’ inquiries a top priority and proactively offered them information as it became
available. As this case demonstrates, knowing to whom the media is listening is imperative to managing
their coverage and ensuring that they’re telling your side of the story.
3. Identify the tipping point. In every crisis situation there is a tipping point, a moment when
the crisis has been contained and the public is ready to move forward. This is not the time to breathe a
sigh a relief, but rather an opportunity to begin branding again and redefine a company or industry as a
leader in preventing a similar crisis from recurring. Once the spinach recall was in the rearview mirror,
the industry didn’t rest. It continued pushing stories about enhanced safety measures, reinforcing the fact
that the spinach industry was committed to safety first.
Toys: Taking Responsibility
An examination of the toy industry’s response to the lead paint recalls provides keen insights for any
company – in any industry – facing a recall. In the discussion of the pet food recalls above, we saw how
little tolerance the public has for companies that are perceived to have harmed vulnerable consumer
populations. And to get a sense of the anxiety surrounding the lead paint recalls, just take the public
reaction to the pet food recall and multiply it tenfold. In cases such as these, there is no spin, no dodging
tough questions and absolutely no room for error. Put in a tough spot—right around the holiday season,
no less—toy companies offered a shining example of how to not only protect, but enhance, brand
reputation in a crisis situation. What can we learn from their experience?
1. Take responsibility. The sin/repentance/redemption model is one of the oldest in the
communications industry. Taking responsibility for a recall, and for rectifying the situation as soon as
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possible, is the most effective technique for turning a two-week feature story into a one-day news item
that might very well be buried on the back pages, so when stuck between a rock and hard place, don’t be
afraid to step up and face the music. When the toy industry announced early on that their own
questionable manufacturing processes in China were to blame for the lead paint recalls, and that they
were taking immediate measures to recall affected products and ensure the safety of those currently on the
shelves, it gave the public precisely what it was
demanding: Answers, reassurances and action.
2. Speak directly to your consumers. In the most sensitive recall situations, when the timely
release of information makes third-party validation impractical, don’t rely on the media to deliver your
message for you. Rather, speak to consumers directly via means that cannot filter the information you
wish to share. Throughout the lead paint recalls, the toy industry took out full page advertisements in
major print and online publications that walked consumers through the problem, the response and the
measures being taken to prevent such a crisis from ever occurring again. And in so doing, they took back
control of the message, and thus, the overarching story.
3. Don’t forget about your retailers. In a recall situation, retailers are the first line of
defense. If they turn against you, your customers are sure to follow. So, be sure to communicate with
those who control your brand reputation and trust in its most crucial moment—the point of sale. During
the lead paint recalls, manufacturers armed retailers with answers to any question that a consumer might
pose. And sharing this vital information not only better enabled retailers to protect their own business
interests, but also made them de facto partners in defusing the crisis. Including special content for retailers
on the corporate website, distributing question-and-answer sheets and message points via e-mail, and
engaging C-Suite retail executives in one-to-one conversations are all advisable courses of action in a
recall situation.
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What Can We Expect in 2008?
The “Year of the Recall” not only provided valuable lessons for companies and industries that will
undoubtedly face similar challenges in 2008; it also offered insights into how recall responses will have to
evolve if they are to remain effective. Here are two tips to remember about the coming year.
1. New media aren’t so new anymore. Having an Internet component to a recall response
strategy used to be viewed as novel. Now it is an absolute necessity. Today, bloggers often serve as the
gatekeepers to the mainstream media and consumers turn to the Web for information with increasing
frequency, so ensure that you have a presence in cyberspace. Post CEO or Board of Directors recall
statements to your website; identify the high-authority bloggers and monitor what they’re saying;
consider creating your own blog or posting your own messages to existing ones; start a pay-per-click
campaign; and optimize your website to ensure that your messages cut through the clutter.
2. A competitor’s recall must be treated as your own. It used to be that a
competitor’s recall was good news. Today that’s no longer the case. When another company in your
industry issues a recall, prepare for the media spotlight to shine on you next. At the very least, take the
opportunity to differentiate your brand from those that are falling short and define yourself as a leader in
safety efforts.
Gene Grabowski, a Senior Vice President at Levick Strategic Communications and 2007 winner of
PRNews’ Crisis Manager of the Year Award, is a seasoned communications professional and former
journalist who leads high-profile accounts for major law firms, Fortune 500 companies, trade
associations and government agencies. A former White House news reporter, Grabowski is an authority
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on a variety of issues, including crisis communication and food and consumer-product recalls. Contact
him at g.grabowski@levick.com.
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