Last week, news broke that the test flight for the Virgin Galatica spacecraft had gone wrong, ending in a fatal crash with the death of a pilot. An unfortunate tragedy and one which could potentially influence the current and future opinion of the Virgin Brand.
In terms of PR, crises like these have to be handled very carefully and professionally, with a formal statement and as much forward-planning as feasibly possible. In PR terms, Richard Branson is one of the best brand spokespeople an agency or PR professional could work with; he understands the implications, he geniunely believes in what he does and he balances fair opinion with well-phrased response. Yes, some of this will have come from the PR agency handling the account, but it also takes a lot of training and business acumen to be this good.
Here's what we can learn from Richard Branson...
Stop what you are doing, now; don't be coerced or tricked into providing a statement off the cuff. The best crisis PR campaigns are carefully planned and executed, but they go wrong when people panic and spit out random statements. Pause, prepare an interim statement (with the help of a crisis PR professional) that buys you time, then get together the facts. Time is still short, but you'll buy yourself enough time to handle it effectively. You also need to implement your crisis pr strategy (see below) and lock-down all your staff - a well-meaning staff comment can have undesired effects!
Identify the next steps; you need to think what you are going to do next. If it is a faulty product, consider a solution or fix, or potentially a full recall. Look at the implications to customers, the implications to the business and plan the next steps. An apology sounds better with a thorough and heartfelt solution.
It happened, deal with it; many brands falter and work to apply blame anywhere but themselves; sometimes it's better to deal with things head on and give a considered, appropriate statement, than to scapegoat others. A well-handled crisis can mean you'll come out of it with a better brand reputation than when you went in, but not if you simply redirect the blame.
Don't try to please everyone; crisis PR is an artform and one which PR pros spend many year's perfecting, but even they know it's impossible to please everyone. There will always be someone who believes you could do it better, differently, could have gone further or shouldn't have let it happen in the first place. Don't get drawn in. Accept that you can't please everyone, but what you have to do is do the best by the business, the people who work for you and the people involved. You need to be able to hold your head up high and know you have done your best!
Do it in person; Richard Branson dropped everything and flew personally to front the campaign, just as he did with the Virgin Trains crash. He put himself in the firing line and bore the brunt of the negativity. Not only does it underpin how important this accident is to the company, but it also adds gravitas to the response. Every business needs a crisis pr strategy and should have a trained spokesperson in the event of any crisis.
Richard Branson is an excellent case study and can hold his head high with his response. He does however have a good PR company behind him and brands should be mindful that in cases like these it's best to call in support from the expert. You should also have a full crisis PR policy and process, outlining what you will do in each scenario, the protocol your staff should follow, how your staff should react and behave and who needs to be contacted first. Don't attempt crisis PR alone, but do aim to learn from the best just in case...
Richard Branson's response...