Twenty years ago this month I put on my new Ann Taylor suit, accessorized with a scarf (flight attendant style) and began my entry level job at a little PR firm in NJ that no one had ever heard of. Those were the days when press releases were mailed (yes, my 20-something colleagues, you read that right), executives carried beepers, and you waited for the giant Burelles envelopes to come in the mail with your clips.

MWW Group was a startup – we’d just opened our 2nd office in Trenton, NJ, (of all places) and had a whopping staff of 5. I did it all….answered the phones, pretended to be our CEO’s assistant (he couldn’t’ afford one), made media lists…and got my first “hit” in The New York Times. Back then Bill Gates was “the devil” – not the hero-philanthropist of today. Gordon Gecko told us (the first time) that greed was good. And the overnight news cycle ruled the day.

A lot has changed in our business since then, and I guess I’ve changed a lot, too. I’ve worked in every practice in the firm – yes, consumer marketing and public affairs, too. I’ve held every position (ok almost every position…I haven’t run the finance department or been CEO). And I’ve seen some of the most dramatic changes possible… The (original) real estate bubble. The rise of the Internet. The dot com boom, and bust. Strategic Philanthropy has given way to CSR, employee communications is now employee engagement. Visibility became buzz and then, conversation.

But there are some universal truths that haven’t changed since I was an Account Coordinator. When it comes to the PR business, and building, enhancing, and protecting reputations these 5 things are constants:

1. We trust people, not companies. Back then, the Celebrity CEOs ruled…Iaccocca, Welch, Crandall. But we knew that putting a face on a company was a good thing…and we understood that it was important to have a story and a POV beyond just your own Company.

2. Third parties tip the scale. What others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

3. A mistake in the initial response of a crisis can damage your reputation forever.

4. The only way to build a great media list is to work the phone. Whether using today’s databases, or my trusty old 1992 edition of NY Publicity Outlets…nothing substitutes for direct conversation.

5. If you want to learn to write a great headline, read the NY Post. And in our 140 character ecosystem, headline writing is more important than ever.

Another universal truth — my family still doesn’t understand what I do. Except now, when someone says I am in advertising, I don’t argue about it.

I’m thinking these might still be the same 20 years from now.

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In the past few days there have been lots of pundits providing their 2 cents or soliciting opinions about how JetBlue responded to the Flight Attendant who dramatically exited an aircraft at JFK.

And while I’ve been known to opine form time to time on issues (when they aren’t my client)…I’d like to point out that some others would say that sometimes, staying silent (until the time is right) is indeed, a strategy.

And as you would expect, JetBlue responded in its own voice, in its own time, in a manner that is authentic and true…and demonstrated once again, that they can take a joke…even if the joke is on them.

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Over the past 20 years, I’ve done countless crisis audits and managed more crisis issues than I care to count, and I’m still fascinated how clients define a crisis. Traditional scenarios – manufacturing issues, product recalls, and physical events such as explosions, fires and crashes – have been in sharp focus during our summer of automobile recalls and oil spills.

Terrorism and natural disasters joined the list following 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina, and occasionally I hear about investigative journalism or Attorney General activism. One client even listed CEO kidnapping as his biggest fear.

But events of this past week should give us all pause and remind us that a crisis is anything that threatens a company’s reputation or undermines the trust and confidence of your stakeholders.

At Hewlett-Packard, allegations of sexual harassment forced the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd despite solid company performance during his tenure. Now some news reports suggest the claim was baseless, citing a “breach of trust” related to improper expense reporting to conceal the Hurd’s relationship with a company contractor. (In some circles, that would be called fraud, or theft – but that, along with Larry Ellison’s comments about the HP Board, may be another post for another day). And at Sara Lee, Brenda Barnes voluntarily stepped down after a medical leave of absence.

CEO illness, litigation, investigative journalism, and sometimes corporate or executive malfeasance – all of these things can generate a crisis. And all of them warrant a response, regardless of whether a company and its leaders decide on the response or whether it is decided for them.

My advice to clients: As you think about your own organization’s crisis protocols, are you prepared for the kinds of Crisis 2.0 issues that are making headlines? Is your crisis response team prepared to deal with the multitude of issues that could trigger a breach of confidence, and are they prepared to do it in the lightning speed now necessary due to social media?

If the answer is no, it’s time to refresh, reboot or otherwise re-align your crisis plan. Someone’s job may depend on it.

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If you’ve followed this blog or tuned in to the webcasts where I’ve been a panelist, you know that I’ve been saying that 60 seconds is the new “first hour” – the textbook window of time when a Company must take control of a situation in order to preserve reputation. And while that is a somewhat hyperbolic statement, the Miracle on the Hudson is my case in point – and was the day that I began to rethink everything I had learned about crisis communications 101.

Today, I heard that BP’s cap may be leaking. An editorial in the New York Times calls Congress to the carpet for not taking detector tampering in the Massey Mining explosion that was the industry’s worst in 40 years. But the furor and public outcry seems to be losing steam.

Certainly, the intensity and speed with which information moves creates some unique and new challenges for crisis communicators….but does it also create opportunities? Are memories shorter? Does interest wane more quickly? Do we move on to the crisis du jour and give reputations a pass?

Has the plethora of “worst events in history” in the past few years desensitized us to the significance of these issues? Or does the pervasive mistrust of all things big – big banks, big companies, big governments caused us to expect the worst?

Big questions for a rainy Monday morning…

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Ah, the 1982 Johnson & Johnson Tylenol recall.

The model for successful crisis communications to which we all aspire; to which a generation of crisis managers and business school professors give oblation.

The New York Times thinks so, too, comparing J&J’s recent recall woes to its standard-setting recall in the year I was born. Note: Those two events are not connected. As far as I know.

Many “analysts” the NYT spoke with seem to think J&J fumbled the ball here and didn’t live up to its brand promise. One of the world’s most trusted brands failed to repeat its proven model, they say. Perhaps this is true, as evidence surfaces showing that J&J knew of complaints about some of its over-the-counter medicines many months before the FDA issued its warning and the company initiated the recall.

But such a comparison is unfair, and propped up by a faulty foundation. What this article fails to mention is that the 1982 recall came as a result of madmen lacing Tylenol with cyanide, not J&J’s negligence. It’s much easier to “do the right thing” when reasonable people can see extenuating external forces cause the crisis in question, not poor management or specious science. In the current case, it doesn’t seem the recall was caused by any such forces.

I wonder at what point, if ever, the 1982 recall will cease to be a relevant and contemporary model of crisis communication. Will advancing technology, speed of communication, social media, and fragmented news render it an obsolete case study? Or will it continue to be mythologized and live on in perpetuity?

This is the blessing for J&J: Decades after the 1982 recall, it still reaps brand benefit for a job well done. And this is the curse: It will likely never live up to the legend again.

Mike Sacks can be reached at msacks@mww.com.

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I have resisted and will continue resisting joining the Greek chorus of PR pros who have seized this moment to condemn Tiger Woods not just for his current, uh, troubles, but for the way in which he has dealt with the media and public. Lots of bromides about “controlling the story” and other such pieces of doctrinaire advice that, while certainly applicable in some situations, have little bearing on this specific situation.

I have my thoughts on how Woods should handle this going forward and try to repair his reputation, but I’m more interested in the corporate angle – his sponsors. Fortune, also interested, asks the question: “Will his sponsors stick around?” In the days following his, uh, accident, there has been a real dearth of Tiger Woods as pitchman. His commercials have been yanked from the airwaves.

And though some sponsors, like Nike and Accenture, have offered public support and seem willing to stick with him, Fortune suggests that “observers on deathwatch” are just waiting to see how much the sponsors can endure – with revelation after revelation – before cutting ties.

What does a brand have to gain reputation-wise from sticking by a now, if not reviled, then at least tarnished, athlete? Particularly one that attracted such sponsorships in part because of his good guy image? Well, part of it has to be a bet – a bet that after some time, Woods can begin to repair his image and return to some shade of former glory (and marketability). It might be cynical, but being awesome at sports helps overcome a lot.

The article points out two other considerations for sponsors: If they let Woods go now, competitors might want him, and; they might try to renegotiate his contracts, getting him for cheaper now in light of his, uh, situation.

All are reasonably sound rationale for not dumping him overboard just yet. But like most things reputation, there is a risk. Stick by him too long, and offer too much support if things continue to unravel, and it begins to look like you just haven’t noticed. Or worse, it begins to look to your stakeholders like you care little about their values.

Mike Sacks can be reached at msacks@mww.com.

msacks Executive Visibility, Social Media, Uncategorized Crisis Communications, Reputation Management

I don’t have kids, so I know nothing of strollers (other than my jealousy of these kids getting pushed around all day), but evidently, Maclaren is like the Volvo of the stroller game – noted by parents for dependability and reliability.

Now, it’s, well, the kind of car known for amputating kids’ fingers.

Just a few days ago, Maclaren had to recall about 1 million strollers as reports of unsafe hinges and resulting amputated fingers surfaced.

A reporter for Time.com put it succinctly – “This recall is a nightmare for Maclaren.” Probably not a nightmare per se for Maclaren’s communications team, because having a nightmare is predicated on getting some sleep, of which I’m certain they went without for a few days.

In theory, the company tried to handle the situation right, but, at a cursory look, in practice had some snags. A few notes:

• Maclaren was getting ready to make the voluntary announcement in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But then the news leaked through the Internet and they did not get the credit for being forthcoming.

• Maclaren went live with a variety of vehicles for parents to get answers, but their Twitter feed sent followers to broken links, their website was rendered inoperable, and their customer service line was overwhelmed.

• Maclaren immediately began to offer free hinge covers to U.S. customers. Good thought. But then customers from around the word were upset by their exclusion from the offer. Maclaren had to go back and offer equal treatment to all.

Today, a quick visit to the Maclaren homepage got me a landing page espousing the company’s commitment to safety, and a link to customer service resources regarding this recall.

It is too soon to see how this plays out in terms of sales, but since Maclaren was recognized for dependability before and has been working hard to fix the problem, I think some parents are cutting them a little slack.

A quick, unscientific scan of some Mommy blogs and online parenting communities show that some parents are giving Maclaren credit for the voluntary recall and providing repair kits, and recognize it’s also their job to help keep their kids’ fingers away from mechanical hinges (a message that Maclaren’s executives were pushing in interviews). That’s some. Not all. Some are still pretty mad.

It’ll be an uphill battle to win back parent trust.

Mike Sacks can be reached at msacks@mww.com

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