Would you know what to do if you suddenly found yourself in a media scrum?

Alan Johnstone speaks to the professionals whose job it is to make sure your story doesn't have wings.

What would you consider to be a crisis? It could be losing your biggest client, having your product’s integrity questioned in the press or announcing swingeing cuts in the work force. For Mandy Holt, a telecoms executive in her late 30’s, it was the realisation that the world’s press were camped outside her north Manchester home because she’d allegedly given someone a blowjob.

Mandy’s story, which you may well remember, was immortalised in The Sun newspaper with the headline “Mile High Mandy got Randy on Brandy”. To briefly explain what went down – apart from Mrs Holt, of course (well, she was a Mrs before her chosen form of in-flight entertainment) “you really just need to know the following: transatlantic flight, club class, free booze, random passenger David Machin, striptease, shocked onlookers and, according to those onlookers, committed an ill-advised act under a blanket.

Apparently, by the time American Airlines flight AA110 descended into Manchester Airport in September 1999 a more sober, contrite Mandy just wanted to forget about the whole sorry affair. The waiting, ravenously baying ranks of the world’s media did not.

Fast forward a day or two to Mandy’s house, sans hubbie, avec newspaper hordes, and a call to Manchester’s MC2 to give them their first ever crisis PR assignment. Talk about a baptism of fire. “She was so scared she couldn’t think clearly,” recalls Mike Perls, the MD of said agency, “and all she wanted to do was hide away, but obviously that was going to be rather difficult.

“From our point of view it was quite a simple one. The advice we gave her was that they’re not going to go away, you can’t hide forever. All they wanted was a picture – they had a name, but nothing else and they wanted to put a face to it and give their readers something extra.”

The wisdom of Perls was that Mandy would have to face the press, looking and saying the right things to defuse the story, and that’s exactly what she did. “We encouraged her to dress very, very conservatively, actually frumping her down as much as we could. She had her glasses on and her hair in a bun. If she’d tried to look her best, as glamorous as possible, that would simply have fuelled the fire.”

He continues, “She appeared outside her house, with a statement, and any questions going through her lawyer. The press were given the photo opportunity and when they were presented with this frumpy, mousey woman – obviously not the image they had in their mind’s eye – well, five minutes after that the crowds dispersed.” The result – no more Randy Mandy.

You may think that’s a rather flippant, prurient tale to kick-start an article on crisis handling for entrepreneurs, but it does demonstrate one of the fundamental rules of this elusive art form. Namely that you can’t hide away.

“You have to make yourself available to answer questions,” says Charles Tattersall of Manchester-based PR agency City Press. “You may want to batten down the hatches or put your head in the sand, but it’s best to tackle issues head on.

“Look upon it as your chance to communicate your side of the story. Journalists can often get the story and facts wrong and it’s important that you prevent false information being reported. So, use it as an opportunity and make sure you get your message across. Companies that sidestep media scrutiny automatically appear as if they’ve got something to hide, and that’s the last thing you want.”

Speed, apparently, is also of the essence; as Ian Macauley of pressrelations.co.uk illustrated with his handling of the fallout from F1 driver David Coulthard’s plane crash in May 2000. “Usually, the ultimate goal in most circumstances is to try to keep something out of the newspapers to protect people, interests and businesses. However, the thing about the David Coulthard story was that it wasn’t a case of keeping it quiet – it was so bloody high profile from the outset that it was more of a case of managing it.”

Setting the scene, he explains, “Basically, one of my members of staff came in to tell me about the crash and before they’d finished telling me the story the phone started ringing. At that point it’s crucial that, no matter how much the media is screaming at you, you have to get as much information as you possibly can, as fast as you can. It has to be accurate, impartial and from the most credible, accurate source.”

Macauley’s client at the time was not Coulthard himself, but rather the private jet charter business that operated the plane that came down in flames at Lyon-Satalas airport, killing both pilots. Coulthard suffered slight injuries. In such a tragic set of circumstances, with such a high profile public figure, the only way to react was to tell the truth, tell it fast and try to minimise the suffering of those inevitably traumatised by the incident.

“There’s always an element of hysteria in the media, especially the live media, when a celebrity is involved in something,” Macauley imparts, his voice seemingly tiring with the memory of marshalling this most difficult of stories. “So, with the crash, as soon as we were provided with accurate facts about the incident we immediately passed them on to the media. You have to make sure that you are in charge of the pace at which information is delivered to keep on top of the story. By telling it fast, but being concise with the information you offer – just give the facts, no adjectives, no emotion, straight – you communicate the story accurately and kill any speculation before it rears its head,” he says. “In that situation, it was the right thing to do to get the media sorted, as quickly as possible, and let the families of those affected come to terms with what’s just happened.”

There are many obvious differences between the aviation-related stories of Holt and Coulthard, but in terms of crisis  management the most obvious one is that the Coulthard incident was contained from the outset. This minimised wildfire speculation and enabled the truth to be told. The key behind this, as Sandy Lindsay from Tangerine PR elucidates, is planning.

“The only thing every company has in common is that it could have a crisis or an issue, it should plan for this possibility and, if it does not, it is very likely to rue the day it didn’t.” Lindsay went on, “Managing a crisis should begin way before you ever have a crisis to handle. It begins  with building strong relationships with the public and with all stakeholders and opinion-formers relevant to your business. It begins with finding out what’s important to them, what worries them about your business and then find a way of talking to them, constantly, in a way they understand, to reassure them.

“In terms of the crisis plan itself, it has to be just as instant and robust as the operational side of the business – which means it has to be planned, practised, tested and constantly updated, in order to keep it relevant and fresh in everyone’s minds.”

Co-ordinating crisis planning is no easy task (although, helpfully, we have included a do’s and don’ts list courtesy of the experts), leading Tattersall to come to a perhaps unsurprising conclusion: “Consider hiring a PR consultancy.” You don’t say, Charles!

Ribbing aside, he clarifies, “If you don’t think you would be able to manage a crisis in-house, go to the experts. Most PR consultancies will offer advice on preparing a crisis management plan or procedure. You can also agree terms for them to be available to handle media relations if something does go wrong. Many companies pay an annual fee to PR professionals for their availability in a crisis – as a kind of insurance policy.” Which seems like a judicious move.

Speaking of judicious, MC2’s Mike Perls offered a rather prudent piece of advice to bring this delve into other people’s crises to a satisfactory conclusion. “At the end of a crisis people usually say ‘thank God that’s over’ and carry on as normal. Whereas we’re really strict about sitting down with teams and having a debrief, picking through the bones of what went right and wrong. Re-examining it, re-organising it and adjusting the action plan accordingly. It sounds like the most obvious thing to say in the world, but you have to learn from your mistakes.”

Advice that, seeing as she hasn’t graced the tabloids for a while, we guess Mandy Holt must have taken to heart.

“F*&%OFF YOU VILE TURD"
THE DO’S AND DON’T’S OF HANDLING A MEDIA CRISIS

DO

• Devise a crisis strategy – audit your risks and plan accordingly
  
• Train your key people – define a common set of messages
  
• Own the crisis – if you don’t, someone else will
  
• Be available – don’t bury your head in the sand
  
• Act like it’s always your first interview – hopefully it won’t be your last

DON’T

• Say “no comment” – it implies guilt
  
• Neglect your employees – they’re ambassadors, keep them informed
  
• Get angry – stay in control of yourself and the situation
  
• Speak ‘off the record’ – in a crisis can you trust that?
  
• Lie – the surefire way to cause long-term damage
  

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