Why didn’t John Terry take PR advice? #PR #publicrelations #mufc

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Why didn’t John Terry take PR advice? #PR #publicrelations #mufc

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxvrRggOQjo

(gratuitous opportunity to show Moscow penalty miss)

The John Terry super injunction story is more proof that celebrities or organisations should turn to PR professionals and not lawyers when dealing with a media crisis. Only public relations professionals have the tools to ensure that a story such as this one can be kept under control.

A super injunction can work, sure. However there is no plan B.

Once the injunction is made public, what was a negative story is amplified tenfold. The whole affair seems more sordid. He is now on the front of five national newspapers. This is a massive fail, nearly on the same proportions of his penalty miss in Moscow (Viva John Terry – bit of Man Utd gloating there…).

Of course PR isn’t 100 per cent fool proof, far from it, but media relations would have been a better strategy, rather than litigation. John’s PR consultant could have negotiated and traded other content, tried to kill the story and prove it to be incorrect, or managed the story, so the coverage was minimised.

Most people wouldn’t be that surprised about John Terry behaving this way, so really taken on its own the story of a footballer trying to impregnate someone is fish and chip paper. We’ve already seen him urinating in bars, fighting and taking cash in hand payments from journalists for tours of the Chelsea training ground. So really this story is not that newsworthy. John has made it newsworthy, thanks to his legal advice.

Wikileaks gives lawyers a torrid time in latest Tiger twist

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tiger-woods-pga-tour-1

Today Wikileaks published a gagging order which tried to suppress the latest revelations in the Tiger Woods’ scandal.

This blog is not interested in the morality at the heart of the Tiger Woods’ case. Tiger can have ten wives if he wants, plus another ten gay lovers, for all I care.

What is interesting are the ramifications this case has for Crisis Communications. Recently the role of lawyers has been increasing, as brands and celebrities turn to lawyers as an aggressive means of keeping stories out of the papers.

At the same time British media law  has been under the spotlight for the ease at which the lawyers can be brought into play.

For me, using a lawyer in this instance is like trying to use a sledgehammer to dodge a bullet: a disproportionate use of energy and ineffective. PR professionals are who Tiger needs to be turning to, not over paid letter writers who will be charging through the nose for ineffective correspondence.

Don’t take these words the wrong way. Use of a lawyer have a time and a place.

However, even if this gagging order had worked, the international nature of media today would have led to the allegations coming out.

Not only has the letter been leaked online, but the correspondence outlines exactly what Tiger wants to keep out of the media (have a read if you want to find out the sordid details). I am sure before the day is out the content will leaked online and the whole problem will be blown further out of proportion.

Had Tiger turned to a PR professional then a whole host of other, tactics and negotiations could have been brought into play.

I feel sorry for Tiger as worse things have happened at sea. What should have been a small problem for him and his family is now being played out in full view of the world. The problem for Tiger is that every twist and turn is just so interesting because of the way it has been handled. Badly.

Ralph Lauren’s PR crisis

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Ralph Lauren and blog BoingBoing.net are today at each other’s throats over images used by the fashion brand showing a rather skinny looking model.

 

The image, Boing Boing claims, has been touched up in photoshop and today on the blog another picture was published showing how a graphic designer had “unworked” the advert to show a healthy looking woman.

Skinny

 

Read about it here:

http://craphound.com/10-2-09LettertoPriorityColoinrePRLInfringement.pdf

 

So assuming Ralph Lauren is in the wrong, what can it do to halt the damage to its reputation? (note I say assuming, but it looks pretty certain that this woman is not this shape through exercise alone!)

 

  1.  Speed is of the essence.  Deal with the problem and deal with it quickly before it gets worse.  Ralph Lauren can’t stop the story getting out but it can halt interest in it.
  2. Get to the bottom of what really happened.
  3. Provide a statement accepting that Ralph Lauren made a mistake.  (We all make errors!)
  4. Show some humanity.  Perhaps try ‘empathy’…  Show that Ralph Lauren understands the damage anorexia and bulimia causes.
  5. Demonstrate that this is a one off incident.  (make sure it is first)
  6. Demonstrate commitment to an anorexia charity and / or create company guidelines on the manipulation of digital imagery.  This can’t be tokenistic, so be generous.
  7. Follow up the crisis a month later with media relations to show that Ralph Lauren “meant business” when the fashion brand said this wouldn’t happen again
  8. Continue to be proactive on the topic of eating disorders, photoshop distortions, and skinny models

 

(I’ve assumed that Ralph Lauren have got all the basics in place. E.g. a crisis trained spokesperson, a crisis manual has been prepared prior to this event, media monitoring is in place and an international network of PR agencies is ready to support the brand)

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