Off Madison Ave, a Phoenix-based behavioral marketing and communications firm, today announced the acquisition of San Francisco-based, award-winning public relations agency Fineman PR. Fineman PR’s extensive track record is focused on crisis communications and issues management, brand PR, digital media interactions and full-service public relations.

The acquisition comes as Off Madison Ave, founded by co-partners Roger Hurni and David Anderson, celebrates its 22^nd anniversary of operations this year. Fineman PR, established in 1988, adds more than 30 years of its California legacy. Fineman PR will continue operating from San Francisco as a division of Off Madison Ave with founder and president Michael Fineman retaining overall management and counsel.

“This is a natural alignment with Off Madison Ave’s core values of craftsmanship and performance excellence,” said David Anderson, Off Madison Ave CEO and co-founder.

The acquisition enhances Off Madison Ave’s existing public relations and social media services to reinforce the firm’s standing as one of the leading behavioral marketing and digital communications providers in the West. Fineman PR’s portfolio will provide a range of additional marketing, creative and digital solutions to both firms’ diverse roster of clients.

All clients will have access to a suite of expertise and capabilities across behavior design, public relations and social media strategy, crisis communications, creative campaign development, media planning, digital media and production, branding, website design and development.

“We’re continually looking for new ways to bring insight and expertise to our clients and Fineman PR helps us accomplish this with the addition of its service lines and substantive approach,” said Anderson. “This is the newest chapter of growth in Off Madison Ave’s history – and brings an exciting catalyst for new ideas to benefit our current and prospective clients.”

Roger Hurni, chief creative officer and co-founder Off Madison Ave said, “Our two agencies share a dedication to craft and create long-term, strategic relationships with clients. This common core opens up even more opportunities for our clients’ benefit, particularly as we know many of them are looking to the future with greater focus on efficiency and impact of their communications programs.”

“This is an amazing opportunity for my agency and professional team to evolve services and extend our reach,” said Fineman PR President and Founder Michael Fineman. “For me, the best part is being able to work with David and the entire Off Madison Ave team. Our collaborative senior level teams are a great meld of creativity and substance.”

The deal was facilitated by Gould+Partners who were responsible for introducing Fineman PR to Off Madison Ave.

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Not everyone is cut out to handle a crisis. The deluge of cynical media coverage, a rise of brand detractors and a surge of social media haters can overwhelm even seasoned PR pros.

Fortunately for your brand, that’s not you. Unfortunately, not everyone is like you, and that’s a problem with lasting implications, especially among team members unfamiliar with crisis communications.

Sensitive situations — e.g., injuries, fatalities, criminal investigations, litigation, product recalls, sexual misconduct, activist protests and corporate malfeasance — can trigger negative publicity. While PR pros tend to focus on turning the tide of media coverage, the lack of a cohesive multi-channel response can keep the story rising from the dead, long past the news cycle.

Internal communications usually intensify during and immediately after a crisis. Because employees and board members are often your most effective ambassadors, if you wait until a crisis strikes before developing and managing strategic internal communications programs, it’s too late. Once the crisis passes, consider revamping your internal communications processes to build trust among employees and board members and prepare the ship to weather the next storm.Internal communications, social media, reputation management, SEO, executive positioning and stakeholder engagement all play critical roles in crisis response and reputation recovery.

Social media mavens are generally wired to promote good news, but a bad review or menacing troll, let alone a crisis, can short circuit their reactions. Cookie-cutter responses and canned messaging don’t sit well with people who follow and react to crises on social media. So, just as with internal communications, if you haven’t built relationships with your social media communities, you’re already behind the curve. Work now to earn influencers’ favor. Use content lulls to lift the veil on transparency initiatives and tout advances and investment in safety, training and technology. Brand loyalists will take note and respond to trolls on your behalf — when they’re equipped with the tools to do so.

Google Search is the well-heeled stranger lurking in the shadow of every crisis.

Every PR pro knows a negative story, especially a salacious one, attracts far more clicks than puff and fluff. Lesser-known brands — even those with strong reputations — are not immune to damaging stories following a crisis. Without a robust reputation management program, negative stories will keep garnering clicks and persist. Don’t believe claims about “scrubbing” negative stories. High-credibility sources, such as major daily newspapers, will continue being favored by Google and other search engines. Rebuilding your online reputation will take time, but you can’t do it without a focused, proactive program that ties into all your external communications channels to drive relevant traffic to — and boost the search rankings of — favorable content.

In a high-profile crisis, the voice of the CEO and other organizational leaders lets audiences know the situation is receiving top-level attention. A head-in-the-sand approach cannot calm fears or address concerns. C-suite executives should reach out to priority audiences to get your story across. With proper executive positioning among industry associations, regulatory agencies and other critical groups, your voice will be not just heard, but well received. Remember, when the CEO speaks, put it in writing and make sure it is fully optimized for search engines; this content is evergreen and can improve your rankings.

Your credibility can come into question in a crisis. By reaching out to key external stakeholders, you can inject credible, third-party voices into a troublesome story. For example, academic experts are go-to media resources in a crisis. If such experts know your organization and leadership and are comfortable backing your position, it will go a long way toward balancing negative coverage and helping quiet the crisis. Consider reaching out to them in times of crises, or better yet, beforehand.

Brands must align in-house teams with external agency partners to ensure an integrated crisis response. If you have separate teams for PR, marketing, website, social media and/or SEO, and their responses to a crisis are siloed and uncoordinated, it could actually create more damage. Consider consolidating into a streamlined agency team. All channels need to work together in harmony — whether you’re in a crisis or not.

Here are some tips to ensure that all channels work together, unsiloed, in a crisis.

Preparedness is not merely effective. In the long run, it’s cheap. We have found that organizations that develop a realistic crisis response plan covering myriad scenarios and test it with drills are far better prepared than organizations without such a plan. While planning has an up-front cost, handling a crisis by the seat of your pants usually requires more time and money to repair reputational damage that could have been minimized with planning a rehearsed — and integrated — response.

Create an online hub to focus crisis-related content. For major crises, consider creating a microsite to fully address the issue and provide a locus for audiences to track developments, key facts and progress. This will allow customers to maintain their regular experience on your website while providing crisis junkies a venue that steers negative traffic away from your website.

Divert negative search traffic to credible sources. SEO normally promotes keywords to drive traffic to your website. But in a crisis, negative search terms are widely used, so consider developing an online reputation program targeting negative search traffic that drives interested people to your microsite or a special landing page.

Strengthen your social media presence. Social media can drive higher search rankings for shared content, but if you don’t have an active and engaged community on your social media pages, you’ll miss the benefit. Authentic, timely, consistent engagement with social media followers builds trust over time and strengthens brand loyalists who can weigh in during a crisis.

Build a rapid response team. The first minutes of a crisis are critical. Make sure your team, including external partners, is up to speed on your crisis plan and has been drilled. Consider simulation training, table-top exercises and crisis media training to stress-test your plan — and make sure everyone is on the same page. No silos!

Stay on top of trends. One organization’s problem can affect an entire industry. Monitor social and traditional media to assess trends and developments that could affect you. Adjust planning accordingly.

***

Travis Taylor is EVP of Fineman PR, a San Francisco-based crisis and consumer public relations agency, and Chris Raniere is President of 46Mile, a Hearst-backed, full-service marketing consultancy and ad agency. 

Travis Taylor (L) and Chris Raniere

The post The Death of the Siloed Crisis Response appeared first on Fineman PR.

The most crucial communications rule is to show compassion and concern for human life and those personally affected, genuinely, in both content and tone (often, delivery can be more important than content). It is critical to stick to the facts or what is known, avoid speculation and correct misinformation. Over the years, our agency developed a tongue-in-cheek acronym (PANTCHEK) designed to be instantly memorable for its users in handling business and operational crises. However, those rules (as well as any) seem blithe against the magnitude of the Las Vegas tragedy or Puerto Rico’s post-Hurricane devastation. I suspect any “lesson learned” following such an event would feel similarly flat. Inhuman events require a human response, disciplined approach, and evidence of collaboration for the greater good.

Communicators must not be distracted by peripheral chatter:  Naysayers and talking heads rarely have full access to the privileged details, nor are they in the position of delicately and deftly resolving the matter in the public eye. Unfortunately, though, it is human nature to speculate and fill the void when the facts are still unknown. A rush to judgment is inevitable. Crises give the self-righteous, the all-knowing and conspiracy theorists their time in the sun.

From our experience, we know that communications dynamics change when law enforcement, regulatory agencies, and large investors are involved. The pressure from the public for answers can be crushing, and there certainly is an obligation to keep affected audiences informed. But keep in mind, you are under no obligation to respond to every media inquiry that comes your way, nor are you under any obligation to respond in the manner that is demanded. We know all too well that some news coverage will be agenda-driven regardless of the content of the information or availability of multiple credible sources. Remember: the part of the communicator is to educate, inform and keep the conversation as objective and elevated as possible.

The core approach to our practice is this: leaders and authorities who act in good faith for public safety and public interest, who communicate proactively and consistently and responsibly, stand to be remembered (and appreciated) for their strength and resilience over time.

The post When There are No Rules: PR Considerations for Mass Tragedies appeared first on Fineman PR.

We’ve also heard from the well-known wine blogger Alder Yarrow on Vinography and Bloomberg’s wine writer Elin McCoy that the best ways to support the Northern California wine regions are to buy California wines and to visit Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.

This was echoed by Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers, on SF Gate. As she noted, “More than ever, we need folks to come and support tourism here. This week, everyone is sending money to the Red Cross and emergency services. Next week, if you want to help, buy our wine.”

And choosing to buy California wine will certainly help, but that alone in not enough. As noted on SF Gate, one in four jobs in Napa and Sonoma are connected to wine and tourism. The restaurants and hotels (and the cooks, servers, dishwashers, housekeepers and front desk staff that work at them) also need support. Not only that, but most small- to mid-sized wineries don’t have much wine in distribution, and they depend on direct to consumer sales.

October and early November are typically among the region’s busiest times of year for tourism, with the buzz and excitement of harvest and usually ideal weather. At least anecdotally, the tourists haven’t come back yet. Just yesterday, someone with a close read on the Napa wine industry told me, “It’s surreal, this is normally the most vibrant time of the year for tourism and no one is here.”

So, what can we as Northern Californians do to help our regional wine communities as they continue to struggle with the aftermath of the fires? Yes, buy California wine, but more significantly plan a trip to the wine country, if not this weekend, then soon. Go to your favorite winery, or try a few new ones. Consider staying the night. Buy sandwiches at a local shop for a picnic, and dine at one of the many renowned restaurants for dinner. But most importantly, just visit.

Visitor resources:

Napa – www.visitnapavalley.com

Sonoma – www.sonomacounty.com

Mendocino – www.visitmendocino.com

The post After the Fires, How Can We Help Northern California’s Wine Country Communities? appeared first on Fineman PR.

What an organization says and does in the first hours of a crisis can make all the difference. Southwest defused the situation while United fumbled and added fuel to the fire.[Click on image for the full size infographic]

The post A Tale of Two Apologies appeared first on Fineman PR.

1) Non-Traditional Sources Are The Norm And Require Dedicated Focus (and Budget) What is it that is having the most impact on communications today?

“Social media and blogger influencers will gain even more relevance in playing a major role in consumer opinion and spending decisions and must be part of any integrated communications strategy.“

“Public Relations will evolve into a mar-com service as paid, earned and owned media continue to integrate. People are increasingly getting their news from social media and spending more time on those sites to connect with friends and family, so I think this channel will become even more important and prominent in public relations functions.“

“Non-traditional media spaces continue to increase in size and popularity. Newspapers are no longer the arbiter of what is or isn’t “news.” As social media/blogs/podcasts continue to capture and keep more consumer attention for longer amounts of time, there’s a need for professional communicators in these spaces.“
– PEW reports 68% of all American adults now use Facebook¹
– Popular YouTubers are hiring PR firms when they have a crisis²
– PEW reports as of 2016, 21% of Americans age 12 or older say they have listened to a podcast in the past month³

“There will also be a continuing need for content updates for Search Engine Optimization purposes. That includes the ongoing need to have the client’s voice heard and its values promoted to the audiences that will resonate with those values.“

2) Visual and Virtual Reality Platforms Are The “New” Storytelling, er, Storyshowing

“For Public Relations, storytelling and communication will remain important, but the medium for that storytelling will continue to evolve with even greater emphasis on visual communication.“

“And that goes for messaging, too. Visual mediums (especially video formats and virtual reality technology) will require specialized public relations professionals who are adept at developing technical, visually compelling content with ease. Agencies today are seeing the need to amp up their own offerings in this area, both for their clients’ business and for their own marketing purposes.“

“Virtual reality will transform how our industry tells stories. As VR equipment and technology become more accessible, public relations agencies will be able to construct entire worlds for fully immersive experiences.“

3) PR Pros Need Multifaceted Skills, Including Content Development, Project Management and Coding:

“On the issues and crisis side, the industry will need to continue to emphasize the need for timely, substantive communications with tools and technology that make the process more efficient. PR agencies are embracing an even more diverse mix of professionals with specialized experience in graphic design, content development and coding, in addition to traditional core communications skills.”

“Outstanding writing abilities alone won’t cut it for the next generation of communicators.“

4) PR Audiences Are Data Driven and Demand Multiple Sources for Credibility

“As public relations pros, our future with the enduring news media will be defined and enhanced by the data we’re collecting today and how we use it. It’s intelligence that is valuable and packaged conveniently if we are doing our job. We are constantly learning more about consumers – when they’re open to new messages, what influences their behavior and how to responsibly guide their decisions. For example, we’re seeing how brands break through the incessant clutter surrounding their audiences and make consistent gains toward building trust, reputation and loyalty, as well as recover from missteps.“

“That’s an important point.  I recently joined the PR profession because of its potential to grow. Mass communication is so cluttered and increasingly difficult to sort through. Consumers will want to get real information from reputable sources, and journalists will need resources to help provide for that need. As people become more and more wary of commercial advertisements, authentic stories and real news will be what they want. And crisis PR, I think, will always be significant especially as activism continues to rise and people seek consumers’ rights.“

“Corporate blunders will never end as they have their basis in human fallibility. There will continue to be a need to protect brand and organizational reputations from accidents that happen, libel, fake news and social media rants, and journalists will need resources to be sure they have both or all sides of the story.“

“It’s critical to point out that we are not necessarily talking about just press releases. I see more and more cases of journalists asking for statements, interviews, expert opinion and testimony, data and assets.“

“Communicators and credible journalists will have to work harder and together in the name of defending our professions and promoting real news.“

“Often, too, there is the multicultural component that will require journalists and PR people to work in tandem. Agencies and brands are seeing the need for hiring community and cultural insiders, people who know how to navigate the social space of each diverse community. This new reality is also an opportunity for creative development, as the mainstream becomes more accustomed and receptive to multicultural imagery, flavors, sounds, stories and products. I think the key to multicultural communications in the future will be subtlety, as opposed to, for example, trying to engage Latinos with a mustachioed guy in a sombrero speaking Spanish with Mariachi playing in the background.“

5) Constant Data Collection Sources Means Measurement Capabilities and Tools will only Increase. Get familiar with them.

“Program measurement is becoming more sophisticated, accurate and meaningful as technology continues to develop. Google, for example, is using credit card transactions to track how digital ad campaigns are linked to purchases. To extend that kind of technology means that we’ll be able to track how content consumed via online/mobile/digital channels impacts consumers’ offline purchasing behavior and vice versa. So, for example, say I read a magazine article about a new product and see an ad for that same product on Instagram; then after a few weeks, I decide to buy that product in a brick-and-mortar store. Measurement technology will be able to correlate my purchase to the magazine article and the ad. We have even more ways now to measure the value of our communications, but it is just the tip of the iceberg.“

“To Karmina’s point, we’re also seeing more companies using data collection in combination with technology to measure and influence consumer behaviors in new ways. The rise of smart personal assistant devices like Alexa and Google Home have brought behavior-tracking even further into consumer home-life, but are still trying to find the balance in what kind of content they can serve to consumers before it becomes too intrusive. Google Home recently came under fire for serving unsolicited ads to consumers who had selected to have their daily news voice-read to them. While technological capabilities increase due to better data collection, its more important than ever to craft stories that consumers will choose to listen to.“

As we look ahead to the second half of 2017, Fineman PR is fine tuning our own crisis, marketing and corporate public relations programs and service offerings accordingly. Which trends and predictions do you see changing our field? Join our conversation below.

^{1 http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/
2 https://theoutline.com/post/1472/a-youtube-family-accused-of-child-abuse-has-hired-a-crisis-pr-firm
3 http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/podcasting-fact-sheet/}

The post Five Trends and Predictions Changing the PR Industry appeared first on Fineman PR.

For PR and communications professionals, our role is becoming more essential – and challenging. Sure, we’ve traditionally served as liaisons between the media and clients, but we are now bridging a quickly widening and more contentious divide. War has been declared: on media, on fake news, on press briefings, on magazine cover authenticity, on facts. And, there are more questions than ever for all involved, from journalists and media executives, to corporate spokespersons and political strategists, as well as public relations counselors:

What are the facts? Who can we trust? Where is the backup? What is the actual impact? Who is listening/reading/watching/reacting/posting? What next?

But before we rush out for emergency disaster kits and tackle each other for the last loaf of bread at the gas station, let’s get a grip. There may not be quick resolutions to the conflict at the national level. But, there are still core certainties to how we do business as PR professionals. Our approach still has a strong bearing on how our organizations and clients are perceived and positioned in the public eye. While techniques and vehicles for communications may be changing, and while tones may be shifting nationally, our professional rules of engagement remain rooted in good faith and good sense:

7 Core Rules of Engagement for PR Professionals:

1. Prioritize Substance and Strategy:

Don’t cave to the pressures of instant news or a 24/7 content cycle. Keep messages informed, backed by the facts, and guided by a long term strategy.

2. Be Credible and Stick to the Facts

Assume that any message or sound bite will be fact checked in real time and plan accordingly. Provide media backup and third party resources for facts or figures. Validate the credibility of any contributing sources.

3. Correct Misinformation Quickly

Humans make mistakes. Most (reasonable) people will correct them. If news coverage or public discussion requires correction, pursue it in a timely, reasonable and politely persistent manner.

4. Save the Flame Wars and Theatrics for the Other Guy

Your credibility (and your client’s) is worth more than a fleeting moment of instant stardom. Resist the temptation to throw a verbal punch for the sake of short term attention or emotional gratification. If you do choose a brazen approach, be armed with the facts and prepare for ensuing attention. Don’t shrink from the spotlight you’ve created.

5. Manage Expectations for Media Engagement, Set the Tone

It’s easy (and dangerous) to assume that your audience shares your understanding of the desired outcome for media relations. Give clients and journalists a clear understanding of the context for your engagement and discuss in advance how the process will work to avoid potentially, derailing surprises.

6. Engage Creatively

Social media content drives news and personal engagement. Period.  While traditional media dukes this one out, new media and social content are driving messages home on a personal level for most Americans. Use creative content development to your advantage, and target your audience and message for higher impact.

7. Embrace Diplomacy

It’s easy to engulf ourselves in heated debate, especially when traditional rules of public engagement seem to have gone extinct.  Keep your personal and political assumptions at bay. Set aside conspiracy theories for your personal fans. Journalists, clients, detractors and allies will listen far more intently to a calm, objective tone than a projectile verbal assault.

Now, to diplomatically resolve who devours that last loaf of bread…

The post Put the Popcorn Away, Today’s Media War Means Good PR Matters appeared first on Fineman PR.

1. Myth: “Reserve” wines are better

Fact: The term “reserve” is meaningless, and consumers should know this. In fact, there are no rules or regulations whatsoever regarding the use of “reserve” on a wine label. Its meaning is up to the customer’s interpretation. Many wineries do put their best wines in the “reserve” tier, but make sure that’s the case. If you’re visiting a winery, ask the tasting room team. Trust your local wine retailer’s input as well. Don’t spend more money, or believe you’re getting a better wine, just because the label says “reserve.” Here’s a more detailed explanation from Wine Folly.

2. Myth: If a wine costs more it must be better

Fact: While this is oftentimes true, it’s not always the case. Sometimes a wine is priced based upon where it comes from, its pedigree or scores from critics it has received for past vintages – none of which are a guarantee of quality in the wine you’re considering to purchase. There are many low- to moderately-priced wines, both domestic and imported, that are sure to please if you take the time to do a bit of research and trial. Utilize online resources that specialize in reviewing and recommending affordable wines that over-deliver on quality. Check out cheapwineratings.com.

3. Myth: Large corporate wine companies don’t make great wine

Fact: Many well-known and highly-regarded wineries are commonly owned by large wine conglomerates, and they continue to produce outstanding wines. In many instances, the founding winemakers stay on board continuing to craft the same wines that made them successful in the first place. This is the case with Jackson Family Wines recent purchases of boutique producers Copain and Brewer-Clifton.  If anything, being part of a larger company affords many wineries more funding to improve winemaking facilities and, in many cases, benefits the consumer by offering wider distribution opportunities.

4. Myth: Single-vineyard and “small block” wines are always better

Fact: Certainly there are many acclaimed vineyards that all but guarantee quality, and the resulting wines bearing these vineyard names on the label command high prices. Likely the most well-known vineyard, Napa’s To Kalon, is a great example.  Sonoma County’s Ritchie Vineyard and Heintz Vineyard are known for outstanding Chardonnay, both selling their fruit to many A-list producers, who also know they can charge a premium for these wines. However, many wineries produce single-vineyard wines or “small block” wines that aren’t necessarily of any higher quality (of course this is subjective) than their other wines. The “standard” wines are blended from several blocks within one vineyard or are sourced from several different vineyards. Look no further than Lynmar Estate’s Quail Vineyard Chardonnay, blended from numerous blocks (or parcels) throughout the estate’s 45-acre vineyard. The Quail Vineyard Chardonnay happens to be my personal favorite among the Lynmar Chardonnays.

The post 4 Myths About Wine Marketing Every Consumer Should Know appeared first on Fineman PR.

My presentation centered on the way social media is leveling the playing field of mass communication for nearly everyone about virtually anything. In 2017, we’re experiencing capabilities in communications far beyond anything available even 10 years ago. Brand supporters and trolls can disseminate messages as broadly as top tier companies with the most experienced brand managers. Through various communication platforms, individual opinions—popular or obscure, insightful or ignorant, owned or anonymous—can be published for all to see.

In today’s highly connected, postmodern world, easy access by consumers and critics to brand narratives can certainly provide influence. Over 500 years ago, Gutenberg’s printing press inspired the masses to read and write. People eventually learned to teach themselves and others; one major effect was religious revolution in which clergy were essentially undermined by individual capabilities made possible by the printing press. Spirituality changed forever. In at least one way, the effect of social media is behaving similarly to that of the printing press: participants of the new medium are enabled with immediate access and engagement to information. Consumers today can interpret brand identities, disperse information and influence consumer-buyer decisions like they never could before.

In addition to traditional business communications strategies, professional organizations must now also master social media and its various platforms in order to be heard popularly and to retain control of their brand. Part of that includes learning the language of social media with sufficient fluency to relate to the world online; recognizing trending pop-culture phenomena, hashtags, emoji and internet memes gives brands social credibility in an age when many consumers live online.

Findings from the recent Sprout Social Index show data on what consumers like in a brand identity

During the Q & A portion of my presentation, a professor asked why large organizations don’t just use social media in the same sarcastic and humorous way by which many internet memes gain virality. I answered that aside from target market and image strategies, brand integrity may be at stake. My response was unsatisfying to many of the academics in the hall. When a brand is on the receiving end of prominent, image-damaging social media posts, the natural tendency is to draft a response meant to defend reputation or correct misconceptions and gain millions of impressions and popular approval at the same time. If such communication, however, lies too far outside the organization’s brand identity and communication strategy, it is often preferable to indirectly address the issue by bolstering approved communications and brand messaging—acting in accordance with brand integrity and dignity to contradict social media hearsay.

Without a robust digital communications plan, brands are susceptible to the fickle influences and opinions shared on social. Brand managers can be prepared for this by knowing how and how not to participate; otherwise they might allow digital influencers to shape their messaging.

Developing a strong and active social media presence helps in controlling brand identity. Many brands are on social media but few develop the voice and outline the plan for an effective, well-managed social media agenda that allows them to extend brand recognition and bolster brand identity. It’s easy to be reactive on social, giving in to trolls’ negative remarks or adapting brand responses to meet the demands of others. Establishing a proactive and equanimous presence like Wendy’s and Bay Area Rapid Transit’s, which leverage trending issues in a consistent voice that invites positive engagement, is more likely to maintain brand integrity and gain positive attention.

My presentation concluded that social media not only provides value to brands by increasing exposure and engagement, it can be a very real method of solidifying brand identity and even defending it from external influences. Today this medium is as commonplace as print, radio and television, but it’s infinitely more accessible to consumers. Independent parties on social can affect brands and organizations by what they praise and protest. Recognizing that individuals can easily express these influential opinions and planning for it by maintaining a strong social media presence founded on brand integrity allows brands to retain control and further establish their values and credibility, even considering consumers’ heightened communications capabilities today.

The post Brand Identity in the Age of Social Media appeared first on Fineman PR.

First, it was the leggings. Now, United Airlines faces the far more troubling charge of passenger abuse after the horrific video of a paying customer unwillingly dragged down an airplane runway by two security officers went viral. (The passenger refused his fate as one of four unlucky passengers randomly selected to give up their seats on an oversold flight.) Yesterday’s news is a glaring example of why companies cannot lean on corporate policy to defend actions seen as insensitive and even inhumane to the general public. Not only because the whole world is watching. Good PR (and corporate reputation) requires a company-wide system that upholds critical values –  for public safety, for consumer trust, for product quality – guided by company policy.

@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here’s how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW

— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017&0″ /a>

In both cases, United’s actions (dress code enforcement for non-revenue travelers and random selection of passengers to deplane on an oversold flight) were supported by corporate policy. But to the viewing public and the media, the justification for disturbing behavior is irrelevant. No corporate policy can explain away the visceral footage of a grown man on the floor, disheveled, visibly injured and tugged down the aisle to the screams and distress of other passengers. Public safety is a non-negotiable. That includes avoiding potential physical harm of an individual and preventing the escalation of customer service issues into public safety risks.

Let’s not forget that the U.S. airline industry was founded and branded as a luxury travel service, not an automated people mover or public transit in the sky. When a company’s offering to the marketplace is customer service or hospitality, highly visible customer service failures should be seen as potentially damaging as a major product recall, equipment failure or facilities disaster. Crisis planning, such as tabletop scenarios or risk management operations drills should include customer service interactions across company operations.

So what should United and other businesses facing viral scrutiny over company policy do next?

In the case of United’s immediate strategy, Fineman PR President Michael Fineman emphasizes: “A doctor wouldn’t prescribe a cure without seeing a patient and knowing that patient’s history. Similarly, there are many factors that are only known to the client, which must be considered to determine the appropriate response. However, in this case, based on what has been made public, the following would be recommended if this were my agency’s client:

Prepare a full report of the incident, identify where the situation escalated beyond reason (where it got away from them), and take full responsibility.

The report should demonstrate how the airline will make good on this with the affected passenger and, perhaps, all passengers who witnessed this brutal “act of commerce.”

Include new guidelines and policies, and new employee training programs to ensure something like this will never happen again.

Publicize the full report and plan on the United Airlines website and distribute it to the media.

Aim for genuine progress and track that progress through independent audits of the airline’s customer service, with special attention paid to on-the-ground passenger experiences.”

For airlines and other companies facing potentially high profile customer interaction:

• Evaluate public-facing policies and enforcement guidelines with an eye toward risk management, customer service and of course, public safety. Review customer service response data and employee conflict reports for a better understanding of what is working and what is increasingly raising controversy.
• Identify policy administrators for on-the-ground transactions: ensure that they are specially trained and periodically re-trained in conflict resolution and hospitality. If outside authorities must be brought in to physically manage a situation, understand that their actions will be associated with your company’s response.
• Have tough conversations internally with management and with on-the-ground policy administrators to navigate the gray area of policy enforcement. Does company policy allow specially-trained on-the-ground policy enforcers to exercise their best judgment in the case of high conflict events? If a situation escalates, who has the final say on the visible action?  How can policy enforcers minimize controversial attention to a potentially-flammable situation?
• Take a look at policy enforcement visually, just as the public or media might: Does a policy that sounds reasonable on paper look reasonable in action?

The post Good PR: Know When You Can’t Lean on Corporate Policy appeared first on Fineman PR.