Company: Mattel
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Timeframe: August-October 2007
For any other toy manufacturer, what happened to Mattel during those infamous three months in 2007 would have been a death knell. But for a brand that prides itself on transparency and "always doing the right thing," as outlined in its code of conduct, the much-publicized toy recalls were not a precursor of doom. Rather, Mattel's communications efforts, which emphasized the company's commitment to product safety, set a gold standard for responsible actions during a very trying time.
The crisis for Mattel began in early August 2007, when the company issued two separate toy recalls due to lead paint and magnet retention issues. It escalated on Sept. 4, 2007, when the toy titan recalled 11 additional products globally, also due to impermissible levels of lead in paint. Then, in October, Mattel announced yet another affected product.
All Hands On Deck
To begin the critical process of communicating with stakeholders and protecting its reputation in the face of adversity, Mattel executives teamed up with agency-of-record Weber Shandwick.
"We knew Weber Shandwick had worldwide scope," says Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, Mattel's VP of corporation communications. "We knew we could count on them for their reach and that they had public affairs capability [via their strategic communications and public affairs firm Powell Tate in D.C.]."
According to Howard Opinsky, EVP for Weber Shandwick's D.C. office, Powell Tate played a critical role in shaping the campaign.
"It provided support for Mattel CEO Robert Eckert's congressional testimony in September 2007," he says. "Working closely with Mattel and the Toy Industry Association, [Powell Tate] provided counsel on legislative efforts at the federal and state levels to change consumer product safety laws."
Mattel's in-house communications staff of seven was also instrumental in managing communications efforts around the toy recalls, which included internal and external materials, a creation of a Web site (http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp) and the latter's translation into 20 languages.
Central to meeting the initiative's goals was the evolving relationship between Mattel and Weber Shandwick. Face-to-face meetings in the local L.A. office, coupled with regular conference calls, were essential to fulfilling expectations. Mattel tapped key people from the agency for their "functional expertise" in various parts of the world. This drove home the fact that the company was behaving responsibly in the wake of the toy recalls. Targeting consumers, stakeholders and media, Mattel sought to create a scenario that would provide the latest information on what the company was doing to improve the safety of its offerings.
But, while the team's collaborative spirit was solid, dealing with so many offices with different time zones posed a host of communications challenges.
"We joked about this, but there's someone always awake in the world somewhere," Bongiovanni says. "[The information that came out of this effort] was extremely fast-moving. And again, while we were sleeping in L.A., that doesn't mean journalists were sleeping elsewhere. Because this was a global issue, there were a lot of opportunities for misinformation from the media side. If one person got it wrong, then it would be wrong in the other part of the world in a heartbeat. To make sure our agency would be empowered to work with the media was an important part of the plan, because Jules Andres, [Mattel's director of corporate communications] and I couldn't be awake all the time."
The Recall Heard 'Round The World
In addition to creating press releases and other collateral, the team arranged a satellite media tour with chairman/CEO Eckert and president of international, Bryan Stockton, as well as a conference call with media and one-on-one interviews with the company's key communications personnel. Eckert also taped a video message to parents that was posted online.
"He emphasized his concern as a parent and his personal responsibility," says Opinsky. "Throughout, his key message was that the company should be judged not on the issues that had arisen, but rather on how the company was acting responsibly to fix them."
Mattel executives also developed a detailed crisis plan that took into account contingencies for potential leaks. They also took out full-page ads in newspapers and ran banner ads online to reassure parents and drive them to the recall Web site.
For the second recall announcement on Aug. 14, 2007 (the largest recall for the company), Mattel was especially proactive in its media outreach. Eckert and Stockton did more than a dozen satellite interviews with American and international broadcast outlets. Following the satellite media tour, Eckert conducted a teleconference for reports, which was later posted on Mattel's Web site. He also participated in numerous phone interviews with top-tier media outlets.
In September 2007, Eckert testified before committees in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Throughout the hearings, Eckert emphasized his concern vis-a-vis the toy recalls as both a parent and an industry leader. The main theme was how Mattel was stepping up to the plate and behaving responsibly. This was given further traction in October when Eckert delivered a keynote speech at the Business for Social Responsibility annual conference to discuss the importance of dealing with issues responsibly and transparently to maintain consumer trust.
During the time frame of the crisis, Mattel's communications team fielded hundreds of inquiries from media outlets around the world. The special Web site they created received millions of hits; also, the company's consumer relations' hotlines responded to millions of calls and e-mails, helping consumers identify affected toys and return them to Mattel.
As part of the broader story of recalls of Chinese-made products, Mattel's recalls were among one of the most significant news stories of 2007, generating news coverage across multiple media platforms. As Eckert had hoped, Mattel had been judged by its response to the safety issues instead of the issues themselves. Other positive results of the team's efforts to manage and contain the toy recall crisis were as follows:
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Despite concerns about Mattel's prospects for the crucial holiday season, the company posted gains in sales and profits for Q4 '07 and that year as a whole;
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Mattel's own consumer research data confirmed continued consumer confidence;
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Media coverage, while critical of the recalls, recognized Mattel's communications efforts; and
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In January 2008, Mattel was named to Fortune's 2008 "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. Fortune noted the company's fast response and leadership through the 2007 recalls as a defining moment.
Also, Mattel created a new corporate responsibility group that reports directly to Eckert. The corporate communications department, which also includes government affairs, stakeholder engagement and philanthropy, is an important part of this new corporate structure.
From the vortex of a major crisis, Mattel emerged as a PR champion in its efforts to maintain consumer trust and communicate responsibility following the toy recalls of 2007. PRN
CONTACTS:
Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, [email protected]; Jules Andres, [email protected]; Howard Opinsky, [email protected]
Defusing An Incendiary Situation
Looking for ways to douse the flame of a potential controversy? Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, Mattel's VP of corporate communications, and Jules Andres, the toy company's corporate communications director, recommend these best practices:
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Act responsibly when the crisis situation erupts. By doing this, you are inspiring and maintaining the confidence of two very important constituent bases--consumers and stakeholders. "This can be a little scary and painful," admits Bongiovanni, "but it's doing the right thing every time."
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Use various vehicles to convey messaging: In addition to social media and the Web, the Mattel team also relied on traditional methodologies such as audio conferencing, often utilized during a product launch, to answer questions about the company's response to the recalls. Because Mattel's CEO was not able to talk to every reporter, audio conferencing was used to tape a press conference between Mattel's CEO and media. Reporters who missed the conference were given a "replay number" to call to listen to it. The audio was also posted on the company Web site.
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Update your list of contacts: "You need to know who in your company to go to get information from," Bongiovanni says. "If you don't know who to call, you're going to waste precious time." At Mattel, the contact list is updated several times a year, notes Andres.
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Have a crisis communications plan in place: "When Jules and I started working at Mattel nine years ago, they didn't have one, but we put one together," says Bongiovanni. "That was the backbone of our plan."
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Don't forget your employees: In crisis situations, employees can very often make the most effective brand ambassadors. At Mattel, the company CEO constantly kept staffers regularly apprised of goings-on during the toy recalls. "He kept people in the loop," says Andres. "He was sending out e-mails. Our employees probably own more Mattel toys than the average consumer. They want to know what's going on."
Crisis Communications In A 24/7 Media World
For PR professionals, if there is no communications plan in place during a crisis, a little tempest in a teapot can combust into a full-blown disaster. Suffice it to say, that is never a viable option. It certainly wasn't one for Mattel's VP of corporate communications, Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, and Jules Andres, Mattel's director of corporation communications, during the toy recalls of 2007. Here are some key lessons learned from this crisis communications initiative:
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Communicate quickly and transparently to your target audience: ["With the Mattel toy recalls,] parents wanted to know from leadership what we were going to do solve the crisis," says Bongiovanni. "It was fast-moving communication from the top."
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Leverage social media and the Web to get the word out: In this 24/7 Web 3.0 universe, this tenet is critical to crisis communication and management. "I think this is why our Web communications was so successful," Andres says. "We took three different videos of our CEO talking to consumers [about the recalls] and posted them on our site. I think people really appreciated that. They wanted to feel that connection with us."