Company: Royal Caribbean
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Timeframe: Jan. - Feb. 2010
Sometimes even the best intentions can elicit a negative response. Such was the case when a wave of negative press followed Royal Caribbean’s decision return to its long-visited Haitian port just days after the massive earthquake struck the island in January. Thanks to consistent messaging and the tenacity to stay the course, the company was able to tame the negative coverage and generate positive publicity.
For more than 30 years Royal Caribbean has had ties to Haiti, including a private beach destination called Labadee, on the island’s northern coast. Upon learning that part of the island was spared damage, the company reached out to the Haitian government, which encouraged its ships not to alter their course. The uninterrupted service to Labadee would not only avoid economic repercussions for the hundreds of workers employed there, but the ships could be used to bring relief supplies.
The decision was not taken lightly. “We thought we were doing a good thing, and it would be inappropriate for us to go around tooting our own horn,” says Cynthia Martinez, Royal Caribbean’s manager of corporate communications. “We figured we would deal with negative press if and when it came.”
Come it did, via an article a few days later in British newspaper the Guardian. The story was picked up by other publications and started a tidal wave of controversy over whether Royal Caribbean’s decision was ethical.
The PR team also learned that a picture really is, in fact, worth a thousand words. Perhaps even more damaging than the story itself was the large accompanying photo of tourists having fun on the pristine beach with Royal Caribbean’s ship in the background. “It was not so much the story, it was the photo,” says René Mack, president of the travel & lifestyle practice at Weber Shandwick, which Royal Caribbean enlisted to help monitor the media. “When people saw the image, we knew they might make a snap decision without really trying to understand the facts,” he says.
BATTLING THE STORM
Time was of the essence, and reputation was on the line for Royal Caribbean. “That’s when we went into PR crisis mode and needed to get our messages out,” Martinez says. Objectives included:
• Limit negative news coverage.
• Strengthen Royal Caribbean’s image with regard to its ships returning to Haiti.
• Communicate the company’s history with and commitment to Haiti.
• Enlist third-party influencers to endorse its decision to return to the island so soon.
“It was fascinating. Here they were doing the right thing, yet in the media and public perception it seemed they were doing it to be convenient,” Mack says. “The key was to stay the course, be transparent and keep telling their story.”
It was the story heard round the world—in stages. “Being a global corporation, the story took a little while to go around the globe. We were dealing with it in the States, and just when we thought the worst was over, the story was just gaining steam in Germany, say, and Austria. It was like starting all over again,” Martinez says.
Another job Martinez took on was making sure Royal Caribbean’s global offices had all the information they needed to handle the crisis, and “talking them off the ledge,” she says.
As crisis management tends to go, this campaign had no predetermined budget or timeline. The campaign fell under the purview of Martinez and small team from Royal Caribbean and Weber Shandwick. In sum, about 10 people worked on the campaign for three weeks, at no additional cost.
STAY CONSISTENT
When you have to play defense, responding with a consistent message can greatly strengthen a company’s position and avoid further confusion. Working with the executive staff, Martinez and her team created an internal Q&A document containing a list of potential questions regarding the company’s return to Labadee, safety concerns and Royal Caribbean’s humanitarian efforts. The document was distributed to major stakeholders.
“That way, no matter who was being asked the question, whether it was a crew member, on-site worker, customer service —they had the same unified message,” Martinez says.
Guests onboard ships fleetwide received a letter in their staterooms with information on the cruise line’s decision to return to Haiti, while those onboard ships docking at Labadee got a letter alerting them that all proceeds from their port call would be donated to relief efforts. In addition, a letter about the decision from the company president went out to Royal Caribbean’s frequent cruiser constituency.
“We’ve worked with Royal Caribbean for many years, and the one thing we knew was they have an active cruise community—and cruisers in general are very well-informed and vocal,” Mack says. “So through social media they started to speak out about how Royal Caribbean was doing the right thing. Suddenly there were hundreds of goodwill ambassadors speaking on their behalf.”
TALKING BACK
PR executives know it’s critical not to seem defensive when they actually are on the defensive, but that does not mean not answering back. In this case, Royal Caribbean did something unusual: Its president and CEO, Adam Goldstein, wrote a blog entry directly responding to the Guardian story and detailing the reasons why the company had made the decision it did, highlighting the relief efforts and financial effects. “This time, we thought it was necessary,” Martinez says.
Having a quick response was critical. The blog was up within 24 hours of the Guardian article. Martinez then e-mailed the blog text to about 50 media sources, a combination of those who had contacted Royal Caribbean for comment and others the team thought would be interested in the story.
Additionally, the company issued a press release and used Facebook and Twitter as key portals for keeping the community of guests, crew and media informed and updated about activities at Labadee. There was a positive story of Royal Caribbean’s humanitarian efforts to tell, including:
• The Royal Caribbean donation of at least $1 million to relief efforts.
• Partnerships with charitable organizations.
• Plans to use ships to deliver supplies.
• Details about how guests onboard ships would be able to donate to relief efforts.
Additionally, the PR team secured interviews for Royal Caribbean’s Goldstein on key national news/business outlets including Fox Business, MSNBC, CNN International and NPR.
A SEA CHANGE IN ATTITUDE
The situation was a reminder not to underestimate the power of the press. “It’s good to get ahead of the story whenever possible,” Mack says. “The media doesn’t always ask the questions, but sometimes presumes to give the answer, and then you have to overcome that position quickly.”
If Mack had the ability to go back and add a component to the campaign, the effort would have included more video of the relief efforts being aided by Royal Caribbean. “We couldn’t visually get ahead of the story. We had to catch up with it in this case,” he says. “But we did the right thing, and that was most important.”
By doing the right thing, and staying consistent with its message, Royal Caribbean was able to counter negative publicity and lock in tremendous positive support for the company. Among the measures of this crisis campaign’s success:
• Results from polls on industry Web sites including Cruise Critic, MSNBC and CNN showed that more than half of readers (67%, 58% and 53%, respectively) approved of Royal Caribbean’s decision to return.
• The negative publicity did not impact the company financially.
• Royal Caribbean bookings were actually up after Jan. 12, the day of the earthquake.
Ultimately, the Guardian ran two follow-up articles highlighting Royal Caribbean’s relief efforts. Talk about a sea change. PRN
CONTACT:
Cynthia Martinez, [email protected]; René Mack, [email protected].
Navigating a Crisis: Don’t Get Defensive, Stick to Your Guns
The best tactic when responding to negative public opinion? Don’t get defensive. It’s easy to say, not always easy to do. Here are some tips from Cynthia Martinez on how Royal Caribbean succeeded in turning bad press into good PR.
• Know your messages and remain consistent when you reiterate them.
• Don’t waiver. If you stand by your decision or statement, continue to tell your story as often as you need to. “We felt we’d returned to Haiti for the right reasons, and we stuck with it,” Martinez says.
• The explanation needs to be from the heart. Royal Caribbean’s president/CEO wrote a personal response to the negative press on his blog. “People can see through blogs that are ghostwritten and have too much of a PR and marketing hand in them,” Martinez says.
• It helps if channels of communications are already in place with key constituents. “It’s hard in a crisis to start up a blog and expect people to find it,” she says.