An interesting feature of the recent presidential debates was the question: "What's the biggest mistake you've ever made?" After all the events in Washington in the last year,
it is clear now that the public understands that to err is human and, on occasion, forgivable. The critical question is: How do you script your confession or your about-face? The
answer is with actions, not rhetoric.
After an oil tanker broke up off the coast of France during a violent storm at Christmastime, the owner of the oil, TOTAL FINA, initially denied responsibility for the cleanup.
In an enormous PR blunder, CEO Thierry Desmarest said initially, "We have no legal responsibility for the problem" ...no doubt following the guidance of his legal advisors. The
resulting public outcry from citizenry in France and environmentalists everywhere must have made an impression, because Desmarest then did a complete about-face. Not only did he
offer to pay to offload excess oil and funnel $4 million toward the cleanup, he actually toured the oil-soaked French coast - an unprecedented move for a CEO in this type of
crisis.
Afterward, media coverage changed dramatically, positioning TOTAL FINA in a far more favorable light.
This month we chose to analyze the crisis before and after this turning point as an illustration of how concrete action can result in a more favorable image in the eyes of the
media.
Katharine Delahaye Paine is president of Delahaye Medialink (603/431-0111). Image Patrol is based on a subjective content analysis of major news sources covering a crisis.
Comments are not intended to criticize the work of the company in crisis, but rather to illustrate the role the media plays in shaping the perceptions of various stakeholder
groups.
TOTAL FINA HQ: Paris la Defense Cedex, France
Sales (1998): $28.5 million
Employees (1998): 57,166
Competitors: Exxon Mobil, Elf Acquitaine, Royal Dutch/Shell
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BEFORE
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| Criteria | Grade | Comments | Advice |
| Extent of coverage | F | While the wreck of the tanker Erika was caused by a structural failure, the fact that it happened during the worst storm in France’s history meant that the media spotlight was already there, it just needed to shift slightly to catapult TotalFina to the top of the news. |
Communicators must be cognizant of where the news cameras are at any given moment. Chances are if CNN is anywhere nearby, you will get worldwide attention…whether you like it or not. |
| Effectiveness of spokespeople | F | Thierry Desmarest’s terse statement denying responsibility was picked up by every media outlet, making him appear like an uncaring capitalist and environmental troglodyte. |
Denial is perhaps one of the greatest corporate sins. Regardless of what the lawyers tell you, the public will assume you are responsible. And the more visible the corporate brand, the greater the blame. |
| Communication of key messages | D | The terse and uncaring initial statement was widely distributed and confirmed in consumers’ minds the image that TotalFina was the typical uncaring corporate monolith. |
Crisis communications 101 says: express compassion and concern first, then figure out where the legal blame goes later. |
| Management of negative messages | D | As the news media began to investigate the story, they naturally went in the direction that Desmarest pointed them – to the boat’s owners. Since boat ownership was heavily cloaked in murky details, the media kept coming back to TotalFina as the most accessible and recognizable culprit. |
Many companies in crisis try to divert the media attention to some alternative culprit. While this type of distraction may work for some period, you must be wary of the type of diversion you throw at them. If it leads nowhere, they’ll be back that much quicker and that much hungrier |
| Impact on customers | F | It doesn’t get much worse than Greenpeace calling for a boycott of all TotalFina products. |
The proliferation of newsgroups and email lists make it very easy to spread the word of a boycott in this hyper-linked world. Do whatever you can to involve nonprofit advocacy groups and opposition groups in your decision-making processes. |
| Impact on regulators | F | The ferocity of the outcry was such that the French government became involved. It was only after meeting with the French prime minister that TotalFina did its about face on contributing to the clean up. |
When your crisis affects hundreds of miles of seacoast and millions of people, regulators will naturally become involved. Don’t wait for them to come to you. |
| Impact on employees | D | It’s never comfortable to have your company brand name dragged through the mud, especially when it’s your own mud. |
Give employees a way to be heroes in a crisis. Pay them extra to help clean up or find alternative solutions to the problem. |
| Overall score | F | Deny responsibility, communicate little, act arrogant. TotalFina’s initial actions could have written the textbook on how NOT to communicate in a crisis. |
Up until the moment that TotalFina agreed to help pay for the cleanup, this was a classic example of how to mishandle a crisis. |
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AFTER
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| Criteria | Grade | Comments | Advice |
| Extent of coverage | A | A month after the spill and two weeks after changing course, TotalFina announced that its revenue increased 12% over the prior year. This could have been a major disaster, but the announcement yielded a major story in Business Week portraying Desmarest’s moves as “brilliant� and describing him as a “real contender.� |
Desmarest’s brilliance was to keep the big picture in mind even as the crisis was unfolding. Overall his company’s stock price was dependent on its reputation to the customers and the stock price had to remain high if he was to accomplish his goals and retain the confidence of his board. |
| Effectiveness of spokespeople | A | Once Desmarest decided to accept a role in the crisis, he was excellent. His action of walking the oil-covered beaches was unprecedented in French corporate history and arguably did more to reposition TotalFina as a caring, responsible company than the $100 million they donated to the cleanup. |
Actions always speak louder than words…and actions accompanied by camera crews speak even louder. Handing over a check is a cliché. When a CEO does something no French CEO has done before, that’s news that will communicate far more than press releases and checks. |
| Communication of key messages | A | The major message Desmarest finally managed to communicate was “active and involved.� The actions he took were specific, and strategically brilliant, so the image communicated was actually enhanced. |
Whatever actions a company takes in a crisis should reflect and be consistent with the corporate culture. Desmarest’s actions, bold and direct as they were, were entirely consistent with those of an aggressive global player. |
| Containment of negative messages | B | Once the oil began to wash ashore, there was little that could be done to keep the negative messages away. But Desmarest’s news – walking the beaches and donating money – tended to occupy at least as much space as the pictures of dead birds. |
Accept the reality that negative messages crop up in a crisis. You can either overwhelm those messages with good news of your own, or minimize them through extensive explanations. |
| Impact on customers | B | By offering to help pay for the clean up, and setting up an Atlantic Coast Clean Up to address the problem, TotalFina managed to avoid a boycott. |
Once again, decisive actions can help avoid costly customer boycotts. Just like with politicians, the more a company “does the right thing,� the more customers will forgive them their shortcomings. |
| Impact on investors | A | Shareholders were more concerned with ensuring that the merger with Elf Aquitaine went through than with the cleanup of the beaches, but collectively breathed a sigh of relief when the public relations crisis dissipated. |
Shareholders are paying more attention to the PR implications of a crisis, rather than the legal ramifications. Shareholders increasingly believe that the long-term damage to reputation from a drawn out crisis is worse than short-term liability costs. |
| Impact on employees | B | Employees must have welcomed the media portraying their company as “involved corporate citizen� as opposed to vilifying them as uncaring cause of the worst oil spill in France’s history. |
In a heavily unionized, high-unemployment environment, the opinions of employees probably become less important than those of shareholders or customers. But providing a way for employees to take part in the crisis solution is an excellent way to improve employee morale after a crisis. |
| Overall | B+ | After initially appearing to be the poster child for bad crisis handling, TotalFina was surprisingly nimble in its shift to becoming a company many others could learn from. |
By the end, TotalFina followed the rules to ensure that its reputation emerged from the crisis only slightly scathed. |