Quick and Quirky - A PR guide

Is 21st century finally the generation of equality? If yes, how is PR dealing with it ?

This generation is all about equality be it gender equality, be it equality in society or anything and why wouldn't they be. The 21st century is all about change and self-introspection. This generation accepts the things they cannot change, and change the things that they can vigorously. We see different trends catering to different social issues every week. The digital presence has made everything easier and faster. You wrong one person, but deal with the whole community.

How are brands reacting to it?

As a result, brands have largely started focussing on equality in all their strategies too. All the PR officials are now all the more cautious than they have ever been. From choosing their brand colours, to choosing the ambassadors, everything now has to be totally thought through. Why they chose the colours that they did, and where all to use them. “We are like this, accept it or not” doesn’t work anymore. The target audience is well educated and aware. You can’t just start something and expect them to follow. Customers today know the rights that they have and know how to exercise those rights. With the expansion in digital presence, everything is now transparent. Any action small or big will be followed by consequences. The customers prefer brands that care about their customers. This is one of the main reasons why customer service came into the picture. Customers want justice today and they have all the means to get it. They want quick response. We will get back to you within 48 hours has now been transformed into live chat executives. All these significant changes are changing the society for better and it is happening quite fast. With all this, a brand has to be extremely careful with their words as well. A small sentence could ruin a brand’s reputation for worse if not looked into right after the gaffe. brands have to be vigilant while interacting with customers.

How to manage crisis like they never occurred ?

Well, this is exactly what the PR campaigns and crisis management are for. There are brands who witnessed such circumstances, and replied with patience and absolute caution. As a Public relations manager, some crises will be out of your control but to clear off the repercussions and keep the brand image intact will always be a PR manager’s duty. There are social messages spread out through campaigns then there are crises you have to manage. The best example of crisis management I have come across was by the PR team of KFC after the chicken burger blunder in the UK and Ireland. It was also a very big step that the franchise took to reestablish the trust of customers while maintaining respect towards their suppliers.

Let’s delve into what really happened. Winner, winner, no chicken dinner ?

KFC is infamous for its fried chicken. However, due to shortage of chicken, KFC stores were closed off in a few regions. The customers felt agitated and had a lot of questions to which they strongly needed answers. The whole customer base was outrageously commenting on the condition expressing their disappointment and frustration towards the situation. Twitter and Instagram were filled with hashtags such as #ChickenCrisis. The customers were bombarding social media with reels shouting their anger. They started targeting the workers in the stores unbeknownst that they had no role to play in the disaster. People started bashing the workers on how they were having fun despite the crisis taking place all over the place. Customers uploaded videos of workers in the store with closed sign hanging on the door.

How many ways were there to get this issue resolved ?

The KFC team realized this wasn’t a small issue. It had then turned into something really big and consequently harmful to their brand’s image and customer pool.

How they handled the crisis was exceptionally smart !

They apologized everyone who was affected by the catastrophic incident. The KFC team played out with their name itself. The name of a brand is the most essential and important thing one has as a brand. KFC stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken. The brand replaced its letters and made it FCK. FCK is short for addressing a disaster. The message was humorous yet effective. But can humour always get you out of the situation without any problems following it? Perhaps not! To use any kind of gestures or emotions while portraying something about or related to your brand, target audience research is the most important.

The KFC ad was headlined “We’re sorry,” while expressing guilt towards the incident. “A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal,” the advertisement read. “It’s been a hell of a week.” This was the apology made by the PR team of KFC. They further gave the audience transparency on their operations. They let the customers watch their actions closely so as to regain the trust. The apology paid off and successfully regained the trust of the customers.

Conclusion

Crisis management is an important and detailed task to work through. Focussing on all the detailed aspects such as the target audience, brand ideologies, brand presence will collectively help you. Judge the situation and observe how everyone is reacting. Don’t respond in haste but don’t wait too long. Judge the situation, evaluate and reflect accordingly. Later, learn through the experience fitting you to address them better in future.