CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS: Are You Ready For Your Brett Favre?

Finally, the bitter divorce has ended. Legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre and his partner of 16 years — the Green Bay Packers — are going their own ways. While this protracted drama may have been interesting only to football fans, we at NOISE believe marketers everywhere can learn a few lessons about crisis communications from the messy way it all played out. Let us count the ways:

1. Anticipate Your Crisis. Brett Favre retires, then decides to unretire. Why did this turn of events seem to catch Green Bay Packer management unprepared? This isn't the first time, or second time, or even third time that Favre has waffled on retiring. Just like Packer Nation, you as a marketer should be able to identify your looming Brett Favre. Would it be product failure? A consumer lawsuit? A management shakedown? A force of God? Identify your vulnerabilities and prepare an action plan, in the sorry event they become realities.

2. Articulate Your Key Messages. Just like any other form of branding, marketing or advertising, working your way through a crisis involves articulating your key message or messages, staying on message, and repeating repeating repeating the mantra. The Green Bay Packers did this for a while — "Aaron Rodgers is our starting quarterback" — yet when push came to shove and Favre came to Green Bay, the message somewhat changed to an "open competition at quarterback." What signal does a mixed message send to the public — not to mention your own team?

3. Appear (And Be) Sincerely Concerned. When Packers General Manager Ted Thompson responded to Brett Favre's interest in returning to the team by sending him a text message stating "I'm on vacation, I'll get back to you," it was apparent to the football consuming public that Brett Favre was not his priority, but almost his nuisance. And public perception is reality, so be prepared to appear and be concerned about your crisis or suffer the ire of your consumers.

4. Identify An Articulate Spokesperson. Once again, a failure of the Packers. With apologies for beating up Ted Thompson, a reserved and somewhat shy individual with little media training shouldn't be your go-to guy when the cameras get hot. Maybe that's why the organization turned to Coach Mike McCarthy, as well as President Mark Murphy, when the going got tough. Make sure you identify who within your organization will speak for your organization, and do so with great success and media comfort, in a crisis.

5. Don't Hire a High-Profile PR Guy At the Eleventh Hour. How bad was it for Green Bay at the end? The team hired former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer to handle the crisis. I suppose having cleaned up after George Bush, the Packers felt Ari could tidy this room. Problem? Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that's what this move looked like.

As an aside, this is not to say that everything the Green Bay Packer corporation did was wrong, or that this fiasco was fumbled equally as often by Brett Favre. The Packers did many things correctly. But the net result is: a public relations nightmare was brought upon a brand by an outside force (in this case, an individual who in many respects is or was the brand); the organization failed to respond properly; and the brand will suffer in perception and potentially in sales, short term and potentially long term.

Are you ready for your Brett Favre?

Source: NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher

SAMPLING: The New Mass Medium.

It used to be that the only place you could get free samples was in the grocery store on Saturday morning. But free sample giveaways — a practice traditionally associated with marketers lacking a big advertising budget — have become a key marketing tactic for many well-known brands with very large advertising budgets.

Product sampling has moved from the grocery store aisles out to the streets as a new consumer trend, introducing customers to new products for significantly less investment than traditional advertising. According to Advertising Age, major corporations such as McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks and Coca-Cola have debuted giveaways of new products, luring consumers to test new products they might not at cost.

Sampling has proven very effective for both McDonald’s and Starbucks. After a recent sampling of their new breakfast product, the McSkillet Burrito, the Mickie D saw double-digit sales beyond what was originally projected. Starbucks sampling events, which are typically nationwide, ensure millions of people get products they might not otherwise purchase — while receiving hundreds of millions of free impressions.

Industry insiders suggest the success of the new trend stems from the economic climate. If people have less disposable income, they’re more likely to take advantage of discounted and free offers.

Bottom line, everyone loves free stuff, and sampling is making a comeback. Just like every other form of branding, it is an investment. Yet done properly, just like every other form of branding, it can generate return on investment.

Source: Advertising Age, NOISE
Reported by: Lori Sansoucie

SOCIAL MEDIA: Talking Amongst Yourselves.

Much has been written here (and elsewhere) about the many ways that social media can assist marketers in giving consumers greater voice, greater participation with and, therefore, greater investment in your brand. But there are new applications evolving almost daily for social media, and one of them is internally, within your brand.

According to a recent Adweek article, major corporations such as Ford, Pepsi and Intel have hired on social media experts to help them better talk not only to customers, but among themselves. These experts are identifying internal opportunities on a variety of branding and marketing levels, from seeking input among a teenaged employment base for new product development (fast food marketer) to putting design engineers front and center in tech blogs (instead of PR types) for greater street cred among techheads (computer marketer).

Think about your organization today. How could you benefit from greater participation and involvement of your employees? What contributions could their opinions make to your internal and external marketing and branding? Could internal social media, applied properly with strategic thought and a clearly defined objective, add to your success?

It's a topic you might want to talk about amongst yourselves.

Source: Adweek, NOISE
Reported by: John Sprecher