Transcript
Speaker: Hi everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Podcast.
Speaker: I'm your host, Jackie Remke, Editor-in-Chief of Watts Feed Brands.
Speaker: This edition of Feed Strategy Podcast is brought to you by FeedStrategy.com.
Speaker: FeedStrategy.com is your source for the latest news and leading edge analysis of the global animal feed industry.
Speaker: Today we're joined by Susan Miller, Five Medicom's Public Relations Director.
Speaker: She's here to offer tips for how to properly handle external communication after a crisis.
Speaker: Hi Susan, how are you?
Speaker: I'm great, Jackie.
Speaker: Thanks for having me on the show.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: Thank you for taking the time.
Speaker: So why don't you tell us a little bit about your background in general and then also in the agri-food space?
Speaker: Sure, absolutely.
Speaker: As you mentioned, I'm the director of public relations at Five Medicom.
Speaker: So I work with companies in the B2B space.
Speaker: Sometimes people don't think that's agribusiness, but really it's all types of technical and scientific companies.
Speaker: So it's a pretty broad range of businesses.
Speaker: I've worked with a number of companies in the animal health space in terms of technology, in terms of nutrition.
Speaker: And I have a real passion for media relations, but sometimes part of that media relations work
Speaker: comes with crisis situations.
Speaker: You know, they're not always those positive, happy stories that we get to talk about.
Speaker: Sometimes there are some hard questions.
Speaker: So I'm really excited to talk about that today.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I'm sure our listeners will find this discussion helpful.
Speaker: You mentioned that you've dealt with these sorts of situations or a variety of situations before.
Speaker: What are the most common types of crises that you've seen in the agribusiness arena?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: You know, Jackie, crises come in all types.
Speaker: It's everything from chemical spills to fish kills to dust explosions and product recalls, but they generally fall into two primary categories.
Speaker: You have sudden crises, which, as the name implies, typically happen without warning, and they tend to be more common.
Speaker: Workplace accidents are a good example, violence, tornadoes.
Speaker: And then in contrast, the second type of crisis category are those smoldering crises.
Speaker: So some examples of those might be, say, a member of management's involved in a drunk driving incident, or maybe there is some financial malfeasance.
Speaker: In either case, though, Jackie, hope is not a strategy, right?
Speaker: And you've got to have a plan ready to go.
Speaker: And that plan should really consider what I call the three P's, both preparation and a process for getting that plan out there to your audience.
Speaker: I want to dig in a little into those three P's and what the communication strategies look like and how they may differ between those two different types of crises.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Well, let's talk about people first.
Speaker: I think that's the most important part is you've got to have the people identified in advance of when all craziness breaks out.
Speaker: So determining who those spokespersons are that are going to address your different stakeholders.
Speaker: So that could be the media.
Speaker: It absolutely has to be your employees, your suppliers, your customers.
Speaker: So identifying those people.
Speaker: But then the second part is preparing them before a crisis.
Speaker: And this is a little easier to prepare with a sudden crisis because you can anticipate that the crisis, I think a little better than some of the smoldering things where privacy and legal issues are involved.
Speaker: But regardless, prepare your people.
Speaker: We do a lot of work at Five Medicom where we work with people to determine, all right, in various scenarios, what is it that we want to say and how do we say it?
Speaker: So we do a lot of workshops, a lot of role playing to help people feel comfortable developing messages that are accurate, brief and clear.
Speaker: And getting around to when a crisis breaks, really acknowledging what's most important that needs to be addressed.
Speaker: You know, the interesting thing about a smoldering crisis is many times they don't come to light, but when they do,
Speaker: The drawback is you have a lot less sympathy or empathy.
Speaker: Everyone can feel bad for the company that was hit by a tornado, but there tends to be a lot less sympathy if perhaps there was some financial malfevens on the part of a company.
Speaker: So those are some differences.
Speaker: And for smaller suppliers or manufacturers who may be
Speaker: have a limited budget for PR or maybe this just isn't on their radar until it is.
Speaker: What are the essential elements of these crisis communication plans that they should have in place?
Speaker: Again, without the resources of working with an agency before something happens.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You know, there are some great tools out there.
Speaker: There's some great ad communication departments throughout the nation.
Speaker: But a document that I find is really useful is the crisis communication template developed by Healthy Farms, Healthy Agriculture.
Speaker: And your listeners can find that at healthyagriculture.org.
Speaker: This document helps users identify, first of all, the severity of the crisis.
Speaker: But what I love about it is it provides multiple templates for contacting all the different stakeholders you need to keep in mind, ranging from employees and local officials to
Speaker: Dr. Lisa Chavez- legal counsel suppliers media and potentially even consumers and then the thing that makes it even better, and I promise i'm not getting a free resource is.
Speaker: Dr. Lisa Chavez- It breaks the template down so that people can look at here's what needs to happen in the first hour, the first three hours.
Speaker: the first 24 and 48 hours.
Speaker: So it's a great free resource.
Speaker: So can you walk us through what those first 24 hours of the response might look like?
Speaker: So hypothetically speaking, let's say a contamination issue with a widely distributed additive, how would that be taken care of?
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: Now, remember, we talked about ideally you will have prepared before the first 24 hours of the incident.
Speaker: So you'll already have a media list, a customer list, notification list in place, and just as important, the individuals that are going to be serving as spokesperson.
Speaker: The next thing you'll want to do once you've got those lists is communicate with leadership, let them know what your plan is, that you have a plan in place, and then start working on that holding statement.
Speaker: Essentially what a holding statement is, is a document you use while the situation is still being assessed and understood, but you don't know all the details.
Speaker: And typically a holding statement will say, you know, here's what we know.
Speaker: For example, a recall has occurred.
Speaker: It involves these plants.
Speaker: It was announced at this time.
Speaker: Here's what we're trying to resolve.
Speaker: You know, we're collaborating with these partners in
Speaker: supply chain, assess the situation and mitigate the issues.
Speaker: And then third, here's what you can expect as it relates to your business interest.
Speaker: Perhaps that's a website or a specific 800 number that you call, but just something to get out there because you can bet as soon as word of that gets out, the media is going to be knocking on your door as well as those employees that may have questions.
Speaker: You know, in that first 24 hours, you're working as fast as you can, but do be prepared for criticism, even when you're doing everything right.
Speaker: And I was thinking about the incident this summer with the CrowdStrike CEO, who came under a lot of criticism when airlines and banks had issues because of a software update.
Speaker: And LinkedIn just lit up with people saying, it's been 24 hours and he hasn't apologized yet.
Speaker: And if you look at what the guy was doing, he was in triage mode and he made an apology just in the 24 hours, which was when people said it took him 24 hours to make an apology.
Speaker: But you need to think about what's the most important thing you need to do, right?
Speaker: And I think 24 hours is an acceptable amount of time to make a statement.
Speaker: And the other thing that was important was he didn't apologize until he had enough facts that he could assess the company's involvement in it.
Speaker: Sometimes people are too quick to say we're sorry.
Speaker: And perhaps we'll have a chance a little bit later in the conversation to talk about, you know, how do you respond when you really can't comment?
Speaker: You mentioned LinkedIn.
Speaker: How have you seen during your career how social media has changed the landscape of crisis communication?
Speaker: Personally, my greatest fear is going viral for something that I wouldn't want to go viral for.
Speaker: And, you know, kind of looking at that where everybody is connected and sharing their opinions.
Speaker: What strategies do you recommend for managing your online reputation after
Speaker: the worst happens.
Speaker: Yeah, those algorithms have made it ever so much easier to get into trouble.
Speaker: But I think the most important strategy is to monitor what's being said on the social platforms.
Speaker: And ideally, you'll have a digital native involved in listening.
Speaker: You know, there's a lot of great tools out there in the market that will factor in sentiment.
Speaker: not only see the content out there, but assess it and identify what may be bubbling to the surface as a more serious concern in the community.
Speaker: And it is serious.
Speaker: The World Organization for Animal Health has reported that social media and agribusiness has the impact both trade as well as food security.
Speaker: So it's not simply a matter of annoying trolls out there.
Speaker: It's a real business concern.
Speaker: But you asked, how do you handle that?
Speaker: Certainly you monitor and become aware of it.
Speaker: But there's the old saying about, you know, don't wrestle with a pig because you'll get dirty and the pig will enjoy it.
Speaker: It's really important that you're able to take that conversation offline and to not engage.
Speaker: There are certainly opportunities through town hall situations.
Speaker: those can be virtual or in person to have a conversation with the right voices in the room.
Speaker: What role do you think employees should play in a crisis?
Speaker: Obviously, the PR folks and upper management has some level of media training.
Speaker: How do you prepare everyone else in the company for potential media interactions?
Speaker: Well, I think it's very important that you make it clear when you mentioned media that everyone understands the process for directing those media inquiries to the folks who can have the conversation.
Speaker: So that when that truck shows up at the feed mill security gate, that person there at the guard shack knows who he or she can direct that question to.
Speaker: So that goes back to having a process.
Speaker: You know, sometimes people think, oh, employees don't need to know.
Speaker: But those folks go home every night.
Speaker: They have dinner at the family dinner table.
Speaker: They talk at the union hall.
Speaker: They grab a beer at the corner bar.
Speaker: So it's essential that they have some talking points and be communicated to.
Speaker: And as you're communicating with them, let them know here are the channels that you can access to direct those immediate questions.
Speaker: I had an opportunity early in my career to learn from just a great gent in communications.
Speaker: He had previously served as
Speaker: Lee Iacocca's right-hand man for communications with Chrysler when they were going through all of their issues.
Speaker: And he was called in as I was working with an automobile component manufacturer in a fish kill situation.
Speaker: We had the automotive union involved and it was kind of crazy.
Speaker: And management wasn't sure how much they wanted to even tell employees there was a problem.
Speaker: And this gent said, Susan, in any crisis, there are three things you absolutely have to do.
Speaker: You have to tell the truth, you have to tell it fast, and you have to tell your employees first.
Speaker: And across any number of crises I've been involved with, I've seen there's tremendous wisdom in that.
Speaker: So those folks may not be communicating the message.
Speaker: And if you don't tell them, especially now, there wasn't social media in my day, you know, they're going to get it through other channels.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: How do you balance that need for transparency when there are potential legal consequences or considerations where there might be cases involving potential liability or saying the wrong thing?
Speaker: How do you kind of balance that?
Speaker: You know, liability is a topic that I'm going to leave to the attorneys because they know a lot more about that than me.
Speaker: But I think we've all seen those awkward situations, Jackie, on the six o'clock news where the person comes out of the courthouse and they say, no comment, and they immediately look shady.
Speaker: So there is an alternative to no comment, and it's what I call the why plus what formula.
Speaker: That comes down to explaining why you cannot comment.
Speaker: or speculate at that time, but sharing what information you can provide.
Speaker: So let me give you an example.
Speaker: Let's say that you had a spill involving a toxic ingredient, and you're asked if that spill could leach into the grounds and contaminate the ecosystem.
Speaker: You might start by explaining why you can't comment, and certainly you don't want to speculate.
Speaker: You might say, well, as the authorities are still conducting their work,
Speaker: We can't speculate on the situation blank why, but then you get around to the why.
Speaker: What we can tell you is we're collaborating with environmental agencies to assess the situation and prioritize safety.
Speaker: The why plus why is just a really great way of avoiding that no comment.
Speaker: And there are certain things people will always respect.
Speaker: Employee privacy, health, safety, even an abundance of caution will be well received.
Speaker: Great.
Speaker: Now, what are those common mistakes that you've seen agri-food companies make in their crisis communications?
Speaker: Probably the biggest one is just not having a plan and losing precious time by trying to put a plan together.
Speaker: Another one is over-educating the reporter.
Speaker: And we have a lot of really smart people in agribusiness, nutritionists and veterinarians and
Speaker: Folks that have a lot of detail and sometimes they want to share all of that information with a reporter.
Speaker: But it's important to remember you need to talk at a high level because when you're quoted, especially in print, a very small portion of what you share is actually going to make it onto the page.
Speaker: In fact, the Wall Street Journal had done a study many years ago and they analyzed hundreds of quotations in newspapers.
Speaker: to see how long the average quote is.
Speaker: Any idea, Jackie, how many words make it into the quote?
Speaker: Oh, 10.
Speaker: Oh, that's even worse than what turned out to me.
Speaker: It tended to be around 26 words.
Speaker: So those words go pretty quickly.
Speaker: So, you know, I've seen situations where an expert will come in and give a very detailed explanation and reporters are
Speaker: tend to be generalists.
Speaker: And so they'll, you know, miss really kind of the golden nugget in there and pick up something that was simpler.
Speaker: So I think another common concern is just over-educating the audience.
Speaker: So for multinational feed companies or feed suppliers, how would you adapt these strategies across the
Speaker: culture or countries, cultural differences, different regulations.
Speaker: How is that typically addressed aside from having, you know, folks on the ground in these regions?
Speaker: Yeah, it is really important.
Speaker: You just hit the nail on the head to work with a local operating company because they're going to have that working knowledge, the relationships with local business, the regulatory officials.
Speaker: So
Speaker: You know, don't try to come in from an ivy tower and manage from a car.
Speaker: The local operating company is huge.
Speaker: But you also brought up, you know, there are the nuances of the culture itself that's so important.
Speaker: And this is a value call, but, you know, sometimes there's a place for humor or even self deprecation.
Speaker: But it certainly has to be more of a lighthearted incident when you use that approach.
Speaker: And I'll give an example.
Speaker: kind of a fun story from way back in 2018 in the UK.
Speaker: There was a logistics issue with some warehouses that left many KFC franchises without any chicken, you know, maybe going into a KFC and there not being any chicken and understandably people were upset.
Speaker: So, and there was grumbling on social media.
Speaker: Well, the company took out a full page ad and they transposed the letters on their iconic red and white striped buckets from KFC
Speaker: to FCK.
Speaker: So pretty provocative there.
Speaker: And then the ad went on to say under that headline, you know, a chicken restaurant without any chicken, it's unexcusable.
Speaker: We plan to do better.
Speaker: So they apologized right there in print.
Speaker: But it played well in the press, quite honestly, I think it got them some exposure as just being an accessible company that owned up to their mistakes.
Speaker: But running out of chicken is a lot different than a fire, an accident or
Speaker: or loss of human life.
Speaker: And that's where at the other end of the spectrum, just kind of the gold standard textbook for crises work comes out of Johnson and Johnson, the makers of Tylenol.
Speaker: And this has been goodness, maybe more than 40 years ago, but the story still stays in the crises PR books.
Speaker: Yeah, because, yeah, they made the decision to pull 31 million bottles of Tylenol from stores after there were seven deaths attributed to cyanide lace capsules.
Speaker: And they thought all along that the products were tampered with at the store shelf level.
Speaker: but they weren't gonna take that chance.
Speaker: They weren't under any requirements by regulatory authorities, but they voluntarily pulled 31 million bottles of product.
Speaker: And I would argue that the halo effect they had from doing that, you know, was just invaluable.
Speaker: It's still just kind of the gold standard of that abundance of caution we talked about.
Speaker: So you need to look at, you know, the local culture, but also how severe is the,
Speaker: is the crisis.
Speaker: And there's a big difference between running out of fried chicken and loss of human life.
Speaker: Excellent.
Speaker: Now, when the crisis is not related to
Speaker: the death of humans or customers or destruction of facilities.
Speaker: What about when it's impacting the health and welfare of animals?
Speaker: So obviously PETA is very active in the other animal rights groups in capturing bad actors and
Speaker: you know, publicizing that as the face of the industry.
Speaker: How should these sorts of considerations be taken into account when communicating with the public and stakeholders?
Speaker: You know, I think it's really important to build relationships with third party trusted sources that can come alongside you.
Speaker: So think about your veterinarian, your university extension office, potentially industry associations that are allied with your business.
Speaker: They can bring objectivity and an independent voice to the process.
Speaker: As I mentioned before, the agribusiness community is full of really smart people.
Speaker: And they're experienced in communicating with these types of groups almost always.
Speaker: So this won't be their first rodeo.
Speaker: You know, these groups have been out there for a long time.
Speaker: And these associations and universities have folks that can come alongside you.
Speaker: That's part of it.
Speaker: I think another thing you can do is, you know, people are going to check out your website.
Speaker: They're going to ask for more information.
Speaker: You know, if you can maintain a library of images, photos, video, B-roll,
Speaker: that show and document good animal husbandry practices on the farm.
Speaker: You know, they say a picture tells a thousand words.
Speaker: It will really help you in supporting your communication.
Speaker: So technology is rapidly changing as far as AI, of course, social media and other
Speaker: macro trends that are impacting the industry and consumers in general.
Speaker: How are there any emerging trends that you have on your radar that you think could impact existing crisis communication plans?
Speaker: You know, I think two things we need to be cognizant of as we go back to that preparation step and kind of anticipating what problems might
Speaker: arise.
Speaker: One is zoonotic disease outbreaks.
Speaker: You know, it's interesting the CDC One Health page states that three out of every four new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals.
Speaker: And the media always loves something new.
Speaker: So I've seen, you know, reports about all right, crocodile farms are introducing West Nile virus or, you know, minks are associated with COVID-19.
Speaker: I think in this pandemic world, we're going to continue to see
Speaker: a focus on the zoonotic disease threats.
Speaker: And then the second thing is just the continued awareness of environmental sustainability.
Speaker: In the last couple of years, we've been seeing protests from farmers in Europe who are blocking roads and engaging in actions to oppose what they perceive to be draconian environmental legislation affecting their license to operate.
Speaker: So I think that will continue
Speaker: to be an issue for everybody in agribusiness to think about.
Speaker: And, you know, at the end of the day, it comes down to the challenge of crises situations require an ability to communicate with science as well as emotion.
Speaker: And the feed industry has an awful lot of smart people who understand the science.
Speaker: The emotional part can sometimes be a little harder to navigate.
Speaker: Thank you so much, Susan.
Speaker: You've shared a lot of excellent information here.
Speaker: Any other resources or final thoughts that you'd like to share with the audience?
Speaker: You know, I think it all goes back to, in all crisis situations, planning and preparation before a crisis strikes, whether it's a sudden crisis or a smoldering one.
Speaker: can go a long way towards making that very uncomfortable process, maybe not comfortable, but certainly more manageable.
Speaker: Very good.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much again for your time.
Speaker: And thanks to you for tuning in.
