Spinning Infernal Crisis into Anti-Crisis (ie. Marketing Integrity)

Day 1,574, 22:59 • Published in Canada Canada • by Plugson

Like a dragon chasing its tail, each crisis feeds into another

Hello eCanada,

The Shameless Plug has long been a purveyor of news on the topic of crises, prognosticating on their patterns, tracing how they develop, and then dissecting the fallout once it occurs. Check out the CND pre-Crisis, COBRA Anti-Crisis, and July 7th V2 Armageddon, and Acacia’s Expedition into the Great Migration.

Of course, all that is hyperlinked-sherlocking BS, so it’s best to turn to the real crisis first-responders: the media, or more specifically, the people who sell you the media: Advertisers.

Today I caught a radio program most relevant to the current eCan climate. The Age of Persuasion (renamed to ‘Under the Influence’) has been used by me a couples times in the past to discuss eCanada (see Shibboleth and The Big Chill), so it seems very apt to bring host Terry O'Reilly back into the discourse, of course. Terry is one of Canada’s leading marketers who sold all kinds of junk to us over the years and made us love his advertisements at the same time, so he knows what crisis management and brand image are all about.

This week’s broadcast on Under the Influence is titled “Marketing In a Crisis.” I’ll take the liberty of quoting O'Reilly's radio essay and trying to make it seem relevant here.
Also, click to listen to the podcast: http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2208481421

UtI: Crisis can bring out the best - and worst - in a person, a country, or an organization. When companies are hit with a crisis, it can be a defining moment. And their ability to weather the storm can dictate, to a large degree, what their future holds.

With that assessment in mind, we should consider why weathering the current storm dictates the future and how we can better define ourselves in the process. Naturally, let's begin around where it all began to see how Canada earned its first inner-crisis stripes that came to be a small badge of honour looked upon in our history books.

UtI: On Tuesday, June 22nd '09, a CP scheduled expand a Cabinet from 6 to 10 members found itself stuck at the count of 00:00:00. The CDCongress doors were closed, the Top Secret sign was on, and the Congressmen were asked to turn off their mouths.

And all but one passenger complied.

He was playing a game called "Codewords With Friends" through his forum account, and when the CP asked him to please turn it off, he refused and used an offensive media campaign. He was subsequently removed from the flight.

That passenger was A. Baldwin and, instead of being contrite, Baldwin took to the media and made a surprising appearance on The Guns of August, as he went on to parody the Pilot of the corporation he so verily disobeyed as part of a cruel joke perpetuated on the media industry.


Click for video: A. Baldwin apologizes to self and finds forgiveness within

We are familiar with the fallout, an Everlasting No that has echoed throughout the nation’s history, outdone only perhaps by the Everlasting Yea of people’s memory of A. Baldwin as an amusing anti-hero. Or as Under the Influence would say: Baldwin’s handling of the incident had a curious effect: It swung popular sentiment around in his favour.


Click to read Day 577’s

COBRA Ultimatum


Fortunately, the COBRA Anti-Crisis echoed away without many long-term consequences, perhaps. Unfortunately, his later imitators would not. A very fiery Infernal Crisis would show the downside of this pendulum swing.

Lessons Learned? What can we take away from a Baldwinian spin on a crisis? Let’s see what Terry has to advise:

Referring to the recent Carnival Cruise disaster, he notes what we’ll call Lesson #1 of Under the Influence:
A crisis like this, in marketing terms, requires several things to happen immediately.

First, the company and its PR firm has to implement its crisis strategy right away. Assuming, of course, they have one. If they do, it usually means gathering all the available information, assessing the situation, and drafting initial communication for the press.

I’m not sure which crisis to critique. The LSR 2 flash-in-the-pan? The Lebowksi Big Chill factor immediately after? The Pardon? The Exodus? The rebel tanking?

Let’s lump them all together. At first, there was a dire mess, yet understandable since Acacia had retreated in the middle of an initial shock. I believe he recovered well, and was much consumed in the first days of getting up to speed as CP, a normal matter. This would excuse the minor delay getting a response out to the public’s reaction to the “Pardon Me?...What!” incident Acacia inherited. His subsequent response of drafting communicating via the press has been well measured. The referendum indicates a desire to assess the situation and gathering available information. Of course, an initial response does only prepares a corporation to market themselves in a crisis.


#2 Uti: Next, a company has to display visible leadership. One of the first things on the crisis checklist is to suspend all advertising.

Yes, visible leadership came. Some compain about a perceived flip-flop, others complain about a strong-arm response. Suspending all advertising does not apply to this game…or does it? The New World Order logo was a form of advertising, a way to present a recently familiar brand. “Just a picture,” he says? I can count three words to that effect, but a thousand or more in an image.

To contextualize, let’s say another group in eCanada decided to launch a new set of advertisement articles in the middle of a crisis, yet incidentally communicates a familiar set of colours, with a familiar set of shapes, that presents a familiar set of emotional overtones. Let’s say TCO relaunched itself through a “Crimson Tide” campaign replete with Red on Black, a Large Cross, and an ominous by-line. Now that would be ill-advised in the Age of Persuasion.


orly, crisfire? Don’t light that fuse just yet. lol


#3 UTI: Another vitally important factor is that the company can't just be working its heart out to deal with a catastrophe, but it has to be seen working its heart out.

In a crisis, communication is everything.

I give Acacia full marks in this category. There is a very apparent effort going on to react with the current situation. Daily articles, a referendum, a couple Executive Orders, Battle Orders in the media (omg, the “nothing published here in 48 hours” is a thing of the past).

I see plenty of working. But is there heart?
Normally a show of activity is enough to convince the population and politicalty watchdogs that the heart is in the right place. The trouble is that a crucial component of ‘the heart’ has been left on uncertain terms. A sudden near quit. A CAF funding cut left unadressed. Allegiances made as ambiguous as a pro wrestler’s show of pain.


UtI: But a crisis is a maelstrom. And managing it perfectly in the whipsaw of a disaster is almost impossible.

In the world of business, the gold standard when it comes to handling a crisis... is the Tylenol tampering case of 1982. Before the crisis hit, Tylenol was the most successful over-the-counter product in the United States. It had over one hundred million users, and a 37% market share.

Then, disaster hit.

Terry goes on to describe how Tylenol turned the worst that could happen into a succesful recovery leading to an innovation that would improve Tylenol’s standing and revolutionise the drug industry: “new tamper-resistant, triple-seal safety packaging.”

Can we hope to stumble on such a seeming magic bullet? How can we devise tamper-resistant protective packaging to cover eCanada’s Achilles' heel?

#4 UtI: The way Johnson & Johnson handled the crisis was revealing of the company's integrity - which included giving the grieving families counseling and financial compensation, even though the company was not at fault.

Regardless of the fact Tylenol was absolved of any guilt, a sizable percentage of public still had their faith in Tylenol rocked. So Johnson & Johnson began the long road back to regaining that trust through marketing.

I see a keyword there. I also saw it in the title of the article that inspired me to type out this piece: Dierio’s “Integrity.”

As we experience the closest thing to national disintegration coming on the heels of a promise for National Unity, what we need is more integrity. I’m not talking about doing something to hold it together (there is a lot of that already), or an gentleman’s agreement to disagree (too late for that), but rather the integrity of eCanada’s image in the esteem of our allies and the integrity of its administration in the eye’s of the players.

I believe heartfelt work is being done to respond to the TEDEN crisis and rumoured threat to wipe us. But what needs to be better felt is the true heart of the people that will be leading us. There is doubt and dismay. The integrity has been stirred up, contorted in spin, leaving us to wonder, “Is there a Norsefire Whorled Order at hand?” I don’t know but I should not even have to been thinking these strange doubts. Integrity doesn’t beg for a second opinion. Integrity just leads with its feet, heel-to-toe, in confidently filed order.

#5 UtI: Marketing in a crisis can be a watershed moment for most companies.

The quality of its leadership is exposed, its responsiveness is graded, its empathy and concern for its customers is revealed, and the ultimate test of what lengths it is willing to go to resolve the crisis - regardless of the costs - can be measured for all to see.

I know the costs. I’ve seen The Bill and heard-tell of The Receipt ready to be filed as a claim expenses for business conducted in eCanada. And so here the Grades are in on all accounts listed above:


Time for the tally...such a drama, difficult to count, plot way too twisted, all too complicated. Let's go...Bell Curve.
Carry the 'Sin'...calculate the 'Cos't...Drop the 'Tan'(yech melanoma)...and there is no 'U' in Unity either. And...Voila! CP Scorecar😛

#1 UtI ~ Initial Reaction: B+ slow to start, yet got quickly up to speed, could have been less rocky at the start to inpsire more confidence carrying forward.

#2a UtI ~ Display Visible Leadership: B+, a good show of responding to crisis, yet the referendum vacillation and early tumble out of the starting blocks knocked it down a grade.

#2b UtI ~ Suspend All Advertising: B-, and would be lower if a poor choice of imagery occurred again.

#3 UtI ~ Working its Heart Out: A+ for reactivating the battle orders, giving out many shouts, keeping us informed in the media.

#4 UtI ~ Revealing Integrity: D- for ambiguity and general discord, not to mention defection and rebellion, have hurt this mark. Read Dierios’ article admonishing others for tanking against us…disintegration. Does it matter if the blame cuts both ways? Group work is evaluated as a team, so this mark suffers for lack of one.

#5 UtI ~ Empathy, Regardless of Costs: NA (no grade given), This is not a drug company. We’re not selling any magic pills. Nevertheless, if people won’t drink the kool-aid, no matter what vitamins and minerals are inside, then the costs will rise as more people need to be compensated for. Acacia is a sympathetic guy. I can feel his empathy when he communciates his thoughts via the many mediums he chooses. Nevertheless, eRep is a detached medium. It’s hard to get to know the real person. I need a little more Integrity marketed my way, just as it is being done with our allies.

Final Grade: None Given. I’m not here to be a final judge but only to reflect and evaluate on various points. The grand total should come later. We’re only a quarter of the way through this semester yet. Tick tock until the next mid-term. There could be a prop.-quiz tomorrow or any day thereafter.

So have asked, "Why stay? Why suffer the burn?"
Well in the words of Phil Ken Sebben, co-founder of the Sebben and Sebben Law Firm:
"But isn't that how the story goes...
Hotness...
Intenseness...
eCanada, together we are Quasar burning at both ends...
Spinning in both ends...
Together, we explode.
Ah, for easier times,
As a child sitting on Uncle Auggie's knee,
Tales of deeds better undone...
bridges not burned...
....Rosebud."