GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT:HOW TO DEFEND AND BUILD YOUR BRAND IN 2015

SHANE O’RIORDAIN

MANAGING DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATION, STRATEGY, REGULATION AND PRICINGROYAL MAIL

• The media is more narrative based than ever before. The facts can get in the way of the story!

• File first, ask questions later. The “speed imperative” puts huge pressure on media organisations.

• Business people have become like politicians. Everything they say can become a story. It pays to be cautious.

• Business is “fair game” in a way it has never been before. That is the reality of the financial crisis.

BUT corporates still have unique advantages. They:

• know more about their business than anyone else.

• can choose – subject to disclosure requirements – the timing of announcements.

• spend more on communications than ever before.

• put considerably more resource into any issue than media outlets.

OUR STARTING POINT

THE CRISIS LEXICON

CRISIS TYPE

SYSTEMATIC

SELF-INFLICTED

SOLO

SEGMENTED

SEQUENTIAL

HOW DID IT HAPPEN

The essence of your business model is seriously challenged e.g. some banks during the financial crisis.

A business decision is made that either deliberately discounted or did not consider the reputational consequences.

It is solely about your company based on decisions the management have made.

A decision by a particular business unit generates reputational consequences. It is damaging but not existential.

A series of related or unrelated business decisions have a cumulatively negative impact on reputation. Can be a series of baby steps or a small number of giant blunders.

Irrespective of the nature of the crisis, word inflation means it will usually be bigger than it appears to be. But, don’t despair! The public “read” through the news.

WHAT CAN YOU DO BEFORE IT HAPPENS?

WHAT

• Know your business.

• Insist on participating in business decisions.

• Say no – and why – when it matters.

• Actively operate an integrated, rolling news grid.

• Deliver a continuous stream of positive communications. Hunt out the good – big and small.

HOW

• Know your business – products, operational, customer service, strategy. Ensure your team do too.

• Work with the business teams during the decision making process.

• Pick your battles carefully. Try and find less costly alternatives. No is a last resort. But, sometimes it has to be said.

• Make short and medium term planning a priority. Attention to detail and joining up the dots is key. The business will respect you for it too.

• Search out all the golden nuggets. Place them in a dynamic narrative and rolling calendar.

Typical examples - Pricing decision, job losses, product changes and network closures

DURING A CRISIS…

WHAT

• Actively represent external stakeholders within the business. Champion the business with all stakeholders.

• Link up all the key business units. Drive the response: corporate affairs, customer services, marketing, network distribution, client management etc.

• Monitor and modify. Crises morph. Be on top of how it changes because it will.

• Really do leave the post crisis review until after the crisis has ended. Lead by example during it with all the senior members of your team.

HOW

• Monitor and anticipate the changing contours of the crisis. Proactively represent the company.

• Take the pen on the messaging. Advocate the right actions across the company. Tightly co-ordinate across the group. If you don’t do it, it is likely no-one else will.

• Make the call on when to update and when not to.

Typical examples - IT outages, major data breaches, crises of confidence

• Proactively create and deliver a rolling “good news” programme.

• Root your “good news” in what the business does. Stakeholders see through it otherwise.

• Integrate your programme. Corporate Responsibility can be a good framework to strategise what you are doing.

• Identify and deliver really well your “big ticket” programmes. Back yourself.

• Copy others where it makes sense, adjust your sails to stakeholder feedback.

• Never forget the power of Local.

BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE CRISIS…

Examples: Gold Post Boxes, Halifax House Price Index, Current Account Challenge programme, “In your Postman’s shoes”, Christmas Delivery Office programmes

MAINTAINING OUR STRONG BRAND

GOLD POST BOXES

• 111 gold post boxes: one for each Team GB and ParalympicsGB gold medal win

• More media coverage than all official UK Olympic sponsors combined

• Prime Minister David Cameron: "Royal Mail have had an excellent Olympic Games. They've produced these stamps, they are painting the pillar boxes...they've been really on the ball."

• Only non-sponsor invited to join official victory parade

IN YOUR POSTMAN’S SHOES

• 1,000+ visits from MPs, members of devolved bodies etc. in 2014

• @PeteWishart: I'm 'walking in your postman's shoes' with the Blairgowrie posties this morning

• @StephenTwigg: "Walking in my postman's shoes" in West Derby this morning - seeing the vital role played by a dedicated workforce.

• Maintained position as most highly-rated UK organisation for political communication for the last three years

THANK YOUSHANE O’RIORDAIN