2013 Communications Disasters

Welcome back!
It's that time of year when we pay tribute to the Communications Disasters of 2013.  The purpose is to recognize the people and the organizations who defied the odds, went beyond the merely expected and tarnished their brands. But hey, at least you can say..... they did it their way!
1. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.....it does!

 Paula Deen The cooking guru from Savannah, Georgia who managed to take an allegation of racist comments and single-handedly used it to destroy her own empire.  At first, she ducked the Today Show to respond to the accusations by citing 'exhaustion'. Then when she finally appeared several days later, the damage had already been done. She was branded a 'racist' and took a pounding in all media - especially online. She lost her credibility and watched her brand become badly tarnished. She either received very bad crisis communications counsel, or she didn't listen to it.
2. Lululemon's customers just want him wrapped in his (over) stretched leotards and thrown to the wolves. 

Lululemon founder and Chair Chip Wilson. Responding to questions on Bloomberg TV's Street Smart program, Wilson clearly was blaming women of a certain weight for causing the pilling problems about which customers had begun to complain. But the final straw was this so-called 'apology' on his website:
“I’m sad, I’m really sad, I’m sad for the repercussions of my actions, I’m sad for the people of Lululemon who I care so much about, that have really had to face the brunt of my actions.” This is an apology?! The focus of his apology should have been to his customers and to women, whom he had clearly insulted.
3. The one good thing is ... smoking crack can never again be seen as 'cool'....

Rob Ford was the clear winner of the "Disaster of the Year" Award. The long-running, slow-motion, disaster featured crack-smoking, drunken binges, insulting comments about his wife, attacks on the Police Chief, video surveillance of the Mayor exchanging packages with known criminals, stolen video of the Mayor allegedly smoking crack, massive denials and then reversals, bowling over a fellow City Councillor, allegations of groping, and a threatened lawsuit earned in a TV interview with newly minted host, Conrad Black, in which he implied that a Toronto Star reporter who had been taking photos of his backyard fence was a pedophile. Of course, becoming the number one fodder for jokes on Letterman, Leno, Kimmel and Fallon turned him into an international celebrity. Watch this clip of Rob and Doug Ford clearly enjoying the video of Jon Stewart on the first (and only) episode of Ford Nation on the Sun News Network. Defiant at all times, even while stripped of many of his powers, he seems determined to stand for re-election. However, at year's end, just when you thought he doesn't have a prayer for re-election...what does he do? He oversaw the Christmas time hydro ("it's not an emergency") blackout in Toronto to mixed reviews. For Mayor Ford, perhaps there is a Santa after all?
4. Nothing like a 'spending scandal' to boil taxpayers' blood, right?

Nigel Wright        Sen. Mike Duffy

The original story about three or four Senators, who were alleged to have claimed expenses to which they were not entitled, morphed into a full-blown crisis of credibility for the Harper Government with the revelation of the $90,000 paid personally by the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, to Senator Mike Duffy. Throw in revelations that the Conservative Party Fund paid for Sen. Duffy's legal bills and there you have it - a full-blown crisis that knocked out of the headlines the government's accomplishments, including the EU Free Trade Deal. With possible criminal charges and no end in sight for the crisis, the Harper Government needs a Plan B if they're going to emerge fully from it.
5. I promise you that you can keep your own health plan if you want. Well not keep it exactly, but visit it, you know..just sign up on the internet...d'oh!
A mere 12 months after his election victory in which 'Obama-care'
played a major role, the failed launch of the internet program triggered enormous public outrage. It didn't help that it took the Administration a couple of months to get hold of the situation and put it (mostly) back on track. All of this came on the heels of a recovering economy that the President would clearly have wanted to be lead the news. That's gotta hurt.

6. At least you have to give him 'E' for Effort! 
The Lac Mégantic Train Derailment and the bizarre news conference four days later held by MMA Chairman Ed Burquardt will be a classic 'how not to' for years to come. 




Paying Tribute and Looking Ahead
So, as we look ahead to 2014, one has to hope that those in positions of responsibility will learn from these disasters. Nah! That's not going to happen. Remember why crisis communications is an on-going business....apparently some people have to learn the same lessons over and over again!

A few disasters were exceptionally well handled - the Boston marathon bombing was well handled even as the city spent several days with the bombers on the loose. The Mayor, the police and community leaders did a terrific job of pulling the city together in a united way. That is one of the hallmarks of effective crisis communications. When the Red Sox won the World Series later that year, it brought it all together in such an emotional and positive way.

The Alberta flood was a nightmare that was well handled by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi in cooperation with Prime Minister Harper and Premier Alison Redford. The Mayor's ability to pull those communities together at a time of emotional chaos was a critical factor in the response to those crises.



The qualities of true leaders

So let's remember, finally, the two leaders who seemed to have understood what it means to be a leader:
First, Pope Francis (Time's Man of the Year) whose simple style and powerfully inclusive messages have served to change the climate, the tone and the priorities of the Church in a few short months. As a result, he has created the opportunity to be a truly transformational leader throughout the world.

The passing of Nelson Mandela in December has reminded the world of his incredible journey that has inspired the world. I just saw Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and was inspired all over again by what a true leader - even though he was an admittedly flawed human being - can do in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. The genuine worldwide sorrow at his passing underscores what he meant to the entire world.
Happy New Year!
On behalf of Laura and the entire McLoughlin Media company and family, we want to wish all of our clients, friends and suppliers a Happy, healthy and 'no crisis' New Year!

What should the PM do?

Welcome back to the Senate "House of Horrors'. Just in time for Hallowe'en, the issue of the expenses 'scandal' has exploded into a media-frenzy which has captured the attention of the public like nothing else in recent years - thanks to the fumbled attempt to suspend the three Senators without pay. The three Senators have made impassioned  pleas for 'due process' and they seem to have succeeded in getting Canadians to put a hold on the suspension.

Following the latest 'wrinkles' revealed by Sen. Mike Duffy and his lawyer, Donald Bayne, and the release of emails revealing a second cheque being paid to Duffy by the Conservative Party to cover his legal fees, the issue has spun out of control. Sen. Pamela Wallin got some traction in her speech with her call for 'due process'. [The High School Confidential part starring Sen. Marjorie LeBreton and Sen. Carolyn Stewart-Olsen triggered more snickers than impact.] In her second appearance, she dropped that and honed in on the 'due process' issue to maximum effect. Sen. Patrick Brazeau revealed that he was offered a chance to reduce his punishment if he were to apologize. Interestingly enough, it served to open the door to a potential compromise. All of this at a very awkward and frustrating time for the Prime Minister and the Party on the eve of their Calgary Conference later this week.
So what should the Prime Minister do?
1. "If you've broken the eggs, you should make an omelette." Anthony Eden had it right, at least on that line. The Prime Minister should let it be known that he would embrace the Liberal amendment to hold off on the suspension and proceed immediately to a special Senate committee to hold hearings on it. In turn, Sen. Carrignan, the Conservative leader in the Senate could amend it to limit the time for the committee to meet and to vote based on the evidence before them. The three Senators would be invited to appear - as would Nigel Wright and others - to provide testimony, and answer questions. Yes, they should be allowed to have legal counsel, given the current RCMP investigation and the legal consequences. Then the Committee could vote its recommendations to the Senate as a whole on what, if any, should be the consequences for the Senators.

2. Won't this make the Tories look bad? There are no pure options. Yes, the Twitterverse would be filled with people saying that - but it's not likely that they're Tory voters anyway. Besides, now that new 'evidence' and allegations have emerged, it's worth clearing the air, and not letting it fester any further. It would provide a clear opportunity for the Prime Minister to say that he has listened to Canadians and has changed his mind. It's about restoring the issue that helped the Conservatives get into power - accountability. They need to look for the opportunity in this crisis, or as Homer Simpson put it, a 'crisi-tunity'.

3.  The PM should hold a news conference and clear the air about what he knew and when he knew it. Personally, I'm confident that he has nothing to

hide and can handle any questions from the Parliamentary Press Gallery that he is thrown. It would give him a chance to take care of, for example, his comments that he 'dismissed' Nigel Wright - rather than 'reluctantly' accepted his resignation. It may not be worth a hill of beans, but it's important to clear up the apparent contradiction. Also, watching him perform in the House this week (when he didn't hand it off to his Parliamentary Secretary), he was strong, clear and cool.
His sound bite of the week will probably be used again: "You're darn right I told him he should repay his expenses." The PM needs to do what he does best. Non-combative, strong, but 'more in sadness than with anger'.
4. Is the damage to the PM fatal? Given past history, and depending on whether or not there are any further damaging 'revelations', it is probably not permanently damaging. Despite all the heat developing around the issue, there still is no proof that the PM knew - either about the $90,000 Nigel Wright cheque or the $13,500 Party cheque to Sen. Duffy's lawyers. It's bruising, yes. And that's why it needs to be aired in public and then put to rest.
5. The PM needs to get back to his agenda - the economy...and fast. With news that the government is well ahead of its 2015 balanced budget commitment, combined with the huge EU free trade deal, this balloon has to be 'popped' and he needs the focus to return to his strong suit, the economy.
The Obama Administration's Struggles

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is trying to recover from fumbles on two fronts - one domestic - the disastrous rollout of 'Obamacare'' and the other -  the revelations of spying on Allies - including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Spanish and French governments. The key is to move quickly, and this, they did. The President held a news conference and used it as an opportunity to eat crow on the website roll-out and vow to get to the bottom of it.

The international 'bugging' embarrassment was handled by White House spokesman Jay Carney - who parsed his words carefully (allowing others to deliberately read into the remarks the silent admission that they had indeed bugged the Chancellor's telephone calls). Carney was also called upon to admit that - contrary to the President's previous assurances - some Americans would indeed lose their existing health insurance.
The decision to get out there and communicate is essential to credibility. Although they could have moved on a peremptory basis, instead of just reacting to the stories, nevertheless when the Administration did move, they were able to begin the process of regaining credibility.

Finally, the social media world was gripped with the battle of wits between the BBC's acerbic Jeremy Paxman and bad boy comedian Russell Brand. Paxman should have spent some time checking out some previous efforts by Brand to turn the tables on his interlocutors, as he did recently on MSNBC's Morning Joe. No matter what you think of his arguments, Brand seems to get a special joy out of throwing expectations to the wind and saying whatever he wants. I guess Katy Perry lost her fascination with it, but hey, it works!
Until next time....I'm going to focus on the rest of the World Series. Go Red Sox!

Will suspending Senators work?

The day after the impressive ceremony the Speech from the Throne, the Conservative Leader in the Senate, Senator Claude Carignan, announced, unceremoniously, his intention to introduce a motion suspending the three controversial Senators - Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau from the Senate. On top of that he said that they should be suspended without pay for 'using their privileges to abuse their power' and 'gross misconduct'. Sen. Carignan called them 'very severe sanctions'. That's for sure!

 It is clear that the Harper Government wants this issue to recede and does not want to have them sitting in 'the other place' during this session of Parliament.  Is it the right thing to do? We will leave it to legal, Parliamentary and other experts to pronounce on it from their perspectives. However, looking at it through a comnunications lens, let's see if it's going to get the government back in control of the agenda.
First, what options did the government have in the management of the issue? Given the messiness of the Duffy case - with the now infamous $90,000 cheque from Nigel Wright and the restrictions on public communications as a result of the ongoing RCMP investigations - the government has by now run out of options. Suspension is seen as the only viable step. The reason is simple. It stopped just being a Senate issue months ago. Now it's an issue for the Harper government.
Second, will it be perceived as fair? Already, talk radio is filled with voices saying that it's not fair. Senator Wallin has gone so far as to threaten legal action if the Senate goes ahead. Many claim that it is trying them without giving them a chance to defend themselves. Almost all institutions have provisions to suspend employees and officials for serious allegations of misconduct - financial or otherwise. The Senators have had months to present evidence in their cases and so far have not been able to dent public opinion running heavily against their expenditures and claims.  Sen. Mac Harb proved that resigning took him out of the spotlight. When the other three did not follow him, the spotlight focused even more heavily on them - and by extension - the Prime Minister and the brand of the government was obviously being damaged.
Should Senator Wallin be treated the same as Duffy and Brazeau? In an ideal world, perhaps not. She is repaying $100,000 and has strongly pushed back that she has followed the rules. There certainly appears not to be a 'smoking gun' in her case. Unfortunately for her, though, she is getting lumped into the 'soap opera' elements surrounding Senators Duffy and Brazeau.
Why not suspend them with pay? By banning them from access to their office, staff or resources of the Senate, it would be a huge penalty in and of itself. By cutting off their salaries and benefits, it appears to be over-kill. If they were fired, they would probably receive one year salary and benefits. For really angry Canadians, they'd say 'tough'. But for the middle ground who want to see fairness in process, they would probably be more inclined to support 'suspended with pay'.
So, what should happen in the Senate vote? In my view, once the motion has been tabled, an amendment should be proposed and seconded that would remove ' without pay' from the motion to suspend. [Ideally, the original motion should drop that provision.] In that way, it would be strong action, but not cross the line into unfairness - either in fact or in public perception.

Will it enable the Harper government to 'turn the channel' on the issue? The Throne Speech didn't change the channel (even as it vowed to unbundle them!)  The EU trade deal was important to the economic credibility of the government, but it can't match the Senate issues for audience interest, so it won't change the channel. The Senate suspension won't change it, but will give credibility to the Senate itself for taking action -- and by extension the government.

So going forward, what will it all mean? The first few days of Question Period - with the return of the Prime Minister - will be the roughest. If he can respond calmly and credibly, and then  turn the focus to the series of legislative initiatives and announcements previewed in the Throne Speech, he may be able to move the dial back in his government's direction. How Tom Mulcair and Justin Trudeau handle their attacks on the government will be critical to their ability to pin the government down on the issue. If they get over-heated or over-the-top in their attacks, it would be a gift to the Prime Minister, whose experience and ability to handle such attacks is formidable.
Until next time.....

Common sense ain't that common

Welcome back!
1t's been a very long time indeed since my last blog posting - must be the pace of our lives - but of course I have not stopped thinking about writing a new post. Laura and I have travelled to New York, (twice), Vancouver, Toronto (many times), Peterborough, Boston (for my Kennedy School reunion - hard to believe it's been 30 years!) and all points in between. It seems that between the thought and the deed of actually writing the blog post, there is a huge chasm of.....procrastination! So, enough of that and let's get to it! 
Scandal-apaloosa
The news is filled with 'scandals' involving Mayors (Michael Applebaum of Montreal faces 14 charges of corruption and Mafia dealings) and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's alleged crack-cocaine smoking). And as if that wasn't enough the continuing saga of Senators and their expenses and residence claims;  I commented on Global TV's 'The West Block' with Tom Clark on the crisis management of the issue by the Prime Minister's Office.  These 'scandals' certainly grab the media's attention. As with many news stories, their prominence may not match at all their importance in the scheme of things. Long-time readers will recognize this phenomenon as 'urgency trumps importance'.
Hyper-partisanship is here to stay
As we see in political culture everywhere, the era of hyper-partisanship is here to stay. First, the Harper government targeted newly chosen Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau with some tough ads, with the theme, "he's just not up to the job". Then Mr. Trudeau countered with an ad of his own. How did that go? Here is my appearance on CTV's PowerPlay with Don Martin in which I give my analysis of whether or not they worked?

Now the Harper government has turned its fire on Justin again with attacks on his charging charities for for his speeches (and at least one wants their money back). Mr. Trudeau has offered to talk with any of them that may have an issue over their payment to him - probably the only step he could have taken. Of course, there is nothing wrong with charging for one's speech - but it couldn't have come at a better time for the Harper government after weeks of attack on the Sen. Mike Duffy - Nigel Wright file. After all, the best defence is a good offence.
Taunting - and Pressuring - the Russian Bear
The leaders of the G8 nations are holding their meeting in Northern Ireland (and it was intriguing to see Stephen Harper take on Vladimir Putin, in no-uncertain terms over Putin's backing of 'thugs', that is,  the brutal Assad regime in Syria.) The Prime Minister seems to have grown very comfortable with these meetings and, - perhaps buoyed by his successful and historic speech to the British Parliament - was spurred to stand up to the former KGB spook and master of the bare-chested photo-op, Vladimir Putin. 

Now the Siberian tiger-hunting, President-for-life wouldn't be too used to this kind of treatment. See the painfully staged media interview in which the normally bare-chested alleged Super Bowl ring-stealer and his wife, Lyudmila, announced that they were divorcing. You've gotta ask, 'what took her so long?'


How not to handle allegations of spousal abuse

Speaking of abusive husbands, what to make of the shocking photos of British art collector and legendary ad exec Charles Saatchi with his hands around his wife, Nigella Lawson's throat at a swish Mayfair restaurant? The public reaction was powerful and immediate in the condemnation of Saatchi - as well as of the diners who seemed satisfied to take photos but not to intervene. His wife gathered up her dignity and promptly moved out. 
Saatchi in damage control mode
Saatchi scrambled to recover his badly damaged reputation, as follows:"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," Saatchi, 70, said in the statement."There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt," he continued.  

Saatchi cautioned for assault

Well, this didn't exactly sound humble, apologetic or anything even close. For such an experienced ad man, one would think he would know that this 'I did nothing wrong' approach is no way to deal with such a humiliating experience that he had triggered for his wife. Where was the apology to her? Sorry Mr. Saatchi, only a fool would believe that story line. It's the classic difference between advertising and public relations. Being skilled in one doesn't make someone skilled in the other.

Mr. Saatchi cautioned for assault by police

Then Mr. Saatchi - no doubt by now with a full-court press of advisors - showed up at a London police station to accept a caution for assault. That apparently unique British legal maneuver gave him the opportunity to cooperate with the police in their investigation and he was right to get himself to the police station in order to be cited with it. One can only empathize with Nigella Lawson and the pain and humiliation she is enduring. Several years ago, Laura and I had the opportunity to chat with her father, Sir Nigel Lawson, former British Chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, when he spoke in Ottawa. He expressed to us such pride and delight about her success as a chef, author and television host in her own right. One has the feeling that she will rise to the challenge of dealing with it - certainly better than her husband.

There's always 'common sense'

All of these issues - from politics to diplomacy to society - are 'cautions' that no matter how much money or political success, one can never replace common sense  which, after all, isn't so common. 

Until next time.....