DON’T CHICKEN OUT OF CRISIS COMMS

At Clare PR, we believe the most effective PR strategies consist of a 360 approach to communications. Publicity is a fantastic tool for brand awareness all the while it’s positive, but occasionally companies are required to deal with disruptive and unexpected events that may jeopardise their reputation.

In what has been described as a PR masterclass in crisis management, KFC made the headlines last month when hundreds of restaurants were forced to close due to chicken shortages following “operational issues”. It was not so much the crisis that so quickly cast KFC into the spotlight, but its self-deprecating and humorous response.

Pre-empting the wave of public backlash, the creative heads behind the firm quickly crafted a campaign apologising for recent events. Published in The Sun and Metro, the full page advert depicted the creative rearrangement of its acronym to echo the sentiments of both its angered fans and chief execs. 

This blunt apology, crafted by the brand’s agency Mother, received widespread praise and many took to Twitter to acknowledge the “genius” and “magical” handling of its crisis communications. Thanks to the rapid engagement of its PR team and its ‘hand-up’ approach as to where the blame was pointed, it’s likely KFC won’t take too long to recover from this fiasco.

As a team, we at Clare PR are well versed in planning for all eventualities with a considered and immediate strategy for our clients. As well as building reputations, we also specialise in protecting them and strongly advocate crisis management when looking at your overall approach to your PR needs and requirements. So often companies learn from crisis comms after the event takes place, but with our help we can help you stay one step ahead - after all, failing to plan is planning to fail.