Greg Simpson, founder of Press for Attention PR, shares his advice following a PR crisis.
There is something uniquely British about queuing. We pride ourselves on it and recent events have of course taken our queuing skills, patience and monitoring to new heights. There was even a Twitter feed and hashtag for #thequeue.
However, things were taken up a notch (as I wrote this immediately post funeral) when it appeared that Phil and Holly, the darlings of morning television for so many years, “jumped” the queue to see the Queen lying in state last week.
I say “appeared” advisedly because as we speak, I understand that Holly may have called in legal advice and honestly, I can see why. Although, it might have been an idea for ITV’s PR team to have jumped into action rather more swiftly.
It seems that Holly and Phil “begged” ITV bosses to clarify the situation sooner, namely that they were there as journalists/broadcasters as the pair were hauled over the coals in some sections of the press – there are now some 35,000 signatures for a petition for them to quit their jobs.
I’m not quite sure how that works in terms of actually changing anything as the pair are still very popular and safe pairs of hands in the broadcasting world but it shows the sentiment or at least SOME sentiment. Granted, many people will have ignored the whole fiasco of the “jump” and focused on the national history unfolding before their eyes.
Whatever you might think about them “jumping vs working,” could it have been avoided whilst they STILL did their jobs? Yep. It all comes down to how CLEAR you think things are.
According to MailOnline an ITV source said: “We absolutely made it clear at the time that it was part of a broadcast due to air on Tuesday. This was communicated from the outset, and we gave this information immediately.”
The problem is, it doesn’t seem to be “absolutely” clear. Indeed, MailOnline also reports that the pair “personally insisted that fiasco be addressed at the start of the show and believe ITV should not have waited so long to speak out on the matter.”
I disagree. It should have been addressed BEFORE the show, I’m talking DAYS before, with a clear message about what they would and would not be doing and why they were doing things in a certain way – in their eyes, to “tell the story” for those who couldn’t be there.
I’m not saying people would have agreed with the decision, in fact, it might well have stopped the broadcast before it happened. Maybe that would have been better because remember, perception is 9/10ths of the law when it comes to the public!
Also, a brief note on her Majesty and PR if I may? Say what you like about the monarchy (and plenty will) but there is one thing that is very clear, the Queen was a pioneer and an inspiration to millions. The Queen was also an unrivalled communicator.
Listening to the reports that have dominated the world’s media agenda for weeks now, I was struck by how often the phrase “made people feel comfortable” came up. There was criticism when, back in the late ’60’s, the Queen allowed cameras into the lives of the royals for “letting daylight in on the royal magic” – possibly some of the most misguided criticism I have ever heard. Because, you see, the magic was in letting people in, everyone.
A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press for Attention PR in 2008.
He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.
See this column in the October edition of East Midlands Business Link Magazine here.
