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Communications Notes VES-05-2009; October 26, 2009
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 Corporate
Reputation
Welcome to another issue of Command Post Communications
Notes; our observations on the latest news media and public policy issues
as they relate to the maritime industry. CP Notes provides O'Brien'sRM
clients with the benefits of our insights and observations based on our
years of experience and expertise as to how the news media-rich
environment we operate in these days can affect your business and
influence business decisions. We also provide links at the bottom of this
e-newsletter to additional recent articles of interest, which you may
find valuable. As you review this week's CP Notes, ask yourself how would
your business handle these issues, all of which touch on that most
valuable of corporate assets; reputation. We'd like to hear from you if
you have your own thoughts and are willing to comment. In addition, if
you think we could help your business address similar issues, please let
us know. I can be reached by e-mail at toleary@obriensrm.com
or by calling +1 (281) 379-7173. I've recently heard from many clients
that they appreciate receiving this newsletter. Thanks very much! Please
feel free to send to friends and colleagues or register here for
automatic distribution.
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O'Brien'sRM Responds to
Houston Ship Channel Oil Spill
O'Brien'sRM recently responded to a significant oil spill
on the Houston Ship Channel in which more than 10,000 gallons of #6 fuel
oil was discharged into the channel. Many of you are aware of the intense
media coverage and public outrage that followed the Cosco Busan spill in
San Francisco. In contrast, this spill in Houston received modest
attention and this difference was highlighted by a blog written by Rajesh Joshi
in Lloyd's List.
Resulting news media coverage and USCG press releases follow:
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USCG Makes the News
On the anniversary of 9/11 last month the president of the
United States attended a memorial service at the Pentagon. For those of
you not familiar with the geography of Washington, D.C., the Pentagon is
situated in Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The
US Coast Guard decided the morning of September 11 when the president was
at the Pentagon would be a good time for a security exercise on
the Potomac-right across from the Pentagon. CNN broke into the
broadcast of the Pentagon ceremony with a news flash that the USCG had
fired shots at a boat on the river. Much self-inflicted confusion by the
news media followed in quick time. There are two main issues here. First,
CNN's judgment (or lack thereof) to run the story without verification,
which is addressed by former CNN broadcaster Jamie
McIntyre. The second issue is "who over at the Coast Guard had
the big picture in mind?"
Planning a public event should always include asking "what could go
wrong?" Simply ask the question: is there any reasonable way a
public event could have an unintended, negative consequence? Certainly
with 20/20 hindsight it's obvious now that everyone connected with this
security exercise should have seen a public relations crash coming. It's
not always so obvious however.
When I was the senior US Navy public affairs officer in the Persian Gulf
in mid 1991, US Forces planned and executed an amphibious exercise in
Kuwait that included a major troop movement of US Marines from the sea.
The Marines (and their equipment) were to move through Kuwait City up to
northern Kuwait to take part in a series of live fire exercises near the
Iraqi border. At a planning meeting it became clear to me that we
needed to change the primary public affairs objective, which was then
concerned with sending a "strong message of resolve" to the
Iraqis and international community. The Kuwaitis at this time had barely
begun the recovery process from a brutal Iraqi occupation. The Kuwait
City population was still quite nervous with people ready to dash for the
Saudi border at the earliest sign of a resurgent Iraq. I made the point
that our primary PR objective should not be to send a message to the Iraqis,
but that we should instead focus on sending a message of reassurance to
the Kuwaitis: "Hey, those tanks and helicopters that you'll soon be
seeing are here to protect you."
This was a good example of what many call strategic
communications--otherwise known as keeping the big picture in mind.
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O'Brien's Response Management
"World Tour" 2009 Update
Well, I'm back in Texas after returning from the first leg
of our World Tour that took our EVP of vessel services Chris Gregory and
me to visit with our vessel clients in Seattle, Houston, London, Hamburg,
Oslo, Athens, Limassol, Istanbul, Doha, Dubai, and Mumbai.
We're looking forward to meeting our clients in Asia in several weeks,
where our travels will take us to Tokyo, Imabari, Kobe, Busan, Shanghai,
Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The purpose of these visits of course is to conduct a spill management
team exercise (SMT TTX) in order to keep you, the VRP plan holders, in
compliance with USCG and certain state regulations. It's also been a
great opportunity to check in with you and to talk further about our news
media and public relations services that we now are able to provide to
you. O'Brien's appreciates your interest in our services and we look
forward to providing this important service to more clients.
Here are a couple of common issues we've heard from clients during the
SMT TTX:
- How do you control information during a
shipboard crisis-or can you? Everyone agrees the day is
long past when the Master controlled information on and off the
ship. Today, it's entirely plausible that you could have a fire on
the bow while crew on the stern could be posting pictures of the
incident on the internet - or worse, they could be sending emails
off the ship to the families of injured/deceased crewmen, bypassing
next of kin notification procedures. Is the answer to have the
Second Mate walk around the ship with a bucket collecting mobile
phones in the event of an incident? That is probably not a good
idea. You never want to create a story where there wasn't one before
by coming down hard on the crew. Instead, you may want to consider
creating a policy regarding personal communications involving
company business and train the crew on the sensitivity of these
matters before the advent of a serious incident. Perhaps the Master
could ask the crew to think about their own families and how they
would want their family to be notified if something had happened to
them. Call it pre-emptive cooperation if you will. I'm far from
certain if this is the entire solution, as you'll have to factor in
various labor laws and HR policies.
- On-line reputation.
It was clear to me that while some of our clients are aware of some
of the different social media platforms, most are not aware that
these platforms are also used to post critical comments about
companies. These platforms are not just for teens to keep in touch
with each other. Although reputation damage is only seen in extreme
cases, it can be said that "what you don't know can hurt
you."
Give us a
call, we can help you monitor your on-line reputation.
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H1N1 Flu
As we head into the Northern hemisphere's Fall season, the
number of reported cases of H1N1 flu continues to increase. H1N1 flu is
now at the pandemic stage and the prudent operator should heed advice
offered by health ministries, the World Health Organization and companies
like O'Brien'sRM.
We have full-time staff members with advanced degrees in epidemiology and
ample experience developing pandemic influenza plans and flu advice for
facility operators. If interested, you can contact us by calling +1 (281)
320-9796 or by emailing Clint Ladd.
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Social Media Application
Profile
This is the second in a series of articles introducing you
to the various social media applications that are out there and may
influence the reputation of your company. Don't know a Twitter from a
Tweet? Read on:
Twitter is a free social networking
and micro-blogging
service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets.
Tweets are text-based posts of
up to 140 characters
displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's
subscribers who are known as followers. Senders can restrict delivery to
those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users
can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service
(SMS) or external applications.
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Are You Ready?
Incidents can quickly escalate into a business crisis and
a business crisis will last as long as there is news media interest in
the incident. Is your business ready for global news media scrutiny in
the event of an incident involving one of your ships? Does your company
have processes in place and the ability to field a team to respond to an
incident and return your business operations to normal as soon as
possible? Have you managed this risk?
Let us assist you with your news media and public relations needs.
Contact us today for a quote or more information at (281) 320-9796
or at mediarelations@obriensrm.com.
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Thank you - Please let us know
if you have any stories or items of information that we should know and
you'd like to pass on to other readers
Tim O'Leary, Vice President, Communications
O'Brien's Response Management
toleary@obriensrm.com
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