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Block 3 Session 12: Marketing in the long-term – managing crises and…
Block 3 Session 12: Marketing in the long-term – managing crises and measuring success
Crisis management
‘A crisis is an event that … can have a vastly negative impact on an organisation’ (Crandall et al., 2014, p. 4).
crises are particularly difficult to handle because they occur suddenly and create urgent pressures on an organisation to respond.
responding in a way that is appropriate to the brand and crisis, and proportionate to the extent to which the organisation bears responsibility, can minimise damage (Tybout and Roehm, 2009)
Measuring success
-- Monitoring and measuring the success of marketing activities is important for ensuring that an organisation achieves its goals, as it enables organisations to take corrective action if required.
Preparing for organisational threats and improvement
It is important to monitor the success of marketing activities and to be prepared to handle any crises in the event that they occur.
Reading 18: Crisis management
What constitutes a crisis?
Crandall
et al. (2014) describe the life cycle (or timeline) of a crisis as having four stages:
preconditions
trigger event
crises
postcrisis
Griffin (2008) distinguished between ‘
crises
’, which are special and distinct (externally generated) events, and ‘
issues
’, which are solely about the organisation (internally generated).
A crisis may be labelled a ‘
scandal
’ where it becomes widely publicised
Externally generated crises
Scandals are more likely to develop from incidents that are ‘surprising, vivid, emotional, or pertinent to a central attribute of the company or brand’ (Tybout and Roehm, 2009, p. 84).
Organisations can be affected by scandals by association with a category, even if they are not directly involved; this is known as the ‘
spillover effect
’ (Tybout and Roehm, p. 84).
Internally generated issues – brand
sabotage
Sabotage could be categorised as an ‘issue’, in Griffin’s (2008) terminology
or a ‘crisis’
Consumer brand sabotage
has been defined as ‘deliberate behaviour by customers or noncustomers who have the dominant objective of causing harm to a brand through the impairment of the brand-related associations of other consumers’ (Kähr et al., 2016, p. 26).
Staff brand saboteurs
can be found at either end of the employment life cycle and at all levels of the company (Wallace and de Chernatony, 2007). A study by Wallace and de Chernatony (2007) of managers’ perceptions of brand saboteurs among frontline and back office staff revealed three typical saboteur behaviours:
Anti-company behaviour
Underperformance
Service recovery failure
Managing crises and issues
Damage to a brand from a potential scandal may be minimised by responding in away that is appropriate for the brand, the event and the extent to which the company bears responsibility for its cause (Tybout and Roehm, 2009)
Tybout and Roehm (2009) stress the importance of viewing a potential scandal from the perspective of an organisation’s customers and outlined a four-step framework for handling a crisis
1 Assess the incident
Adopt the customers’ point of view rather than the management perspective
2 Acknowledge the problem
Avoid premature statements related to the cause, focus on the process of investigation, and prevent further harm
3 Formulate a response
Evaluate the benefits and costs of the response in terms of customer relationships over the long run
4 Implement the response
Align scandal communications with customers’ perceptions of the brand’s functions
Griffin (2008) proposed ten recommendations for best practice in managing a crisis
1 Prepare your leaders
2 Simplify the crisis management manual
3 Understand powers and limitations –
4 Focus on competence
5 Watch the team dynamic
6 Communicate early and often
7 Don’t forget your own people
8 Own the crisis –
9 Practice, practice, practice –
10 Show, don’t tell