Staying on message is one of the most fundamental rules of any type of external and internal communications. IBM repeated the word “excellence” in its advertising during the 1980s until the lines became part of pop culture.
Martin Luther King Jr. repeated “I have a dream” in his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
Business legends Jack Welch of General Electric and Lee Iacocca of Chrysler were also masters at picking a few messages to communicate to employees and repeating and reinforcing them for optimal effect.
Obama fails to stay on message
President Barack Obama’s failure to stay on message during the seven-week BP oil spill crisis is responsible for mounting public discontent with his handling of this terrible incident.
In a recent USA Today/Gallup survey, 53 percent of respondents rate Obama’s response to the oil spill as “poor” or “very poor.” In fact, many pundits are now predicting that his comments on Tuesday that he wanted to “know whose ass to kick” and that he would have fired BP CEO Tony Hayward may heighten the criticism being aimed at him. Can anyone say “Katrina?”
A crisis of communication
Obama’s message has been mixed from the start of this crisis, and now he will pay the consequences. From a crisis communications perspective, Obama’s reaction was too slow – he didn’t visit the Gulf until 18 days after the spill – and his message has been inconsistent. At first, Obama declared BP solely responsible for the spill and said the company was “acting at our direction.” Three weeks later, he talks about firing Hayward and beating up someone. Pardon me, but this isn’t a clear and consistent message.
Consider the case of Ashland Inc. In 1988, a storage tank collapsed at the company’s facility near Pittsburgh and dumped four million gallons of diesel fuel, including 700,000 gallons into the Monongahela River that threatened the drinking water of many nearby communities.
Ashland’s ensuing response is now considered textbook procedure for handling major crises. Here are the key elements of Ashland’s recipe for crisis management that was developed after the 1988 incident:
* Go to the site immediately.
* Get firsthand information.
* Marshal your resources and equipment to clean up the mess.
* Communicate consistently with the media.
* Stay on the job until the danger is gone.
I think Obama failed on every one of these points.
With Hurricane Katrina so fresh in the minds of the American public, it is rather surprising that the Obama administration has lost control of this crisis.
The BP spill has become the worst environmental accident in U.S. history and may continue for several more months. As the crisis grows, Americans will look to point a finger at someone. At this point, BP and Obama are in their crosshairs.
Josh Sommers is president and CEO of Focus Media, a leading Hudson Valley advertising and public relations agency. He can be reached at josh@advertisingandpr.com or 294-3342, ext. 303. Read his blog at www.advertisingandpr.com.
