Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

 The company that gave us one of the world's most horrific environmental disasters is now serving up another spectacle -- this one colored green rather than muck-black.  Two decades after the Valdez spill, a corporate fight is spilling out of Exxon's boardroom.  

As reported by The New York Times, the Rockefeller family wants to strip Rex W. Tillerson of his position as chairman because of perceived foot-dragging on sustainability issues.

It's encouraging to see business titans battling to determine how to be strategically, effectively, profitably green.  Thomas "The World is Flat" Friedman indicated the green revolution won't have really started until people stop talking happy and start throwing elbows.  At that point we'll know something big is at stake.  Dressing down a a board chairman looks pretty big from here. 

What does Exxon do next?  Probably, the media attention means it has to get more out front on sustainability.  Chalk one up for the Rockefellers and the planet.

Reading the report, it dawned on me: this isn't a Torch issue, this is a call-to-action for the entire marketing industry. For a long time, we've made hay with the grand goodwill gesture.  Often this involves sending some special something-or-other and attendant VIPs traveling around a state, a country, the world.  That's understandable; tours and events can be effective ways to get out a message.  

Four years ago, I played a big role in launching a p.r. tour that helped a lot of people.  I'm still proud of that, but today I know that any message, any gesture will be measured against its environmental impact.   Four years ago, I didn't give that a second thought, unfortunately.  Today, I'd look at buying carbon credits to off-set the impact of my p.r. barnstorm or at going completely virtual with it.

There are lots of viable options, but ignoring the dilemmas and trade-offs isn't one of them.   And the grand goodwill tour is just one of the classic tactics we marketing folks need to wrestle with.  Just check out all the paper that goes into an annual report!   

Remember Katrina? Remember Michael Chertoff? Remember Michael Brown? Of course you do. I remember a colossal failure of communications and flow control. And I remember hundreds of thousands of people displaced - millions more directly or indirectly affected by the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. I cannot unequivocally condone or condemn the actions of any party involved, because I was not there. I can only report on what I saw and heard from my trusty media outlets, and, perhaps more credibly, from the handful of relocated friends I have since and often spoken with about the subject. But it's got me remembering something one wise man or another once told me: perception, my friends, is everything.

In the wake of Katrina, the U.S. government found itself with a PR belly ache of monumental proportions. Scapegoats were scrounged, press conferences called. Blame was at once gallantly accepted and deftly shifted. Contrite, demonstrative hierarchal shake-ups were laid at the feet of The People, in an unprecedented effort to save face. Did it work? Weeell... I don't think anyone has forgotten the dropped balls of August 2005, and poll numbers don't seem to show any trends of resounding confidence among Americans in their governmental agencies. But crisis management teams within these various agencies are now battle-tested, that's for sure.

If you Google the phrase "crisis management", you will find yourself confronted with a veritable who's-who of the fallen celebrities of our time. Michael Jackson, Lindsey, Britney, Michael Vick - politicians and dignitaries of all persuasion - all followed the same basic rules of engagement in attempting to restore their good name:

1) Immediately assess the situation, and clearly identify the depth and extent of your involvement.

2) State your position clearly and confidently to the press.

3) STOP talking about it, and quietly and contritely go about your business and wait for things to cool off.

4) Get to work rebuilding your image.

Now, I'm no public relations expert - though I do spend my workdays surrounded by them here at Capstrat - but I believe in the power of the apology. Will Michael Vick ever play in the NFL again? Too soon to tell. He's still working on rule 3, awaiting his court date. Will Britney ever reclaim her pop diva status? I'm starting to have my doubts; she seems to be having some trouble with rules 1 and 2. And where in the world is Lindsey?!? Looks like she finally decided to commit to the program (sorry, couldn't resist), and I find myself with nothing more to say about the subject. She's got a shot! And Michael...well, Michael just moved to Dubai, and the world keeps turning.

So I find myself here again, glued to CNN, awaiting the full-force rollout of the local, state and federal aid and reassurance that must surely be on its way to California. It IS coming, isn't it?? Surely it is. Lessons were learned. Inefficiencies eliminated. So why, then, do I have this nagging doubt? And, if aid comes pouring in from all directions in an unprecedented fount of good will and systemic lubrication to the seemingly homogenized hills of southern California, how is that going to sit with the poor souls still trying to piece together their lives in the Gulf Coast? I think perhaps I'm still looking for a little more of good ol' rule #1.