How to tell if you are in crisis denial: A modern day parable

Whether it is Domino’s or Motrin, a well-known brand can’t allow bad news to spin out of control. If it’s ugly and building on YouTube or Twitter, there’s a better chance than not that the situation is grim, and you’re better off addressing the issue head-on than burying your head in the sand. If it’s a question of demonstrating your values, it’s a better bet—even a responsibility—to address the situation.

While Domino’s eventually put a sensible program of communication into place after last week’s “food contamination” debacle, the company waited too long. Here are some guidelines to help brands decipher if they are waiting too long:

• If you have to spend time with reporters explaining why you are not going to respond.
• If you are a food company that has fallen victim to what can be perceived as a compromised product, food safety or trust and you have not immediately addressed concern for your customers (let alone show humility for something that went so wrong on your watch).
• If you indulge in name calling, effectively rolling around in the gutter with criminals.
• If the heat is obviously building (you’re already getting calls from media), but you are stubbornly telling reporters that “you’re not about to use a fire hose to put out a candle.”
• If you are not telling your previously trusting marketplace how you will strive to fix your problem and ensure that it will not happen again.
• If your communications strategy banks on the crisis going away on its own.

So, what should have Domino’s done? (Or, what would Fineman PR have counseled?)

First and foremost, don’t minimize customer concerns. In the hours after the crisis was obvious and gaining online traction, the company should have created a video with their CEO, similar to what was released late last week. Like the too-late apology, the video could have emphasized the company’s concern for Domino’s customers, reassured everyone that the situation was an anomaly, and also announced that the company would be implementing new training and management procedures to ensure that this never happened again. No name-calling, no dismissive messaging, as was the company’s first line of defense.

Better yet, the response video could have been tagged as a response to the gross-out video, so that the millions of people streaming the now infamous clips easily could have viewed Domino’s response right after. That way, any disgust with the brand’s fast food service could have been mitigated immediately, with empathy for company leaders who were badly betrayed.

But the broad lesson here for any brand is that no response IS a response—a very negative one that can understandably raise the ire of customers and media, thus creating a crisis out of a crisis. With crisis PR, it’s essential to put out that candle before it turns into a wildfire—a hard lesson for Domino’s to learn.