Seat at the Table

Jeremy Wagstaff’s recap of the Kryptonite crisis over easily picked locks is important reading for public relations professionals.  In his LOOSE wire blog, Jeremy provides a far more objective recap of the crisis that goes beyond the simple “bloggers uncovered the story and forced action on Kryptonite.”  As Jeremy lays out a more complex situation and one that holds important communications lessons:

• The information bloggers “uncovered” (that certain locks were easily picked by BIC pens) had actually been in the public domain for some time.  However, they were in older publications that are not easily searched.  Once the information was on the Internet it was easily searched, posted and then, when it hit the right blog, picked up and spread by bloggers, emails and other forms of communications.  LESSON: Just becuase an issue is old don’t assume it’s dead. Old information can easily be uncovered, treated as a new issue, and spread like wildfire.  What forgotten skeletons are in your corporate closet.
• Kryptonite reacted within several days which many, if not most companies, would considere quite fast.  However, in this age of light-speed distribution of information, an hour can be too long.  Jeremy makes the important point that even acknowledging a possible issue on the web site and asking people to return or sign up for more information is better than silence (which can cuase a visitor to never return, and become an ex-customer.  LESSON: Every company should be prepared with at least a basic crisis plan that includes on online holding statement…and be prepared to go into action without literally a minute to spare.
• Although the information was originally in traditional media, it spread as a new crisis 12 years later thanks to blogs and other online communications.  LESSON: Understand all parts of the media pie (traditional, online community etc) and track what is being said about your company carefully.  And, again, thanks to the Internet, today’s old forgotten news may be tomorrows new news.