Smart Agency: Marketing & PR Leeds, Yorkshire, UK

The Northern Rock fiasco will no doubt become a permanent fixture on public relations courses long into the future under the syllabus heading 'communicating in a crisis.'

Along with British Airways’ price collusion, Perrier's problem with its source and the global recall of Mattel products, how the North East bank handled the fall-out from going into the red with their own lenders will be scrutinised for lessons to learn.

During what was the first run on a UK bank for 40 years, observers standing from a distance – without savings at potential risk that is – could have been forgiven for thinking that Northern Rock's approach suggested a 'crisis? What crisis?' approach bordering on complacency.

Senior management at the bank and learned commentators quite rightly pointed out that with the Bank of England's financial prop in place, investors' money was as safe as… well, the Bank of England.

The government's eventual pledge to safeguard deposits should have comforted Northern Rock's 1.4 million retail customers to the point of feeling almost warm and fuzzy.

Damaging images

The image that remains seared on the mind is of the queues of anxious people snaking around branches as far a field as Richmond in Surrey to Newcastle in its North East heartland. Scenes that were damaging for the bank as a future going concern, damaging for staff morale and likely to be damaging for any growth strategy.

So during this media storm, how well did Northern Rock’s executive and communications team handle the crisis?

You could say that they were one-nil down before the kick-off when their message of reassurance was lost amid speculation when the story broke. By the time everyone and their dog had had their say, Northern Rock was not only on the back foot, but reeling from a constant pummelling.

CEO Adam Applegarth, who apparently shuns the limelight, was conspicuous by his absence throughout the affair – hardly reassuring for the many people banging on branch doors across the country.

It was left to his deputy David Baker to field questions from angry listeners on national radio and TV perched uncomfortable on the edge of edit studio desks. What was wrong with conducting a defence from a position of power (and comfort) of Northern Rock’s own North East office?

True, Adam Applegate's PR team did successfully deliver soothing messages via the press – in particular the important Sunday financial sections – but in a financial crisis, when there is a shortage of visual drama, the pictures of angry people and vox pops kept the news at the top of the programmes.

Employees on message

Inside Northern Rock, communications were clearly operating with some efficiency to keep some 6,000 employees calm and the message positive. This was in evidence when staff doorstepped by TV crews outside the company's HQ responded to questions with a nonchalant shrug and a cheery "no, everything’s fine".

So what can we learn from the experience and apply to other crises, be they financial or worst still, events involving tragic injury and loss of life?

Coping with a major crisis – tips and advice

• Senior people have to front up and take the brickbats along with the plaudits. There's no way round this - it comes with the job.
• Leaders need to show they are in charge and have their hand firmly on the tiller. When the outbreak of Foot and Mouth was announced this summer Gordon Brown dashed back to London to show his face ahead of his ministerial staff to demonstrate it was he who the nation could look to for leadership. Likewise, immediately after the attack on Glasgow Airport, the rookie PM was on the front foot with reassuring words for a concerned populace.
• And it’s not just political leaders who choose to show leadership in time of crisis. Richard Branson was the first big hitter at the wreckage site in Cumbria this year following a rail crash involving one of his trains.
• In a crisis, staff can be your ambassadors, so communicate early and often to get them on your side from the off. Bringing them into your confidence and countering media claims can cultivate a powerful and very British bulldog spirit (everyone hates us – and we don't care).
• Don't forget the regional media when crisis calls. They are trusted and believed by employees and your core customers base alike and are often put to the side when the big guns roll in.
• But while press coverage eventually fades away, TV coverage lasts forever and can remain the image that represents your organisation for a long time to come. Public Relations advisors need to consider how the situation looks to the engaged or passive observer and try to put across a compelling image.
• The power, reach and influence of rolling news means the nature of TV means you have to have a strategy that focuses as much on presentation as message.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations offers some excellent advice on effective crisis management:

• Don't panic - allow time to assess the situation, even if it's just a few minutes.
• Assess the risk - who and what is at risk, both internally and externally?
• Isolate the team - make sure the crisis team can quickly be removed from regular operations and activities.
• Log everything - recording times and content of critical phone calls or other communications can help resolve issues that arise over timings or statements to the media and will make post-crisis learning easier.

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