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How a good PR service halted bad publicity
PR is widely seen as a method of generating positive publicity, but sometimes PR has an even more important role to play in minimising bad publicity, and that was the service PRG provided to a product manufacturer in mid-July.
The crisis started when a news story broke about one of PRG’s clients being sued for allegedly manufacturing and installing a faulty product that caused a fire with property damage. The story appeared on the front page of a leading trade journal and in a prominent position on the journal’s website. But the reporter had neglected to contact either the client or PRG for comment and consequently reported only one side of the story. The article failed to reflect that the dispute between the claimant and PRG’s client had gone as far as documents being delivered to the Technology and Construction Court because it was exactly that - a dispute, not a clear case of PRG’s client being in the wrong.
It was too late to halt circulation of the journal, which had reached 17,000 subscribers, but we immediately advised our client that the website story could do far more damage by showing up for many years to come in Internet searches for the client’s name and by spreading ‘virally’ to other websites and forums.
PRG was invited to make recommendations the next day at a meeting of the client’s board of directors. Possible responses and outcomes were discussed and a course of action agreed. PRG then contacted the journal’s Group Editor to express its client’s disappointment at the one-sidedness of the story, to explain some of the background facts the reporter had failed to research, and to suggest it would be appropriate to remove the story from the journal’s website. Within ten minutes, the story was erased from the site, halting the spread of the news and limiting its damage to the client’s reputation.
If you require any further information on our PR Services, please call us on 01323 411044, email us on info@prgltd.co.uk, or you can send us your query via our easy to use enquiry form.