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Illustration: Luo Xuan / GT
After racist messages from Stefano Gabbana, one of the designers of Dolce & Gabbana (D & G), provoked outrage from Chinese social media, the Italian fashion brand issued its first statement claiming that his Instagram accounts had been hacked.
But Chinese consumers did not buy it. And it was only towards the end of the week that the two founders of D & G officially apologized in a video.
The excuse of hacking reminds me of similar tricks that some companies have played to evade their responsibilities by accusing their trainees, their assistants, their employees and hackers.
Crisis communication is a management process that reflects the values of the company. The crisis response statement is an important downstream link in the management process, but is now widely considered to be the sole responsibility of the public relations department.
A few days ago, a surfer exposed unhealthy cleaning practices in more than a dozen five star hotels in China. The public subsequently saw excuses and explanations from hotels' public relations departments, who failed to dispel public doubts about their hygiene standards.
To obtain public forgiveness, crisis communication requires a thorough reflection on the values of the company and the price to pay for wrongdoing, which can only be done by the public relations department alone.
Frankly, it's hard to apologize to entrepreneurs. But when the reputation of a brand is seriously compromised, an entrepreneur must have the courage to face the public.
On November 1, 20,000 Google employees in 50 cities around the world went on strike to protest the company's treatment of sexual harassment charges against executives. After that, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has sent an email to Google employees and is committed to making changes.
The CEO's reaction seems to have calmed the market. Google's share price went from $ 1,085 on November 1 to $ 1,071 on November 2, but rebounded to $ 1,108 on November 7.
To excuse, it is not only the work of public relations, it is also the responsibility of the CEOs, which reflects the values of the company.
In the D & G case, even though the fashion house could prove the hacking of the Instagram account of its founder, a review of its corporate values is still warranted.
In addition, at a time when business crises occur everyday and where public anger can be easily triggered by social media, managing the company's reputation requires not only the values correct and the courage of the CEOs, but also a series of technical efforts.
A business crisis can arise due to political, product or moral issues. When the crisis is a problem, it is relatively easy to manage. The situation could be complicated if the crisis involved two or three problems. For example, the D & G crisis is a moral problem, while the hygiene scandal in five-star hotels is both a product problem and a moral problem.
In fact, the product crisis is the most difficult problem for companies to solve, especially when it comes to product quality disputes. It may take several years to clarify the facts because of the time required for product inspection. In addition, it is also difficult for companies to resolve political crises involving national interests, such as the land sale agreement of the South Korean group Lotte for the US missile system THAAD.
In China, it is not uncommon to see another kind of policy-related crisis, with some multinationals wrongly being described as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
For multinationals operating in China, it is extremely important to respect Chinese laws and regulations and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.
A vice-president of public relations at a multinational automotive company said he spent six months developing a manual explaining in detail the delicate political issues related to China, such as maps, national flags and place names. , in Chinese and English. The goal is to provide a clear reference to colleagues from other parts of the world in order to avoid political mistakes when creating product descriptions and PPT documents related to China.
In general, global luxury brands are not as well located in China as other multinationals in terms of management, branding and creativity, which is why there are still differences in understanding between Chinese and foreign cultures.
According to a report by McKinsey in 2017, Chinese luxury buyers spent 500 billion yuan ($ 73 billion) a year, accounting for almost a third of the global luxury market.
It is true that Chinese consumers value luxury goods partly because of their foreign style and sometimes their controversial characteristics.
But we must learn from the D & G incident. First, the politically correct is indispensable. Insulting the Chinese is unacceptable and should be essential for companies engaging in commercial activities.
Second, luxury companies need to be cautious about national sentiment and cultural expression. Most multinationals have very localized management and fully respect local political positions and cultural differences, but international luxury brands may be an exception. The incident of D & G is a reminder for them.
Third, the heart of crisis management is showing the right attitude and taking responsibility. In any case, business leaders must stand up and face the public with honesty and sincerity.
The author is President of VisionWe Consultants and former Director of Communications and Brand for GE China. [email protected]
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