In communications, this approach is a cardinal sin.
Due to the affordability of certain Enterprise products, polony is almost a staple food for many poor South Africans. Will the brand suffer financial losses? Undoubtedly. As things stand, Tiger Brands, the holding company of Enterprise Foods, has projected a loss of over R800m. It is also facing two class action lawsuits amounting to R425m related to the Listeriosis outbreak.
The more discerning consumer will not easily forget what happened and how the situation was managed. Enterprise is facing brand erosion over the Listeriosis outbreak, but the lower income consumer will continue to support the brand because it provides an affordable source of protein, and there are very limited alternatives that can beat the price of polony.
Large corporations cannot only implement a reputational management strategy in times of crises. When dealing with disasters, both present or impending, it is always better to employ proactive thinking over reactive reasoning.
Corporations should always have the necessary media relationships in place long before the onset of a disaster. Stakeholders should know what the company stands for before any calamity. They should know who and what drives the organisation’s behaviour. What is considered important to them, how they link in with their consumers, what their charitable programmes are. How staff are treated, and what value investors are getting.
The list of pre-disaster public relations opportunities are endless, and it is unfortunate, that many corporate companies do not have these in place because public relations is often considered as a “nice to have” business function. But sadly, organisations often realise after a crisis what a positive impact PR can make on the organisation’s bottom line. Not having this strategic business function in place will always leave the company grappling to clean up its brand image.
Reputations are built on trust, which can be lost due to a variety of reasons. Boards of companies often forget the human element behind the sales drive: the consumer who makes a purchasing decision based on trust, pride, admiration, feel-good factors, and responsible corporate citizenry. Price is not always the only determining factor. It is impossible to say how long it will take the consumer to trust a brand such as Enterprise again, but it can happen with a strategic PR plan in place.
This plan focuses on direct, honest and authentic communication with the consumer as well as all other stakeholders that were impacted by the disaster. Enterprise needs to give people a reason to believe in their brand and to trust them again. This can only happen if Enterprise is transparent and claims responsibility for its involvement in all those tragic deaths.