QANTAS, in our opinion, has one of the best track records for Crisis PR management, anywhere (A380 engine failure in November 2010; grounding of the fleet in the Chilean volcanic ash crisis in June). So for public relations practitioners interested in sharpening their own Crisis PR skills there are lessons to be learnt by watching, and then perhaps trying to predict what will happen next.
What to watch for? For a start try to analyse the Aims, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics of each player in this event: the company, the unions, the federal government and the opposition. Who’s winning; who’s losing.
There are many ways to slice and dice Aims, Objectives and Strategies when planning for a crisis (Tactics flow from that trio).
The Aim might be ‘to restructure the airline’s employment policies as a step towards the company competing globally, with minimum brand damage’.
Next, three short term Objectives:
- First, Win the Debate;
- Next, Stop the Debate;
- Work to Recover.
So watch how QANTAS does this. You can read a Wikipedia history of the dispute here.
Does QANTAS have the winning argument? We think ‘the ability to compete in the global marketplace’ is a winning argument; more relevant in this era of globalisation than the union movement’s ‘security of employment’ or , ‘Australian jobs for an Australian company’.
Has Qantas been able to set the agenda daily – in other words, win the daily debate?
Our best guess is that next QANTAS will make an effort to Stop the Debate simply by stopping media participation or by using a ‘let’s get back to work message’. There is a lot of news around at the moment, so the media will move on.
Finally, and shortly after, start the Recovery: watch for the advertising campaign, or similar to repair the brand damage.
