Opinion: Mattel recall crisis should be a wake-up call to all companies Published September - October 2007 By Grant Common Editor Grant has 30 years direct experience in public relations and communication in Australia and New Zealand - as well as directing and managing programs in the UK and USA. He has consulted to Governments, publicly listed companies, industry bodies, marketing organisations, multinationals and not-for-profit organisations. He is Managing Director of Sydney-based Network PR and as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (having completed the Company Directors Diploma examination) he is also one of the few PR practitioners to have the perspective of the company director. The Mattel Crisis The Mattel recall crisis (where they were forced to recall millions of harmful Chinese-made toys) is a prime example of how the sands are shifting in monitoring and responding to what is being said about an organisation. It’s one thing to read traditional media; daily media, radio and TV and see how you are being covered, but it’s like the iceberg principle - the majority of what may be critical to your brand is increasingly happening in what is called conversational media - blogs, forums etc. For readers of PR Influencers who aren’t familiar with online media we (through courtesy of Network PR, who produce PR Influences) provide a snapshot of what unfolded in relation to the Mattel crisis in what is called ‘conversational’ or ‘social’ media.  (See the link at end of this article for the full story) We show how Mattel recognised the growing importance of the internet, search engines and conversational/social media by directing consumers to a website that they set up specifically for this purpose.  Network PR has also captured some of the typical parent comments e.g. “What an absolute flipping scandal”, as well as comments from professional communicators on how they rated the performance of the Mattel spokespeople e.g.  “It comes off as pretty lame and insincere.”. Credit should be given to Mattel however for ultilising so-called ‘new’ media channels. While their execution at times let them down they tried hard, and it is better to have done a lot of what they did than not to have tried at all. The brand has obviously taken a hammering, but in a crisis of this nature, it’s difficult to emerge with much credit.  However, the underlying message should be a wake-up call to companies.  It shouldn’t take a crisis like Mattel’s to make companies aware of the volume of conversation that is going on about them in conversational and social media.  How many companies are making any serious attempt to understand and monitor, let-alone start communicating with the real consumers who populate social media - and whose comments can impact so much on brand and corporate reputation?  Most organisations think they are monitoring what is being said about them simply by subscribing to a conventional media monitoring service. And, to these same people, ‘communicating’ is simply about being able to write a media release - which will be re-interpreted by journalists to appear in media that many of today’s savvy consumers are not even accessing. More is needed.  Now, see how the Mattel crisis unfolded here  Grant Common  Network PR, the publishers of PR Influences, who provided the examples to support this story, are the leaders in Online PR in Australia. They monitor and report on Online conversations and social media commentary, help organisations identify social media and related key influencers, and manage and implement online media engagement and blogger dialogue. Contact Network PR to find out how you can engage with your stakeholders online. Network PR has the unique combination of experience and innovation within the pr field.

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