1

WORKING GROUPCRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Regional Seminar for OIE National Focal Points on Communication for Europe

1-3 July 2014, Tallinn (Estonia)

22

Crisis situation

• Four human rabies cases in less than one week

• All infected by bites, both from domestic and stray dogs

• Veterinary services have identified the primary source: 5 dogs illegaly imported. They have allready captured three of them, and look for the two others.

33

August wasteland…

• The last infected person is the young daughter of a TV Star

• No better news to feed the newspaper

Rumours spread on the internet and newspapers

• Of a virus mutation• Of the inaction of

Veterinary services

44

You are the one…

• You are alone at the office :

no doubt, you will have to handle this alone!

What is your first step?

5

What is your SOCO?

Single Overarching Communication Outcome

• The outcome or change you want to see in your audience as a result of communicating

• The SOCO is not your message

66

Develop your SOCO

• Issue : make understand that VS are doing their job

• Critical information relevant to audience:

Detailed actions which are being set up• What change do you want to see in your

audience: rebuild the trust

77

You are the one…

• You are alone at the office :

no doubt, you will have to handle this alone!

What is your second step?

88

Build your crisis team

• A coordinator => you• A science advisor• A press/media liaison person

Alliances?

Who does naturally support you?

99

Contact points Data base

A necessity!

Anticipate

+Keep your network alive !

1010

You are the one…

• And hopefully well attended!

What is the next step?

1111

Identify your audience

1212

Identify your audience

Share your goal

Energy Invested

Who are they?

Champions

YES Support publiclyvocally

→ another TV star (could be a vet or a scientist), Academic researcher,→ the msg has to be conveyed by a vet without conflict of interestOn the other hand→ having somebody which is not a vet can increase trust→ Medical doctors, dog owners organisations, NGOs→ Specialised journalists/bloggers

Silent boosters

YES Support silently

→ dog owners, general public (part of)→ families with children, teachers at school→ Public health, police, customs

1313

Identify your audience

Share your goal

Energy Invested

Who are they?

Avoiders NOOppose silently

→ general public (part of)?→ public health services?

Blockers NO Oppose loudly

→ rumor press/bloggers→ families of victims→ animal welfare groups→ consumers associations→ general public (Tax payers)→Contributors to the rumor (illegal importers)

1414

Target your targets

• Target 1: • Medias (both Specialised and General): they have to believe my

storyo General public, dog owners, families with children incl. victimso Animal Welfare NGO’s

• Target 2: • Scientific Professionals (private vets, medical doctors)• Health authorities

• Target 3: • Illegal importers (Potential)

1515

You are the one…

• You’ve got a SOCO, a team, and several target

What is the next step?

1616

Identify your talking points

1717

Checklist #1: The 3 Cs of communication

• Content• Concise, clear, consistent (over time and amongst sources),

accurate, explicit information

• Context• Communication is sensitive of: culture, beliefs, values,

previously received information

• Connection (relationship)• Caring, respect & listening• Authority, power• Cooperative, communicates user benefit• Concrete action/follow-up possible

1818

Build your message

• Target 1: General public via media• Give clear facts • Actions initiated• Actions against illegal importation• Treatment (animals & humans)• 2 dogs still roaming• What the police is doing against illegal importation

• Call for action: suggestions to deal with the situationo Beware of your dogo Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviouro If you are bitten, go to the doctor

1919

Build your message

• Target 2: scientific professionals• Report of suspected cases (vets and doctors)• How to find vaccines?

o give indications to doctors regarding vaccinationo educate professionals (guidelines:what they have to do and what is

being done) leaflets available

• Target 3: illegal importers• We have informed counterparts: health services, borders

services, neighbouring countries• Enforcement actions will be taken against offenders

2020

Identify your talking points

• Keeping your SOCO and your audience in mind, think of the three key points you would want someone to know.

• Create 3 supporting arguments for each, including : • concrete examples• facts• statistics

2121

Checklist #2: Developing messages

1. Are the messages understandable?• Avoid jargon and technical language

2. Are the messages complete, honest & open?• Acknowledge uncertainty• Acknowledge mistakes• Acknowledge what you don’t know• Don’t speculate

3. Are the messages respectful of concerns?• Concerns about health• Concerns about future• Concerns about fairness

4. Are the messages sensitive of cultural practices?

5. Do the messages express empathy for victims?

2222

Talking points: we now focus on target 1

• Target 1: General public via media• Give clear facts • Actions initiated• Actions against illegal importation• Treatment (animals & humans)• 2 dogs still roaming• What the police is doing against illegal importation

• Call for action: suggestions to deal with the situationo Look after your dog o Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviouro If you are bitten, go to the doctor

2323

Identify your talking points

• Point 1: acknowledge facts: we control the situation, because we know what happened: explain your story: what are the facts?• 3 victims bitten by dogs

o We sympathise with the 3 unfortunates (incl. the daughter of the celebrity) who are recovering, received post-exposure vaccination

• 60% of the dogs have been captured / we are actively looking for the 2 last ones

• Rabies has been confirmed by our national Reference Laboratory experts as a normal strain

• Point 2: we have a solution • Research: Origin of infected dogs

• Experience Hypothesis: usual sources we are targeting the search

• Point 3: Call for action• Look after your dog• Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviour• If you are bitten, go to the doctor

2424

Press contacts Data base

Useful!

Anticipate

+Keep your

network alive !

Identify the journalists you trust

2525

Press contacts Data base

2626

Prepare an interview

• Start with your SOCO• Go straight to the point• Use a natural language• Stay calm• You don’t have to answer

the question asked!

Medias want to get a story

Tell them your story, your way!

2727

Face to face communication

55% body language

38% voice

7% words

2828

Draft a press release

• Start with your SOCO• Go straight to the point• Command attention «What's in

this for a journalist?» • Prepare the copy/paste• Give facts and numbers• Clarify message to create trust• Call to action

2929

Illustration helps to attract

Create your Photo Data

Base

Collection

+Organisation

Anticipate the needs of journalists!

3030

Photos Data base

3131

That’s it?

3232

Now … disseminate!

News becomes out of date very quickly

Use relay of your champions and alliances

Etc …..

Use your network!

3333

Evaluation

• Did the campaign reach its goals? If not, why not? (SOCO, messages, audiences,…)

• Was the campaign cost-effective?• What is the learning from the campaign and how

to adjust future campaigns in light of this learning?

• Do we need longer-term engagement; can we be shorter?

3434

Find your indicators

Objective: rebuild the trust

• N° of articles/TV reports relaying our voice/quote• Relay of press releases on social media

• Decreased N° of articles on the subject• Ratio of positive comments of people on articles

• N° of hotline calls• N° of actions implemented (% of vaccination)• N° of leaflets sent• N° of feedbacks from vets

3535

Take away messages

• Ways to draft a press release• Talking points• Behaviour in interview• Contact point data base• Photo data base• Ways to disseminate the information

Medias want to get a story

Tell them your story, your way!

36

Thank you for your attention!