Brand Reputation and Crisis Management: KFC in Hot Oil

In 2011, KFC Malaysia was entangled in a food security scandal when video footage of employers tampering with food preparation was uploaded onto social media platforms. They responded with urgency, setting up a separate and dedicated area within their Facebook page to control the crisis and prevent stifling other communications media. Video responses provided an apology and the reaffirmation of customers that quality control would be implemented. The public was encouraged to voice concerns and provide suggestions, which reduced the frequency of negative comments.  

Brand reputation directly correlates if a brand becomes a household name or is relegated to history. A brand does not only represent the company but also the interests of investors, suppliers, and any other collaborating parties. If a brand receives positive coverage, all involved parties benefit from the subsequent prestige, whether directly or indirectly affiliated. Likewise, negative responses affect brands to a comparable extent which positive news elevates it – by severely undermining the wellbeing of that brand. With the widespread availability of information platforms, negative news spreads very rapidly, which increasingly escalates the poor reputation garnered and further worsens public opinion.

Brands and industries should always be alert to potential problems or cases which might adversely affect public opinion of the organisation. By introducing a proactive crisis management plan, companies or institutions can mitigate the outbreak of negative attention. In order to respond to brand reputation crises, it is imperative to first gather and analyse the facts of the specific issue. Identify and understand the nuances of the situation before proceeding with establishing a response. Honesty is also of paramount importance, and all public outreach should be consistent in their focus on addressing the crisis at hand.

Although organisations should look at developing strategies which generate positive attention, contingency plans for potential slip-ups should be implemented to avoid poorly planned responses. Some insightful excerpts below from articles discussing brand reputation can provide a clearer perspective on the importance of crisis management. They highlight specific strategies which can salvage potential public relations crises, and hedge against sticky situations.

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“Understand what happened: Although it’s important to respond and often quite easy to spread the word through social media quickly, when presented with a crisis you should first calmly collect all of the facts on exactly what happened and who is affected prior to making any public announcement. This can help ensure that you won’t be regretting a poorly planned response or deleting a damaging tweet.

Establish a simple, consistent, and clear response: Creating a unified response that involves your whole organization can better align your employees and help maintain your position on the crisis. This is important to avoid inconsistencies within your message that could damage your reputation or appear ingenuine. All public outreach should remain honest, clear, and focused on addressing the crisis as it relates to your strategy.

Create a monitoring and notification system: Understanding how the public is reacting to your response is critical in understanding how your crisis communication efforts are performing and whether or not you should be making any adjustments to your strategy. Monitor social interactions and mentions of your brand online and determine how your employees should be responding to the conversation.

Address small brushfires: You may come across negative comments, product reviews, or inaccurate information online as part of your ongoing monitoring. Reading negative feedback about your business or employees can be hurtful and incite an emotional response that can damage your reputation. While defending your brand may come naturally, to properly respond to criticism, you’ll need to be more tactful.” – Jacob Warwick, Content Manager for Honigman Media

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“KFC Malaysia acted swiftly. The team launched a Facebook tab which contains two new YouTube videos addressing the problem, and set up a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to anticipate questions that anyone might have.

In one video, Mohammad Alwi, KFC Malaysia’s Director of Restaurant Operations, made a personal address to the public in two languages – Malay and English. In the video, he apologizes and ensures customers that KFC Malaysia has taken action to prevent the same incident from happening.

KFC was wise to embrace the web (where news of the problem initially took off) to make amends and welcome feedback — essentially fighting fire with fire, so to speak. The video communicated its apology and took steps forward succinctly and responsibly.” – Willis Wee, Product Manager & Founder at Tech in Asia

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“MRM’s crisis communications kit also says “the absolute key is planning…failing to plan is planning to fail”. It is abundantly clear KFC had thought ahead about crisis communications because the video is available in both Malay and English, an obvious but essential step to ensure they didn’t further enrage customers by excluding them from their communications.

[…] putting people’s passion to constructive use by asking for their advice about what to do. This is exactly what KFC has done, proactively inviting upset citizens to express their concerns on the Facebook page in a way that might help the chain learn from the kerfuffle.

The only step from MRM’s plan that the firm has yet to enact is to follow through. So it will be interesting to see whether we’ll hear from KFC in a few weeks or months about what it has learnt, whether the restaurant chain will thank members of the public who got involved and whether KFC’s bosses will tell us how the changes they implemented have helped the business.” – Michael Taggart, Director at MRM

Image Source: reputationvip.com

Benjamin Lee Cheng Han | Benjamin is a student of International Relations at the University of Nottingham, currently exploring unchartered realms in the Public Relations field. Writing is clearly his interest – a decisive contributor to his foray into the public relations industry. To date, he boasts the proud record of having tamed one of the office cats, and drinking expired tea from the pantry.