Then, three days later, Domino’s released its quarterly report showing unexpected sales growth…and investors ate it up, sending its stock through the roof as part of a 21% gain since the start of the year.

It’s easy to look at Domino’s clever ads, influencer relationships, and its oft-praised app technology as the keys to its success. However, these are just the tactics behind a business strategy that consistently makes customers, investors and employees all part of the company’s growth. For example, it’s no coincidence that the $3 tipping policy came out just days before the quarterly report, as inflation continues to hurt consumers and tipping fatigue grows.

Domino’s has always been a company of customer service innovation combined with savvy public relations. It changed the food delivery landscape with the “30 minutes or it’s free” guarantee in the 1970s. Fifteen years ago, the company publicly confessed that its pizza wasn’t very good – and that it was changing its half-century old recipe to meet customer expectations. And during labor shortages in 2022, Domino’s connected with customers, alleviated delivery delays and addressed growing food delivery service charges across the industry by giving customers who picked up their pizza a $3 coupon.

Here are three PR lessons to learn from Domino’s success:

Focus on long-term strategy, not short-term virality. Domino’s has consistently aligned every part of its operations – from tips and coupons to its recipe and app – to its brand of affordable pizza for pickup or delivery. It delivers what the customer wants when the customer wants it for the price the customer can pay and does so in ways that create high value. The laser-like focus on customers is why it can count on positive press over and over again with every new move that it makes.

Create a perfect storm with good timing. In 2022, the first $3 “tip” coupon took pressure off thinly stretched delivery workers. The expansion of this strategy two years later gives price-conscious customers an incentive to keep buying when inflation and tipping fatigue are huge challenges. And by announcing the $3 “tip” campaign right before earnings, Domino’s prepped investors for its positive report days later.

Own your lane. In 2009, Domino’s reconstructed its recipe from scratch after a consumer survey ranked the chain’s pizza in last place in terms of taste. The “Pizza Turnaround” wasn’t a sudden rebrand to compete with Neapolitan-style, premium pizza restaurants, nor was it a spin campaign telling customers they were wrong.  Domino’s fixed the crisis by addressing the issue head-on only with the people in its target audience.

Look, investors probably don’t think about Domino’s when seeking out the best pizza. But they clearly believe that Domino’s is a great pizza company. And it’s no wonder – it’s a brand that has embraced what it is and who it serves and delivers great results for stakeholders. And then it makes sure everyone knows about it.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at PR Daily.

And when media criticism of Clark’s $76,000 annual salary threatened to send the moment into a tailspin, she took back control without alienating existing stakeholders or targeting future stakeholders.

Preparing for the big moment

When Engelbert became the league’s first commissioner in 2019, the league hadn’t had a new team in 11 years. In 2016, two decades after its inception, half the teams were losing money, television viewership was under 200,000, and games averaged well under 10,000 in attendance. By the end of 2023, the league had nearly doubled revenue, saw record-setting season viewership, and added one new team with plans for several more additions in prominent cities.

So far, so good — and deserving of the CNBC-bestowed title of “Changemaker,” even without much fanfare outside of the basketball world.

Then Caitlin Clark became the biggest name in college basketball, leading the Iowa to the NCAA championship game for the second consecutive year while shattering records and generating an upswell of interest in the women’s game along the way. Viewership of the 2024 Women’s Final Four increased by 299% compared to 2022, and over 14 million people tuned in for Iowa’s semifinal game against UConn. It was the first time a women’s semifinal has ever outdrawn the men’s.

And when Clark skipped her senior year to enter the professional ranks, Engelbert had a golden opportunity to accelerate four years of success to the next level. The WNBA’s 2024 draft earned a record 2.4 million viewers, a 307% increase over the previous year.

Observing the moment

But the new attention that created a cresting wave of WNBA brand acceleration also threatened to crash it. Everyone from new fans to social media trolls to the president of the United States jumped on the criticism bandwagon about Clark’s salary. The woman who had generated so much new buzz for women’s basketball was only going to receive a base salary of $76,000 a year while the NBA’s worst player will make $1 million a year.

This put Engelbert in a tight spot. She needed to keep support from enthusiastic fans who were disappointed after getting emotionally invested in the WNBA brand for the first time, but she also couldn’t alienate traditional stakeholders like team owners and sponsors. Joining the outrage risked alienating the latter, who understand the league’s relatively sparse audience, revenue, and budget compared to the NBA. But she couldn’t give players and outside observers the impression that she didn’t care, because you can’t have a basketball league without people paying to watch other people dribble and shoot a ball.

Controlling the narrative

And her response was pitch-perfect. She didn’t lecture the general public on the intricate business considerations faced by the league. She didn’t jump on X with a response that could be taken out of context by trolls before it reached the right audiences. Instead, she let Clark have her moment and gave a concise response at the CNBC Changemakers Summit a few days later that corrected the record and framed all of the WNBA’s stakeholders as winners today and tomorrow.

Her first correction noted what was left out of reports about Clark’s pay and compared the missing information to a CEO’s pay — something she knows a lot about, having been Deloitte’s chief executive. “It’s proxy season; for a CEO, do you just put the base pay in there? No, you put their bonus, you put their stock options, you put everything.”

Second, she gave a technical correction that was simple enough for everyone to grasp and technical enough to come across as credible. “Caitlin has the ability to make up to a half of a million dollars just in WNBA wages this year, so they’re just looking at a base, which is collectively bargained and actually is low, because she’s the No. 1 pick.”

Third, she framed Clark’s financial future in only positive terms. “But she also has millions and millions of dollars in endorsements, and actually because she’s declared to become pro, her endorsements are higher in dollar value — she has a global platform now, not just a U.S. platform, so she’s going to do just fine as well.” (A few days after Engelbert’s statement, Clark reportedly was expected to sign a $28 million contract with Nike that includes a signature shoe.)

Capitalizing on the moment

Engelbert is clearly a competent leader and an effective communicator. She deserves every accolade that comes her way, including the Changemaker title. But I’d go a step further — she’s a visionary who spent four years preparing the WNBA to capitalize on the biggest moment in its history.

Dustin Siggins originally published this piece with Sports Business Journal. 

Every publicly traded company has a bad report here and there. So one poor financial showing isn’t really noteworthy by itself. What compounds the problem and leads to the worst kind of viral media coverage is company leadership shirking accountability by saying sales dropped because customers ordering through the Starbucks app were impatient.

Where Starbucks went wrong

On Starbucks’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Laxman Narasimhan said during the coffee chain’s busiest morning hours “customers using Mobile Order & Pay put items into their cart and sometimes chose not to complete their order [due to] long wait times.” He also claimed that “severe weather impacted both U.S. and total company comp by nearly 3%.”

The narrative got worse when CNBC host and investment guru Jim Cramer pushed back on Narasimhan’s claims, saying that other brands in the QSR space didn’t experience the same struggles due to “weather.” Even worse, when Cramer asked why Starbucks hadn’t warned investors about the shortfall, Narasimhan deflected saying that the company had been “working on action plans” instead.

And then former CEO Howard Schultz piled on in a LinkedIn post with criticism that directly contrasted the company’s focus on “occasional customers” whose frugality were blamed for the losses.

“The company’s fix needs to begin at home: U.S. operations are the primary reason for the company’s fall from grace,” he wrote. “The stores require a maniacal focus on the customer experience, through the eyes of a merchant. The answer does not lie in data, but in the stores.”

Like investors, both Cramer and Schultz recognized the tone-deaf nature of the spin coming from Starbucks’ leadership. Narasimhan’s solutions essentially amounted to “improve the app speed” and “send out coupons” (read: throw money at the problem).

How Starbucks can recover 

I have a different idea—and it’s a strategy for every CEO who needs to turn the ship around in the middle of a bad press cycle.

First, set expectations. If Narasimhan heeded Cramer’s suggestion and told investors ahead of time that they could expect a tough report, he could have earned their trust by explaining the long-term plan before the report came out. That could have softened the stock fall, saved the need for an MBA word salad when scrambling to respond to bad media coverage, and reduced the negative media attention.

Second, “use every word you need and none that you don’t” applies most during times of crisis. Starbucks didn’t actually shirk responsibility for losing sales, but the media focused on the word salad explainer that seemed to do so.

Lastly, follow Schultz’s advice to focus on core audiences. Instead of throwing words and money at every potential customer, prioritize those who spend the most money with you. You’ll have better products and service, improve on marketing and branding outcomes, and drive better profits.

Last week’s message from Starbucks should have been simple: “Inflation is making life tough for expensive brands. We’re a decades-old company that has made a lot of investors really happy over time, so hang with us because we’re still a wise investment.”

Instead, it blamed customers. And investors and the media reacted appropriately.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at PR News Online.

But you didn’t have to watch the game — or even care about it — to get the results. That’s because hundreds of mainstream media outlets such as Forbes, People, CNN and NPR covered the bracket outcomes like they were multibillion-dollar Powerball drawings, and everyone across your office was probably filling you in on their wins and losses.

This media narrative, which is several steps removed from actual games on the court, shows how the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has become far more than an athletic competition. It’s a monthlong branding machine for engaging millions of people from alumni and avid fans to those who hardly watch sports at all.

Here are three ways March Madness has succeeded in turning its basketball product into a viral brand event, and how you can do the same, whether your market is local or global.

Making non-target audiences love your brand

Most major sports championships — the Super Bowl, World Series, Kentucky Derby, and so on — air in the evening prime-time television slots and/or on weekends. But college basketball’s marquee event tips off at noon Eastern on a weekday — 9 a.m. for a large chunk of the country.

Normally, this would be a disadvantage because most people are still at work, but the tournament’s broadcast partners have leaned into the challenge. Long before it was the norm, they invested heavily in developing streaming access for computers and mobile devices that reach audiences who were tied to desks or otherwise away from television sets.

The strategy has created a culture where instead of engaging in mass firings, bosses (including Warren Buffet) have embraced the disruption and created office camaraderie by endorsing office bracket pools and watch parties.

And the results are clear: This year’s opening weekend averaged over 9 million viewers across four channels. In comparison, last year’s NBA playoffs — airing after work hours — averaged 5.5 million viewers.

Making a lasting impression on non-customers isn’t limited to basketball, or even sports, despite events like the Super Bowl, which glue one-third of the country to the TV. Adam Pittman, the fourth-generation owner of Columbia Block & Brick in Hattiesburg, Miss., has done the same thing by having his Old English Sheep Dogs, Willie and Charlie, star in his company’s TV commercials.

While Pittman’s company certainly produces quality products at a competitive price, he says it’s the dogs that have helped expand his brand’s recognition beyond his traditional customer base. “When we go out to a job site, customers want to know if the dog is coming with us. But what’s really wild is when folks come into the store with no interest in buying bricks … they just want to meet the talent.”

Competitors use your brand to boost their own bottom line

Having owned March Madness broadcast rights since 1982, CBS is synonymous with the tournament’s TV production. But there’s a lot more room under the umbrella — even for corporate rivals like broadcast partner Warner Brothers Discovery and cable sports giant ESPN, who generate massive revenues of their own on the games, summaries, and ancillary activities like bracket challenges.

All three companies might be competitors, but they’re also intentionally aligned because March Madness is too lucrative to ignore. The CBS partnership with Warner puts games on three networks that would otherwise be unreachable. And because ESPN’s brackets often generate respectable headlines, it’s easy to forget that it’s also a sports journalism company that must cover its competitor’s programming.

Ultimately, ESPN and Warner have no problem supporting their rival CBS because they are drawing millions of eyeballs to their own websites and television programming.

This dynamic plays out on a smaller scale in small towns across the country as they create similar environments during holiday parades and community festivals. Local business owners understand that’s the time to see and be seen even alongside their competitors because they don’t want to miss the chance to stand out to hundreds or thousands of customers standing on the side of the road.

That’s because parades are the March Madness of America’s small towns.

Generating star-studded media coverage

You shouldn’t force a jump shot, and you can’t fake or force viral marketing outcomes. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and CBS took decades to make March Madness the cultural phenomenon it is today.

When your industry’s media covers your event, you’ve done something impressive. But when you have annual data showing that employers may lose up to $17 billion in productivity because of what you’ve done, your brand is far more than a product or service. And when major business magazines, health care industry trade publications, and local and regional newspapers publish stories about this workplace occurrence, you’ve gone truly viral.

And the best part of it all? The media coverage isn’t even one-sided. Everyone’s so hooked on being part of the March Madness brand that there’s even a whole cottage industry “reporting” on how employers embrace the event as an opportunity to build workplace morale.

Achieving March Madness-level of brand success doesn’t require reaching audiences of nine million basketball fans or 123 million Super Bowl viewers. All you need is a plan that drives revenue with your target audience and resonates with regular people who go to the annual Christmas parade or just want to pet your dog.

Robert Kuykendall originally wrote this for Sports Business Journal.

If you missed it, it’s okay. Social media users condemned the “news” that a customer was charged $24 for just a burger, fries, and a soft drink. They decried “highway robbery” and out-of-control prices. But the “controversy” seems to have evaporated — in large part because Five Guys CEO Jerry Murrell didn’t say a thing.

Murrell and his communications team know what a lot of leaders do not: that while public opinion can be harsh, it also has a short attention span. Not every corporate “crisis” needs the CEO out in front for damage control. And, as Anheuser-Busch found out last year, sometimes saying more can make things worse.

Sometimes leaders should get in front of headlines, and even make news ones. Boeing CEO David Calhoun did that by appearing in front of Congress after parts blew off a 737 Max mid-flight earlier this year. It was important to show accountability to stakeholders ranging from passengers to airlines to governments.

But that underscores the point here, and not just because an airplane is a lot louder than a cheeseburger. A lot of the time, when the ketchup hits the fan, a company should simply go quiet, and let five other guys tell its story.

Leverage customers

For every angry customer who jumps on social media or leaves nasty reviews online, there are often devoted fans who quietly keep buying. Five Guys will likely continue to enjoy support from hundreds of thousands of customers who consistently rank the brand at the top of the fast food world in terms of preference and customer service.

There are many ways companies can leverage customer support. It can be as simple as Yelp reviews and social media posts…or you can include customers in your ads, as many pharmaceutical companies and banks do.

You can also sometimes rely on customers to stand up for you in the press – even if you’re not a national brand.  Right now, in Nashville, Tennessee, a local butcher is fighting for his survival after a new resident moved next door and filed a series of complaints over the smell of barbecue. Fortunately, Roy’s Meat Service has had great coverage in local guidebook listicles, and the neighborhood has rallied to Roys defense.

Get lawmaker and regulator endorsements

Elon Musk’s Tesla company has changed the way Americans view electric vehicles. Tesla has been so successful that it has made Musk one of the world’s richest people. In 2022, it boasted the most U.S. luxury car sales of the year.

It’s easy to look at Tesla’s innovative approaches to practically everything it touches and see a model for success. But what helped the company rise in its early days was something just as important – billions of dollars in government subsidies, which provided critical cash and the thumbs-up from regulators and lawmakers.

Government officials may not be widely revered, but they can make or break your product, service, or overall company. It doesn’t require lobbying for subsidies, either. Having a selectman or mayor participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony is a huge win for a local business, and getting your patent approved by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office gives you a leg up on the competition.

During a crisis, officials may start off as your opponent, but you can make them into your ally. The Food & Drug Administration’s 2022 closure of Abbott’s baby formula plant after several illnesses was hugely damaging for families and for the company. But when the FDA approved the company’s reopening, it was validation that Abbott was operating safely for families nationwide.

Likewise, the public has long trusted the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as an arbiter of safety for everything from dietary recommendations to pandemic practices. Its support was necessary for the three initial COVID-19 vaccines to earn trust from medical professionals, elected officials, and the general public.

Let influencers influence

While Five Guys’ public response for the $24 receipt was as minimalist as its no-frills menu, influencer voices weren’t completely silent. The National Desk ran a story on its nationally syndicated network featuring celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern’s commentary on how weather conditions, the war in Ukraine, and rising minimum wage are increasing prices for restaurants like Five Guys. It was the perfect third-party defense by a trusted influencer, and it was widely republished by local media outlets.

Now, the article doesn’t frame Zimmern as defending Five Guys from this particular receipt “controversy.” It looks to us like National Desk interviewed Zimmern about the general issue of higher food prices. This means that Five Guys got off the hook thanks to a major influencer without the company having to say a word.

It’s important to distinguish between organic influencer support and sponsored support, like when Garth Brooks gave a nod to Bud Light. Brooks’s support for Bud Light throughout its year-long controversy surrounding the Dylan Mulvaney partnership has driven headlines – but he has a vested interest due to the upcoming opening of his self-branded bar and entertainment venue.

Both sponsored and organic influencer support can get the job done. But one has a vested business interest while the other appears  more authentic.

Build trust before crisis hits

Companies like Five Guys build brand trust through excellent processes and outcomes, and then expand that trust through good marketing and public relations. For example, the chain boasts major workplace awards from respected business outlets like Forbes and Fortune. This sort of coverage shows that reputable institutions recognize Five Guys’ good practices, and Five Guys can repurpose the articles for social media posts, website content, and improved SEO.

 Another great brand “brag” is earned media through non-traditional placements, like Spider-Man’s worshipful endorsement of Five Guys’ burgers in a 2021 Marvel comic book.

This strategy applies to any company, large or small. Roy’s in Nashville wouldn’t have public local support if he hadn’t spent years building a trusted brand. And Boeing’s crises over the last five years would put any company out of business – if it didn’t have decades of universally acknowledged success.

Let others tell your story

Every brand is subject to criticism in the era of social media. You certainly don’t have to create another news cycle by responding – but nor do you have to withdraw like a turtle. Sometimes, you can rely on everyone from influencers to customers to have your back by driving your narrative…without you having to say a word.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at Real Clear Markets.

That’s on top of at least two airlines finding other issues after inspecting their MAX purchases.

So, it’s no surprise everybody is jumping on Boeing. The stock price has crashed, the media coverage is brutal, and the FAA is grounding planes left and right for safety checks. Politico reported earlier this week that lawmakers and other stakeholders are grilling the company over its continued MAX challenges, correctly tying current challenges to the 2019 and 2020 crashes that killed hundreds of people and grounded the planes worldwide.

It’s easy to think that Boeing can’t recover from yet another crisis that almost killed passengers. But observers and stakeholders can expect Boeing will be just fine in the long-run. Here’s why.

Inertia

Right or wrong, statistically, major brands beat major crises all the time. What can seem like a company-ending disaster at the time often fades into the rear-view mirror as the public moves on, regulators see the changes they want, and investors are satisfied that risk down and reward is up.

For example, Boeing’s top business rival, Airbus, paid the largest bribery fine in world history in 2020 – a hefty four billion dollars – after it was busted distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to global intermediaries in order to secure civil and military sales contracts. The timing couldn’t have been worse – Airbus had just shuttered its prized A380 program in 2019 after sinking tens of billions into development costs they couldn’t recoup. Yet, by 2023, the company was reporting a record number of orders with a massive delivery backlog because of the spike in demand following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2010, Congress hauled in Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda to answer for the “sticky” pedal crises that led to dozens of deaths. Toyota eventually paid a $1.2 billion fine for covering up the safety defects, but consumers haven’t exactly punished the company. It has held the title of world’s largest automaker for 3 straight years.

And Boeing itself is no stranger to crises. The fines, settlements, and lost business stemming from 2019/2020 MAX crashes cost the company an estimated $20 billion. The hemorrhaging continued as COVID-19 imploded the industry in 2020, leading to a $12 billion loss on the year. And then there’s the KC-46 USAF refueling tanker boondoggle, which has been a $7 billion drag for over a decade.

But despite all these headwinds, Boeing reported record orders in 2023 and the most deliveries since the MAX crisis. And the KC-46 appears to be on its way to a new contract with the Air Force after a number of technological improvements. Just like with Airbus and Toyota, inertia will keep a core of business going. And the fact that the company survived the deadly MAX crashes plus the COVID-19 pandemic means the company’s overall brand trust is likely to remain strong with key stakeholders.

Crisis management

The other reason Boeing will get back to cruising altitude again is that it has the resources and experience to effectively manage crises like the recent incidents.

A rookie in navigating crises might have made the tone-deaf argument that the Alaska Airlines incident was only one door and a few bolts out of hundreds or thousands the company has installed. That may be accurate, but it would have made the situation worse with lives at stake and regulators making clear they want accountability.

Here’s how Boeing is using standard crisis communications tactics to ensure long-term survival.

1. Acknowledge the problem. When a MAX customer found a missing bolt in the rudder control system, Boeing urged all operators of the plane to conduct their own inspections for missing and/or loose bolts.
2. Take prompt actions. Boeing immediately implemented changes after the door incident, such as more inspections of both itself and the door supplier and giving airline customers more access to planes as they are made. These are changes that will increase trust with all its stakeholders.
3. Develop and announce concrete next steps. In addition to the enhanced inspections, Boeing tabbed Retired Navy Admiral Kirkland Donald to lead an independent review of the company’s quality control systems.
4. Share relevant data and good news if possible. Investigations will continue to unfold, but 11 days after the Alaska Airlines incident, Boeing did announce a new deal to supply India’s Akasa Air with 150 new MAX airplanes. That’s a huge way of signaling to investors and other stakeholders that buyers have not been completely scared off by the crises.

Short-term pain, long-term survival

The good news doesn’t mean the immediate future is pretty. Investors will remain skittish with each negative headline until the MAX can establish a satisfactory track record. More importantly, stakeholders will carefully watch earnings reports – the 2023 orders and deliveries numbers were a good sign, but the previous year’s reported revenue of $66 billion was far below the 2018 peak of $101 billion. Additionally, in a highly regulated industry like air travel, every error will be heavily scrutinized by all stakeholders.

However, as Toyota, Airbus, and even Boeing itself have shown, even the worst of crises can eventually become artifacts of the past, slowly getting smaller in the rear-view mirror.

Dustin Siggins originally published a version of this piece with The Messenger.

But our approach has little to do with who we know. It’s instead about what we know – the Three Ts that land diverse clients in desired media across the country. They are:

• The right Topic – Gatekeepers want content that is of interest to their consumers.
• At the right time – Think financial thought leadership during tax time instead of Thanksgiving, or announcing an M&A transaction just before it happens instead of a month later.
• From someone with the right title – Nobody cares about a lawyer’s opinion on the best wheelchair after surgery. They might care if that lawyer just won a major case about disability rights. 

How we put the Three Ts into action

Don’t get us wrong. It’s easier to get through to someone who knows that your clients’ messages are legitimate. But the same gatekeepers who jump at relevant stories one week will turn down your best pitch the following week if it’s not a good fit.

This is especially the case when gatekeepers constantly change beats, jobs, and outlets. That’s why we developed a formula that works with clients that are known in their industry as well as those who are just making their steps into wider brand recognition and credibility.

Here’s how we’ve put that formula into practice for some of our clients.

Topic

A seasoned CEO and nonprofit leader wanted to build credibility for his new consulting brand. We helped him draft an essay on the challenges facing professional trade associations – and the solutions to those challenges – and placed it in a top international business outlet. 

One author understood how proposed public policies would harm landlords and tenants. We drafted his piece and secured it at a national media outlet that had a political viewpoint which aligned with the argument he made.

Timing

There’s only one time of year to talk about Halloween (hint: it’s not in February), so in October we knew gatekeepers would be more interested in content about one of the year’s most sugar-filled nights. We helped a dentist write and place a piece in a national outlet about how parents could balance healthy teeth while allowing their kids to fully participate in trick-or-treating. 

A few weeks earlier, a mother of five wanted to inspire people to enjoy the loving chaos of family life. Her topic was navigating back-to-school; and her timing was early September. Her op-ed found a place in a large regional newspaper that likely wouldn’t have cared about that same topic – or her title as a mother – if the piece was pitched in March.

Title 

Police tactics and training is a heated debate. The author, a retired police officer, wanted to show how his training for the streets applied equally well as a school resource officer. He used research and his own experience to make the case that police operate with more soft, non-violent skills than most people realize. The piece was well-written, but it wouldn’t have landed in a top national paper without his titles as a former deputy sheriff and school resource officer. 

An insurance broker wouldn’t have gotten his opinion on police work published anywhere. But we did use an insurance broker’s counter-intuitive perspective about drug pricing to get him into the biggest paper in his state. His excellent topic was timed to recent news, but the paper was most interested in his being an area resident who tied the issue to area readers.

Combination

All three Ts must be present for successful media coverage. Sometimes, all three must be equally present, like when we had people with the right titles (mental health therapists) talking about a relevant topic (holiday grief) at the right time (right before Christmas). Or when we got the CEO of a women’s health advocacy organization (title) published on the anniversary (timing) of a major cultural and legal event (the topic which she addressed).

Rinse, wash, repeat: The Three Ts work for everyone

Warren Buffett is one of the world’s wealthiest people, but the principles of his success work for someone investing $200 or $200,000. McDonald’s has built a repeatable process that has delivered billions of burgers around the world. And we put client’s impactful messages in trusted media outlets using our not-so-secret sauce of the right topic at the right time from someone with the right title.

It’s just part of our process for client success.

Last week, Boeing turned a bolt worth a few bucks into bad headlines across America and the world.

It wasn’t a good way to end the year. But it was the smart, ethical move for a company that is responsible for millions of people’s lives.

Doing the right thing is always the right thing

After an airline discovered a faulty bolt in a 737 MAX plane’s rudder control system, Boeing urged the Federal Aviation Authority and airlines that use the MAX to conduct inspections on all MAX planes. Bad press followed as the story made headlines in the New York Times, BBC, NPR, and a gazillion other top-tier business, airline, and public-facing media outlets.

And worst of all, those stories often included references to the 737 MAX crashes in 2019 and 2020 that put worldwide sales on hold and put Boeing under intense government scrutiny around the world.

Replacing or tightening a single bolt is a marginal cost to a company selling planes for tens of millions of dollars and which grosses over $60 billion annually. But the human risk of a bolt error is the lives at stake. And the business risk is an accident that could cost Boeing investor money, government fines, lost airline purchases, and other negative outcomes.

That’s why Boeing’s transparency should be applauded. It’s a great example of a company making an ethical decision that trades minimally bad news today for the worst kind of news later.

Transparently addressing problems is good business

Nothing is worse than hiding issues that later cost money, time, or lives. In one of the most expensive mistakes in corporate history, German automaker Volkswagen had to pay over $30 billion in fines after the US Securities and Exchange Commission found company executives knew about cars being sold that didn’t meet emissions standards. In the most extreme examples, executives like Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried have faced prison time for not disclosing problems with their company’s product or service.

Because the stakes are so high, the airline industry faces heavy regulation and intense scrutiny from many stakeholders. Boeing paid billions to settle with federal agencies after the 2019 and 2020 crashes. But even more mundane issues can result in massive financial losses, such as the federal government’s $140 million fine against Southwest for delayed and canceled flights.

Fines are one side of the financial risk ledger. On the other are investors who can pull money out of operations. Boeing’s stock price fell 18% in the weeks following the grounding of the 737 MAX in 2019, even before airlines canceled orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s recovered pretty well, and last week’s 1% dip will easily be overcome by long-term success.

And there’s even a third, large stakeholder group about which Boeing must be concerned: customers, in particular airlines and governments whose reputations and profits suffer when a manufacturer errs. Double-checking bolts will undoubtedly result in some grousing and frustration. However, customers will undoubtedly be grateful for the inconvenience of double-checking bolts if it prevents a crash. And Boeing will keep the revenue coming in because it acted as a trusted manufacturer..

People and companies make errors. Directly addressing them means that stakeholders are less likely to react negatively.

If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead

Stories about death, danger, and alleged corporate malfeasance make the big headlines. These are the pieces of news that go viral and stick with audiences.

It’s never good to get low-level bad headlines at major outlets, but stakeholders are more likely to brush off these stories as the news cycle changes within a few days. It’s the literal bleeding – or fantastic scandals – that makes stories fester for months and even take on a life of their own.

An effective communications strategy includes knowing when to be quiet and fly under the radar. Boeing’s leadership also correctly recognized the need to make a short-term sacrifice to ensure long-term success. Even if it allowed a bolt the price of a rounding error to create bad headlines.

The city known for squalor, a housing crisis and retail crime tried to reclaim its lost City of Love moniker by pushing homeless people off the street, cleaning feces off those same streets, and policing high-crime areas. The goal was to present a clean, well-run city for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which was bringing international leaders and $500 million to the city.

The goal was achieved. Unfortunately, it came after years of mismanagement and excuses to residents that nothing could be done. This meant that a City of Love reboot narrative flopped, as media outlets across the country ran critical story after story about the clean-up. One presidential candidate even used a nationally televised debate to slam the city as prioritizing “communist dictators” over taxpaying residents.

The lesson is obvious. Cover-ups don’t work. And here are a few others that San Francisco’s leaders failed to recognize in the lead-up to the Summit.

1. Lipstick on a pig is still a pig. Great PR is built on truth, proven facts, past success, and believable future projections. Without that firm foundation, PR is just unbelievable spin.
2. The most trusted and influential media gatekeepers aren’t likely to take big stories at face value. This is true even if they’re on your “side” of an issue. They’ll want context and data. Even the left-leaning New York Times’ story about the clean-up prioritized past failures and residents’ criticism, giving the famously left-leaning city a black eye in one of the world’s biggest papers.
3. Core audiences come first. China’s dictator and America’s president brought famous people and a lot of cash to San Francisco during the Summit. But they were gone in days, leaving residents wondering why their pleas went ignored for years. And those residents are going to make their voices heard in the press, on social media, on the streets, and in the ballot boxes.
4. PR is a long game. Shiny objects are great, but they fade quickly. What will stick in people’s minds is the slow drip of everyday news. And that becomes the narrative.
5. Don’t create unnecessary crises. People will easily forgive mistakes and the imperfect. They will take longer to forgive perceived or actual deception or intentional neglect.

San Francisco can’t gaslight its way out of its years-long, self-inflicted brand crisis. City leaders need to go back to the crisis communications drawing board, because rebuilding trust is going to take years.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at PR News Online.

But just like a business that tries to compensate for a toxic work environment with big Christmas bonuses, nobody’s fooled. Everyone knows that a return to feces is right around the corner. That’s especially true for San Francisco’s core audience: not big shots who are here and gone, but local citizens and taxpayers who live in the city every day.

Here are the blocking-and-tackling basics that the City Council missed in its effort to change San Fran’s brand.

Covering up the problem makes everything worse

For three brief years, Sam Bankman-Fried was the darling of…well, practically everyone. He was President Joe Biden’s second-biggest donor in 2020, a leader in the growing crypto industry, and an easy target for exciting features about the future of business and philanthropy.

Now, SBF is a felon, ready to head to jail for 110 years. Because even billions of dollars couldn’t cover up his fraud forever.

The same principle applies to San Francisco. The city did more in a few months to clean up problems than it had for years. It generated some good headlines and probably made international leaders happy. But just as SBF’s foundation was shaky, so is the city’s reputation, unless it can prove that the new San Francisco is going to stay.

Cover-ups – whether of fraud or potholes – don’t last. The truth always comes out.

Consistent quality is better than one big success

Many CEOs want their brand to appear in the Wall Street Journal and on CNBC. It feels good to have 15 minutes of fame and receive accolades. That’s probably what it felt like to be both a citizen and a leader of San Francisco this month.

But one major media hit, or one major client, doesn’t make a successful company or brand. All it means is that you have a piece of good news – one that can’t replace long-term, consistent success.

The same local citizens who felt good about seeing their pristine streets and sidewalks instead of feces and needles probably would have preferred that over and over again for the last few years. They felt safe with the police spending time in problem areas – and they probably want that safety consistently.

Don’t forget your core audience

Long before she was a presidential candidate, Nikki Haley was on Boeing’s board of directors. She departed that board in 2020, claiming that the company should not seek a government bailout or assistance from The Federal Reserve.

Her departure made major headlines in conservative media, but it didn’t seem to garner much reaction from Boeing. That’s because while Haley wanted to impress future primary voters and donors, Boeing was focused on securing billions from the Fed.

San Francisco should have followed Haley’s lead (if not her politics) because its efforts to impress big-money politicians has left local citizens disgusted. Taxpayers tired of seeing homeless people on the street, and the homeless people themselves shared similar concerns with The New York Times that they were being ignored for the sake of conference attendees. These are the people San Francisco should have first kept in mind.

San Fran’s new brand opportunity 

Few cities get opportunities for big resets to reverse reputational narratives. Any Rust Belt ghost town would try to leverage an APEC-like event to springboard a communal rejuvenation. But without leadership willing to capitalize, the picturesque San Francisco we’ve enjoyed seeing again for the past few days will likely return to its old “new normal.”

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at American Business Magazine.