How should one respond when a brand crisis strikes?
In recent years, for a period of time, some agricultural product brands have encountered various crises due to unexpected incidents. Keyword phrases from brand crises of previous years such as “tainted milk powder,” “melamine,” and “lean meat powder” are still fresh in people's memories. Crises have brought harm and losses that cannot be made up for in a short time to local governments, regional industries, farmers, leading enterprises, and consumers alike, becoming “pain points” in industrial development and “difficult points” that must be resolved.
How do these brand crises, which occur suddenly, spread rapidly, and have a terrible impact, happen? Sorting through these events, various causes can be identified, which can be broadly divided into two types: internal causes and external causes. Unexpected incidents are the fuse of a brand crisis, while defects in brand management are the root cause. External causes include, for example, sudden disease outbreaks dealing a blow to the breeding industry, the amplifying effect of rumors and misinformation in the internet age, and changes in supply-demand relationships leading to poor sales. Internal causes include, for example, problems with product quality, dishonesty of the brand entity, improper brand expansion strategies, and marketing mistakes.
⟦NL> Today, the diversification of information dissemination channels, the high speed of timeliness, the globalization of scope, and the awakening of consumers' awareness of their rights and improvement of their legal awareness have all greatly increased the speed and scope of the spread of various crises. Whether problems arise in a brand's products or services, or whether it is implicated by other reasons and a crisis occurs, it means that something has gone wrong in certain links. This absolutely cannot be avoided, and crisis public relations is merely a rescue activity undertaken under this premise. The development of no brand is smooth sailing. Only by actively responding when a crisis comes and handling it flexibly can one resist the onslaught of the crisis and consolidate brand strength.
When a crisis strikes, how do we respond so as to recover industrial losses and consumer confidence as quickly as possible? The occurrence of such incidents and the spread of panic are related to the lack of authoritative voices and correct information guidance. The reason a batch of problem agricultural products and a few individual samples receive excessive attention and are exaggerated is the lack of credible third-party institutions to conduct investigations and clarify matters, leading to errors being spread through repetition. Many things are common sense in the eyes of professionals, but consumers have insufficient understanding of the production process and therefore make irrational choices, causing unnecessary losses. Whether for the benefit of consumers or producers, those with professional knowledge have an obligation to provide scientific and accurate information to help the public better understand the truth. For example, after the strawberry incident occurred, relevant departments also made corresponding responses, such as publishing spot-check results and having experts in pesticides, plant protection, and quality inspection come forward to provide verification. But how to transmit such voices quickly to consumers through more and more convenient channels still deserves further in-depth consideration.
In recent years, the degree of organization in China's agricultural production and operation has continuously improved, but relative to the development of the market, it is still far from enough. The situation of small-scale production by millions of households is widespread. When a crisis arises in the industry, it is very difficult to respond effectively in a timely manner and quickly clarify the facts. Take the strawberry incident as an example: an individual strawberry grower or cooperative, or even an agricultural enterprise, can hardly have the energy, time, money, and ability to respond reasonably and appropriately. This is what causes the delay and weakness of crisis public relations. Therefore, it is especially necessary to raise the degree of organization in agricultural production and operation and strengthen the industry's capacity for crisis public relations and response to unexpected incidents. Government departments need to promptly publish information on the production, testing, and sales of branded agricultural products so that consumers will not be led astray by incidents in a small area. Industry organizations can play a bridging role by guiding “city people” to go to the countryside to see the production process of agricultural products and understand agriculture. When consumers and fruit growers understand each other more, misunderstandings and rumors will be fewer.
Different crisis-handling methods bring completely different results. Once a brand crisis occurs, we must follow the laws of brand crisis handling. Whether it is the government or the enterprise, the most urgent task is for the brand entity to state its position, clarify through the media its basic attitude toward the crisis event, follow the basic principle of “people first,” frankly admit mistakes, humbly accept public criticism, and have active remedial or improvement measures, so as to achieve communication and understanding between the government and enterprises, farmers, and the public, dissolve misunderstandings or hostility between each other, and then re-establish a relationship of trust between the government and the public. Whether the brand entity has healthy and positive business concepts and measures is the key element determining the quality of the communication effect.
Ke Bingsheng, President of China Agricultural University:
Food crisis public relations is not a matter for a single enterprise alone
In the current era of highly developed media and the internet, crisis public relations in the food industry is not only a problem for a single enterprise; it needs to be completed jointly by enterprises, the industry, and the government.
Once people have enough to eat, they demand to eat well and eat safely. Attention to health has greatly increased, and requirements for the quality and safety of agricultural products are also getting higher and higher. In an internet era with highly developed media, any quality problem with an agricultural product will continuously be exposed, noticed, and known to everyone once it occurs. The actual impact of the problem may be very small, but media reports will magnify it, and may even play a role in false reporting and misleading.
In such an environment, enterprises are first required to treat quality and safety as the top priority. Enterprises cannot be blinded by greed for profit; they must have a conscience. Enterprise leaders should also have a sense of fear, understanding the severe consequences brought by quality and safety problems, such as consumer loss and legal punishment. Therefore, enterprises need to strengthen management in the production process, especially management during expansion. In addition to high requirements in daily production, enterprises themselves should have mechanisms for responding to crises, and crisis public relations needs to be done well. With a sincere attitude, they should promptly publish all the information they have to build consumer trust and confidence, and must not wait until rumors are rampant before refuting them.