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Four Ways to Avoid Brand Implosion
It would seem obvious that the notation of "child" and "finger amputation" in the same sentence in a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report would send most companies into crisis overdrive.
But Maclaren, a privately held British company that makes children's strollers, attempted to trump common sense with what it obviously hoped was good business sense.
It seems the strollers, when folded, could conceivably injure or even sheer off a small child's fingers if they became caught in the hinges. There had been 15 such injuries over the last decade in the United States.
However, the firm rightly became concerned after eight injuries were reported over the last two years. Those injuries led the safety agency to mandate that the hinges be replaced.
This is where Maclaren ran into its biggest public relations blunder: Since the complaints and the safety ruling were from America, the company distributed repair kits in the U.S., but only issued a warning to stroller purchasers elsewhere.
Lesson One: In a crisis, there can be no double standard in dealing with target audiences. Consumers were rightly outranged that it was okay to mangle the fingers of European children, but not those of American toddlers.
But the problem went deeper:
Lesson Two: The company didn't seem to realize it had a serious problem, and therefore didn't have sufficient empathy for potential victims. Instead, the company hid behind its safety record and said accidents wouldn't happen if children were correctly seated in the strollers.
Lesson Three: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. The crisis got out in front of the company, and the company was never able to catch up. Too much time elapsed between the time of the first news reports and the day that a company official met with reporters. Stories move fast and furious in an Internet world.
Lesson Four: Envision the worst-case scenario. Certainly, if the executives at Maclaren had realized the extent of the public uproar in the first place, common sense probably would have prevailed over pseudo business sense.
By not acting early, equitably and with empathy, company officials caused the brand to take a roundhouse punch to its reputation.
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