My contribution to PR Week analysis.
The political expert’s view: Dr. Stuart Thomson, public affairs consultant at Bircham Dyson Bell
The leadership of Thomas Cook has been caught lacking. The response of the company has been everything that sums up poor corporate behaviour. Saying sorry should have been the building block upon which all other actions were built.
Instead, the company took a fundamentally risk averse approach, which has made it appear completely heartless and unremorseful.
The leadership team appears to have been caught between a whole host of conflicting internal voices, legal and PR, attempting to isolate the brand from the tragic deaths.
A look at the main website reveals nothing (you can though still read about the commitment to sustainable tourism) and all is quiet on Twitter but on Facebook there is a post followed by comments that reveal the true depth of feeling.
Maybe it simply misunderstood the strength of feeling for the family but if so then it hasn’t been paying attention to the media recently or understood the power of social media.
It is also clear that its approach does not take into account the potential future ramifications and particularly how politicians are likely to react. This is not just about the media.
Mary Creagh MP, the family’s local MP who has supported them, is now a contender in the Labour leadership campaign and Parliament will be sitting again next week. Select committees will be looking for topics for potential inquiries and the issue is bound to come under scrutiny through parliamentary questions and debates as well. This, in turn, adds to more media attention. Which makes politicians, and Government, more likely to intervene.
How the media saw the letter of non-apology before the family suggests the company is worrying about the media more than anyone else, including the family. Instead of paying most, if not all, the compensation it received to the family, it believed that it would stay a secret. Never make that assumption. It could have used it positively but instead it is another example of poor behaviour.
These are all issues that Parliament may want to explore.
An alienated and upset family, adverse media coverage, a dipping share price and the political spotlight to look forward to: It is hard to see what Thomas Cook has got right in trying to protect its reputation.