Matt Gobush, manager of corporate communications at ExxonMobil, delivered an interesting presentation regrading public policy and communication. His responsibilities include the corporation's executive speech program, energy policy blog, shareholder publications, internal communications, opinion research and functional and regional communications. Gobush first emphasized the importance of communicating with the target audience, there public relations goes beyond the general public.
"Understand your audience and who you are trying to reach out to," said Gobush. Gobush explained that ExxonMobile's intentions lie in appealing to the policymakers. "We appeal to the policymakers media diet," said Gobush. Understanding the audience led to extensive research that involved channeling messages.
Gobush's research concluded that 97 percent of senate candidates have websites, 75 percent of reporters get ideas for stories in blogs, 70 members of congress have created Twitter accounts and reporters blog 2 to 3 times per week. Gobush extended that his purpose calls to "convince and persuade policymakers through good corporate citizenship."Current issues that interest policymakers include community outreach, educational programs and the environment. Naturally, ExxonMobile recently introduced algae biofuels to replace traditional oil. This initiative appeals to policymakers and facilitates a positive reputation for the oil company.
"We have invested 600 million dollars over the next 5 years to a research project for producing algae biofuel and decoding the genome. Algae eats carbon dioxide whereas ethanal produces carbon dioxide emissions," said Gobush. Gobush passionately spoke of science behind algae biofuels, however, he did state that, "science takes time."
Though communication of these environmental initiatives seem sincere on ExxonMobile's website, how extensive and sincere is this environmental project? There seems to be a gap in words and action to implement change. If ExxonMobile wanted to truly see change, the corporation would dedicate more money and time to biofuels.
I think oil companies should stop drilling and start dedicating their hours to research. Continuing to profit from the same source of error will only continue to debilitate our environment, our health and our wildlife. I understand that change takes time, however, I would like to see more of an effort by those who have the man power and dollars to back it up.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Brinker International and Crisis Communication
Maureen Locus, Brinker International Crisis Communication, presented the crisis strategies for her organization to SMU students last night. Brinker International currently owns Chili's and Maggianos restaurants, however, Locus mentioned a very crucial issue in the crisis department at Brinker International.
Brinker International is 60 percent company and 40 percent franchised; therefore Brinker International has very little control when it comes to crisis situations at independent restaurants.
Brinker International has a Restaurant Support Center that designates specific crisis situations to different departments, depending on the type of crisis. The Brinker Crisis department consists of Food & Safety Quality, Risk Management, Guest Relations, Security, Facilities and Human Resources. While the flow of designated support is very organized and specific, how quickly do these departments receive crisis updates when 40 percent of Brinker International is owned by franchisees?
Locus verified that there is not a clause or agreement between Brinker International and its franchisees when addressing crisis situations. "We have 227 restaurants internationally, we are projected to open six more restaurants this year," stated Locus. With the company expanding into new territory, including a recent grand opening of the first Chili's in Russia at Moscow, how will crisis situations be maintained and prevented from damaging brand reputation?
Locus gave an example of a franchisee in Oregon that decided to close all his restaurants. "A franchisee in Oregon had 5 or 6 stores and closed without telling anyone," stated Locus. Due to Brinker International not establishing a clause or agreement with franchisees, beyond the company, there is no legal obligation for those locations. That being said, Brinker International is cleaning up the press-mess left and lingering from an incident they were never informed of until it hit the papers.
"We do not support franchise stores," stated Locus. Though they do not directly support the operations of the franchisees, Brinker International certainly works twice as hard to maintain there reputation in the after-math of an unreported crisis situation. I would strongly recommend Brinker International to reconsider a contractual agreement between the company and its franchisees as a preventative measure in a time of crisis.
Locus and her team have strong experience, however, I do feel that the timing of their job performance is delayed because of a severe miscommunication between the company and its franchisees. No company should ever neglect their crisis communication and the importance of controlling the message in a crisis situation. I strongly urge anyone who invites additional parties to represent their organization to produce a contract that requires immediately reporting crisis situations at any and every location representing the brand.
Brinker International is 60 percent company and 40 percent franchised; therefore Brinker International has very little control when it comes to crisis situations at independent restaurants.
Brinker International has a Restaurant Support Center that designates specific crisis situations to different departments, depending on the type of crisis. The Brinker Crisis department consists of Food & Safety Quality, Risk Management, Guest Relations, Security, Facilities and Human Resources. While the flow of designated support is very organized and specific, how quickly do these departments receive crisis updates when 40 percent of Brinker International is owned by franchisees?
Locus verified that there is not a clause or agreement between Brinker International and its franchisees when addressing crisis situations. "We have 227 restaurants internationally, we are projected to open six more restaurants this year," stated Locus. With the company expanding into new territory, including a recent grand opening of the first Chili's in Russia at Moscow, how will crisis situations be maintained and prevented from damaging brand reputation?
Locus gave an example of a franchisee in Oregon that decided to close all his restaurants. "A franchisee in Oregon had 5 or 6 stores and closed without telling anyone," stated Locus. Due to Brinker International not establishing a clause or agreement with franchisees, beyond the company, there is no legal obligation for those locations. That being said, Brinker International is cleaning up the press-mess left and lingering from an incident they were never informed of until it hit the papers.
"We do not support franchise stores," stated Locus. Though they do not directly support the operations of the franchisees, Brinker International certainly works twice as hard to maintain there reputation in the after-math of an unreported crisis situation. I would strongly recommend Brinker International to reconsider a contractual agreement between the company and its franchisees as a preventative measure in a time of crisis.
Locus and her team have strong experience, however, I do feel that the timing of their job performance is delayed because of a severe miscommunication between the company and its franchisees. No company should ever neglect their crisis communication and the importance of controlling the message in a crisis situation. I strongly urge anyone who invites additional parties to represent their organization to produce a contract that requires immediately reporting crisis situations at any and every location representing the brand.
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