public relations is communication aimed at shaping public perception or motivating a defined action. It is nearly as pervasive as advertising. If fact, you are likely to be the recipient of at least one public relations message every day.

There is an area of public relations that is undergoing substantial growth. It is called crisis management. You can think of it as damage control followed by image repair.

When celebrities or organizations run afoul of the law or behave irresponsibly, it is almost certain their image will be damaged. A damaged image means unfavorable public response, leading to reduced revenue for the person or organization that behaved badly. Tiger Woods, Miley Cyrus, the Los Angeles Dodgers and British Petroleum serve as examples.

Smart organizations are quick to respond to such crises.

Blogger Kim Bhasin sums up the task:

Crisis management requires more than an apologetic press release or a CEO’s disingenuous appearance on CNN.

News goes viral in a flash. Companies must be ready to respond to disasters swiftly and decisively, using all platforms to communicate with the public.

Most importantly, companies that make mistakes must sincerely accept responsibility for their actions €” not distance themselves from them.

Your assignment will stem from the following scenario. Specific instructions, including the deadline, have been posted.

You are vice president for corporate communications at Fly Away Airlines, which has been in operation for five years. It has enjoyed great success by offering low fares to nearly 50 U.S. destinations and 10 foreign countries. Just as important, Fly Away has distinguished itself by consistently ensuring that a high percentage of its flights are on time.

However, a week ago disaster struck in the form of a freak spring snowstorm. Chicago-based Fly Away had to ground or substantially delay the departure of more than 200 flights over the course of three days.

Enraged customers deluged your company with complaints and vows to never fly on Fly Away again. Media coverage has been brutal with reports characterizing the company as incompetent and insensitive.

The truth is that Fly Away executives handled the initial crisis poorly. They instructed you to issue no comments or authorize interviews.

Today, your bosses have realized that Fly Away must take decisive action. You have been asked to prepare a press release that makes these points:

*Fly Away takes full responsibility for the cancellations and delays. The weather was not to blame.

*The company did not adequately prepare for the fiasco, thus needlessly inconveniencing many thousands of its valued customers.

*Fly Away apologizes and will immediately offer $500 flight vouchers to all those who missed flights or had flights delayed during and immediately after the storm.

*The company further apologizes for its slow response in offering hotel accommodations to those travelers who had to spend the night in Chicago. Those affected will be fully reimbursed for hotel and related expenses. Customers due vouchers, reimbursement or both can file for them online. Go to FlyAway.com and click on the reimbursement tab.

*Fly Away will shortly issue a customer bill of rights detailing the high level of service travelers can expect and their recourse should those expectations not be met.

*The company will conduct a thorough assessment of its flight operations to determine exactly what went wrong and to be sure nothing like it occurs again.

You also have this statement from company CEO Jordan Turner from which you may quote:

?I am profoundly sorry for the tremendous inconvenience we have caused our loyal and treasured customers. It is quite disappointing to me personally that our company failed to live up to our own high standards of service and operational ability.

?We have learned from our mistakes, and will do everything in our power to only deliver the very best in service and on time performance. Anything less than that is unacceptable.?

You are to write a press release of between 240 and 270 words.
Be sure to follow the press release format. A sample template has been posted.

As with news stories, your lead should contain the most important information. Because the snow storm fiasco has already been widely reported, you don?t want to rehash that

information. Acknowledge it, of course, but the key points to drive home right off are that the company is formally accepting responsibility, not laying blame on the weather, expressing regret, announcing plans to compensate those affected and taking steps to do much better. Now, all of that can?t be jammed into the lead. But it can neatly fit in the first three paragraphs.

The tone you adopt should be one of candor, remorse and resolve to do better in the future.

Your goal is to reverse some of the negative perceptions taking hold and start to make customers once again believe in the company?s total dedication to quality service.

Do not use the ?we? or ?I? voice. Rather, write as though you were not part of the company. That enhances your credibility.