{"id":113317,"date":"2018-03-12T10:19:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T10:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=113317"},"modified":"2018-03-12T10:19:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T10:19:20","slug":"3-crisis-comms-lessons-with-jam-and-cream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/3-crisis-comms-lessons-with-jam-and-cream\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Crisis Comms lessons with Jam and Cream"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Trust got themselves into a jam over the weekend, foolishly advertising<\/a> a Mother\u2019s Day cream team in Cornwall, with a picture of a scone where the cream was put on first! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Outrageous, huh? For those that didn\u2019t know, cream then jam is how people in Devon have their scones, while jam then cream is the Cornish way (most middle class dispute ever? \u2013 scone rhymes with gone, FYI).<\/p>\n

Needless to say(!), the locals in Cornwall were \u2018angered\u2019 (as reported by the BBC<\/a>) at the mistake made by the National Trust\u2019s Lanhydrock property in Bodmin. Some said they would cancel their memberships over the blunder, some said it was \u2018horrifying\u2019 and some even went as far as to say it \u2018made them feel sick\u2019. Quite.<\/p>\n

So, what did the National Trust do to remedy the situation AND totally ace their crisis comms?<\/p>\n

The Trust came out all guns blazing, apologising and printing #JamFirst badges for all staff to wear, in support of \u2018a proper cream tea\u2019. They also clarified that any \u2018rumour\u2019 they were renaming the property to \u2018Jamhydrock\u2019 had no truth.<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post, they explained that the member of staff responsible for the original offending post had been \u2018reprimanded\u2019 and \u2018marched back over the Tamar\u2019 (the river that forms most of the border between Cornwall and Devon). They assured their \u2018Cornish community\u2019 that the \u2018catering team would never make such a heinous mistake\u2019. Also, that the jam and cream are served in little pots so, \u2018the order of their application is not subject to such appalling error\u2019.<\/p>\n

The post concluded: \u2018Rest assured, your mothers are safe here\u2019.<\/p>\n

The post managed headline news at a number of outlets, all of which painted the National Trust in a good light despite this being their \u2018crisis\u2019.<\/p>\n

What should the PR industry learn from this?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Don\u2019t underestimate how much an issue matters<\/strong>
    \nOutside of Devon and Cornwall, this argument might seem trivial* but the order is a genuine part of both counties\u2019 identities and this really does matter to locals. Can you imagine the national scandal if a UK Prime Minister declared they preferred Bratwurst to British bangers? Good crisis comms approaches problems with empathy, not sympathy; don\u2019t look at the situation as you see it, step into the shoes of those affected.<\/li>\n
  2. Use humour<\/strong>
    \nThis obviously depends on the crisis and wouldn\u2019t be appropriate for all problems. By using humour to respond so dramatically (tongue firmly in cheek), the National Trust made this issue seem more serious a crisis that they then had to tackle. It was the Trust\u2019s sense of fun \u2013 marching the offending employee back over the Tamar, for example \u2013 that helped the story to gain traction in the press. Most importantly, the humour wasn\u2019t making fun of anyone but making light of the problem.<\/li>\n
  3. Don\u2019t forget to follow up<\/strong>
    \nThe mistake, still on the property\u2019s Facebook page, was followed by the humorous apology. But it was arguably the badges that really helped take the story to the next level (and gain nationwide attention). Using a second Facebook post, and for presumably little cost, the Trust has managed to follow up, support the original victims of offense and gain positive coverage. Every crisis should teach you lessons, and showing that you\u2019ve learnt from your mistake is vital to conclude a successful crisis comms process.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    *Though the disagreement has just started in our office \u2013 PR Club is all for cream first, because it\u2019s like the butter and needs a firmer base to spread on. Disagree? Tell us on Twitter @Vuelio<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The National Trust got themselves into a jam over the weekend, foolishly advertising a Mother\u2019s Day cream team in Cornwall, with a picture of a scone where the cream was put on first! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":113318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,1109,7238],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113320,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113317\/revisions\/113320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}