WORKING GROUP CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Regional Seminar for

WORKING GROUP CRISIS COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Regional Seminar for OIE National Focal Points on Communication for Europe 1 -3 July 2014, Tallinn (Estonia) 1

Crisis situation • Four human rabies cases in less than one week • All infected by bites, both from domestic and stray dogs • Veterinary services have identified the primary source: 5 dogs illegaly imported. They have allready captured three of them, and look for the two others. 2

August wasteland… • The last infected person is the young daughter of a TV Star • No better news to feed the newspaper Rumours spread on the internet and newspapers • Of a virus mutation • Of the inaction of Veterinary services 3

You are the one… • You are alone at the office : no doubt, you will have to handle this alone! What is your first step? 4

What is your SOCO? Single Overarching Communication Outcome • The outcome or change you want to see in your audience as a result of communicating • The SOCO is not your message 5

Develop your SOCO • Issue : make understand that VS are doing their job • Critical information relevant to audience: Detailed actions which are being set up • What change do you want to see in your audience: rebuild the trust 6

You are the one… • You are alone at the office : no doubt, you will have to handle this alone! What is your second step? 7

Build your crisis team • A coordinator => you • A science advisor • A press/media liaison person Alliances? Who does naturally support you? 8

Contact points Data base A necessity! Anticipate + Keep your network alive ! 9

You are the one… • And hopefully well attended! What is the next step? 10

Identify your audience 11

Identify your audience Share your goal Champions YES Silent boosters YES Energy Invested Who are they? Support publicly vocally → another TV star (could be a vet or a scientist), Academic researcher, → the msg has to be conveyed by a vet without conflict of interest On the other hand → having somebody which is not a vet can increase trust → Medical doctors, dog owners organisations, NGOs → Specialised journalists/bloggers Support silently → dog owners, general public (part of) → families with children, teachers at school → Public health, police, customs 12

Identify your audience Avoiders Blockers Share your goal Energy Invested NO Oppose silently → general public (part of)? → public health services? Oppose loudly → rumor press/bloggers → families of victims → animal welfare groups → consumers associations → general public (Tax payers) →Contributors to the rumor (illegal importers) NO Who are they? 13

Target your targets • Target 1: • Medias (both Specialised and General): they have to believe my story o General public, dog owners, families with children incl. victims o Animal Welfare NGO’s • Target 2: • Scientific Professionals (private vets, medical doctors) • Health authorities • Target 3: • Illegal importers (Potential) 14

You are the one… • You’ve got a SOCO, a team, and several target What is the next step? 15

Identify your talking points 16

Checklist #1: The 3 Cs of communication • Content • Concise, clear, consistent (over time and amongst sources), accurate, explicit information • Context • Communication is sensitive of: culture, beliefs, values, previously received information • Connection (relationship) • • Caring, respect & listening Authority, power Cooperative, communicates user benefit Concrete action/follow-up possible 17

Build your message • Target 1: General public via media • • • Give clear facts Actions initiated Actions against illegal importation Treatment (animals & humans) 2 dogs still roaming What the police is doing against illegal importation • Call for action: suggestions to deal with the situation o o o Beware of your dog Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviour If you are bitten, go to the doctor 18

Build your message • Target 2: scientific professionals • Report of suspected cases (vets and doctors) • How to find vaccines? o give indications to doctors regarding vaccination o educate professionals (guidelines: what they have to do and what is being done) leaflets available • Target 3: illegal importers • We have informed counterparts: health services, borders services, neighbouring countries • Enforcement actions will be taken against offenders 19

Identify your talking points • Keeping your SOCO and your audience in mind, think of the three key points you would want someone to know. • Create 3 supporting arguments for each, including : • concrete examples • facts • statistics 20

Checklist #2: Developing messages 1. Are the messages understandable? • 2. Are the messages complete, honest & open? • • 3. Acknowledge uncertainty Acknowledge mistakes Acknowledge what you don’t know Don’t speculate Are the messages respectful of concerns? • • • 4. 5. Avoid jargon and technical language Concerns about health Concerns about future Concerns about fairness Are the messages sensitive of cultural practices? Do the messages express empathy for victims? 21

Talking points: we now focus on target 1 • Target 1: General public via media • • • Give clear facts Actions initiated Actions against illegal importation Treatment (animals & humans) 2 dogs still roaming What the police is doing against illegal importation • Call for action: suggestions to deal with the situation o o o Look after your dog Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviour If you are bitten, go to the doctor 22

Identify your talking points • Point 1: acknowledge facts: we control the situation, because we know what happened: explain your story: what are the facts? • 3 victims bitten by dogs o We sympathise with the 3 unfortunates (incl. the daughter of the celebrity) who are recovering, received post-exposure vaccination • 60% of the dogs have been captured / we are actively looking for the 2 last ones • Rabies has been confirmed by our national Reference Laboratory experts as a normal strain • Point 2: we have a solution • Research: Origin of infected dogs • Experience Hypothesis: usual sources we are targeting the search • Point 3: Call for action • • • Look after your dog Signal free dogs which have suspicious behaviour If you are bitten, go to the doctor 23

Press contacts Data base Identify the journalists you trust Useful! Anticipate + Keep your network alive ! 24

Press contacts Data base 25

Prepare an interview • • • Start with your SOCO Go straight to the point Use a natural language Stay calm You don’t have to answer the question asked! Medias want to get a story Tell them your story, your way! 26

Face to face communication 55% body language 38% voice 7% words 27

Draft a press release • Start with your SOCO • Go straight to the point • Command attention «What's in this for a journalist? » • Prepare the copy/paste • Give facts and numbers • Clarify message to create trust • Call to action 28

Illustration helps to attract Anticipate the needs of journalists! Create your Photo Data Base Collection + Organisation 29

Photos Data base 30

That’s it? 31

Now … disseminate! News becomes out of date very quickly Use relay of your champions and alliances Etc …. . Use your network! 32

Evaluation • Did the campaign reach its goals? If not, why not? (SOCO, messages, audiences, …) • Was the campaign cost-effective? • What is the learning from the campaign and how to adjust future campaigns in light of this learning? • Do we need longer-term engagement; can we be shorter? 33

Find your indicators Objective: rebuild the trust • N° of articles/TV reports relaying our voice/quote • Relay of press releases on social media • Decreased N° of articles on the subject • Ratio of positive comments of people on articles • • N° of hotline calls N° of actions implemented (% of vaccination) N° of leaflets sent N° of feedbacks from vets 34

Take away messages • • • Ways to draft a press release Talking points Behaviour in interview Contact point data base Photo data base Ways to disseminate the information Medias want to get a story Tell them your story, your way! 35

Thank you for your attention! 36