David Gatehouse has worked in media relations and reputation management for over 25 years. During this time he’s managed crisis comms for several international life sciences groups. As a result, he has a steady hand in our science PR, B2B PR and crisis communications teams.
In the first of our series of lessons in crisis comms, I sat down with him to discuss his experience. We spoke about building crisis PR strategies for big pharma clients dealing with misconceptions about animal testing.
What went wrong?
“I had several clients in the medical discovery and drug development fields. EU/UK and US law required two to include animals in their research, and one worked with human volunteers. The public didn’t know that animal testing was the law. And so the pharma companies were subject to accusations of unethical behaviour by various groups – who had massive exposure for their messaging. They held large, in-person demonstrations on my clients’ sites. They were also often targeted offsite – usually with antisocial and criminal behaviour – so it became more important for them to address the issue.”
Did you have any personal conflicts while working on the topic? I know you’re an animal lover yourself.
“I am an ardent animal lover. I’ve always had lots of pets and am also a wildlife nut, so taking the briefs did give me pause for thought. What swung it for me was that it’s not only human treatments and remedies that rely on animal work; every advance in veterinary science has hinged on it, too.”
Honesty is a big part of crisis comms. How did you go about convincing your clients to be transparent?
“The hardest part was convincing them to react at all. For decades, their default position and response to any media enquiry was ”no comment”. Our job was to educate the client that this approach allowed everyone else to set and dominate the agenda.
“My advice was to be honest as you say, and to put the record straight on the scientific relevance of animal work demanded by international law; highlight the formidable inspection regime they are subject to; prove the numbers involved, and the fact that complementary and alternative methods were reducing that figure every year; and explain that the Frankensteinian intrusive vivisection so often portrayed was never involved and that clients worked solely in medical and drug development – not for toiletries, cosmetics or household products.
“All this was always tempered with a critical message that we understood people’s distaste for animal work – you’d have to be mad to want to do it!
“The biggest hurdle was persuading clients to invite journalists to sites to see what went on there. Access all areas. One held no animals on-site at all, so that was an easier sell. After establishing this simple truth, we quickly started raising its profile with volunteer case studies and success stories that made front-page headlines. For example, it was the first to notice the side effects of a then-prototype heart health drug called Viagra…
“We continued with the access all areas and radical honesty approach with the other clients who did have animals on-site. We showed that the animals were well-housed, engaged with, loved and fed. None were isolated, all socialising with each other and humans. Their lives and euthanisation were humane and pain-free. The clients took pride in their facilities and their contributions to smashing health barriers and rolling back scientific frontiers over the years – and that really came across in person.”
I can imagine it being really difficult approaching journalists with such a hot topic, without losing control of the story. How did you manage that?
“Handily, the fact that we were reacting at all gave us an inbuilt head-start – and as they couldn’t make things any worse, there was a buccaneering spirit to the enterprise, which generated total openness with the press. Nowhere was out-of-bounds, all employees could be spoken to (though anonymity had to be guaranteed), any question could be asked, and, apart from a few client confidentiality issues, there was nothing we wouldn’t tell them. We told them we trusted them to approach with an open mind and without mischievous intent – and they all complied!
“We also started briefing the media on the laws that demanded the use of animals. This helped us to secure the cooperation and involvement of the Home Office, which oversaw the inspection and licensing regime, as well as the wider government and major political parties.
“Almost overnight, we had lawmakers and mandarins on our side, weighing in with media liaison, joining journalists’ site visits and attending events – even cracking down on demonstrators’ worst excesses with new legislation and telling police forces to enforce existing rules properly.
“As soon as we started briefing journalists in this way, the activists’ group share of coverage decreased to 50%, and site demonstrations and offsite intimidations petered out.
“We then changed gears and drove home the advantage with broader profile raising and marketing via proactive media relations – clients’ specialists and staff were even interviewed and identified in the public domain, which would have been unthinkable less than a decade before.”
How did you prioritise which journalists or publications you spoke to?
“We started with those who had demonstrated the most interest in the issues, clearly had an editorial axe to grind, and whose reporting had been most sensational before moving on to more ‘’responsible’’ and measured titles and media outlets.”
What did you learn?
“Total honesty, full disclosure, and not being frightened to present ”warts and all” are vital for crisis PR. If an injustice or communications imbalance needs to be corrected or simply that the world should know about something, there is always a way to champion it.”
What PR tips have you got for companies facing a crisis?
“Beyond being honest (which I can’t emphasise enough):
- “Make sure you have your facts, stats, and figures straight, particularly when dealing with complex scientific issues. Somebody will always gleefully flag up any errors!
- “Pay attention to your internal communications during a PR crisis. Establish and communicate procedures where any member of staff who might take an outside call or email from somebody claiming to be a journalist or making contact on an issue they know to be contentious passes them to media handlers or external comms, without commenting or answering any questions.
- “Activists often claim to be journalists, so always establish the bona fides of anybody who calls by asking if you can ring them back at their office. If they’re on the move, ring a named contact at the office to confirm they are on the case. Few will object to this if you explain why.
- “A common ploy journalists use is to leave a silence when you have answered a question. Be strong. When you’ve made your point, stop, no matter how awkward it might feel. Instead, ask if there’s anything else they’d like to talk about.”
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Written by Katie Chodosh, Head of Media Relations at Definition