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"Lizzie Grubman took her Benz,
This is where the story ends."
Well, not exactly. But "continuing saga" and "class
warfare" didn't rhyme.
In any event, the travails of the public relations wunderkind,
who rammed her daddy's $70,000 Mercedes-Benz SUV into an East
Hampton club crowd the other weekend, have been well documented.
Grubman 'sincerely regrets'
the incident in Southampton, says Rubenstein. |
The charges the 30-year-old celebrity publicist faces –
multiple counts of assault, reckless endangerment and leaving
the scene of an accident – are certainly serious legal
matters.
And the general treatment Grubman has received in the media
she professionally courts has been less than kind.
· "16 Hurt as PR Whiz Backs Into a Crowd"
is how the New York Daily News reported the original
story.
· "Curse of the PR Gal" is how the New
York Post headlined a piece about what she reportedly
uttered to bouncers at the scene of the crime.
· "Daddy's Little Girl Tries to Win with Spin"
is what columnist Andrea Peyser focused on in her tender recounting.
Even many of Grubman's kindly PR brethren have been a tad
harsh about their fallen comrade, in correspondence to this
website.
· "Are there any other practitioners out there
who are tired of the legitimacy O'Dwyer's gives to
these Big Apple brats?" was the plaintive plea of one
such sympathetic observer.
Regardless of Grubman's eventual guilt or innocence, who
said what to whom at the time of the confrontation, or the
media treatment of the case – one aspect of the Grubman
mess is worth noting: How crisis communications was handled
in the aftermath of the accident.
Crisis managers, in particular, might be wise to follow the
continuing saga to assess the communications strategies the
Grubman team is employing.
Here's what they've done so far.
1. Hire professional PR representation.
"An attorney who has himself as a client has a fool
for a lawyer." That old bromide applies as well to PR
representation.
Lizzie Grubman may well be, as the tabloids have put it,
"a hot shot PR gal." But she was smart enough to
hire another PR professional to make her case to the public.
In the immediate hours after the crash, she retained experienced
crisis communicator Howard Rubenstein—he of Leona Helmsley,
Denise Rich, George Steinbrenner fame -- to face the media.
Sets the tone in Grubman
crisis. |
At the same time, Grubman hired a top attorney, Edward Burke
Jr., to handle legal issues. But the lawyer was kept away
from the press. That responsibility was Rubenstein's province.
A certain D.C. congressman, currently undergoing media scrutiny
of his own, would have profited from such an intelligent,
immediate division of labor.
2. Make the early news cycle.
First stories out-of-the-box set the tone in a crisis. Crisis
media are largely lemmings. With little time to ferret out
new material, they repeat what was filed early. As a consequence,
wrong information, first reported, is difficult either to
corral or correct.
That's why if you wish to "influence" the story
in any way – you must weigh in early.
In the Grubman case, Rubenstein -- presumably awakened from
his beauty sleep shortly after the 2 a.m. Sunday crash --
didn't hesitate.
He immediately gathered the facts, composed the strategy
and issued a statement in his client's behalf, in ample time
to make the 7 a.m. Associated Press filing and even earlier
Web stories.
In so doing, Rubenstein made sure that Grubman's view would
help set the tone of the initial reports of the crash.
3. Frame the story, preempt the
questions.
The real reason someone caught in the headlights of crisis
hires PR counsel is because experienced communicators can
anticipate story lines, where attorneys, for example, cannot.
It is important to get on-the-record, the answers to the
most pressing questions that you know will be asked and speculated
upon, if information is not volunteered.
In the Grubman case, the media were surely to wonder about
two questions in particular:
1. Did she purposely run into the club goers?
2. Why did she leave the scene of the crime?
Rubenstein, correctly, didn't wait for the questions to be
asked. Rather, he voluntarily offered explanations to help
at least temper the inevitable innuendo.
1. On the subject of purposefulness, he declared, "This
was a tragic and horrible accident," adding that Grubman
had no intent to hurt anyone but that she thought her car
was in drive, when it was in reverse.
2. On the subject of fleeing the scene, he was equally categorical.
"She stayed at the scene of the accident for eight or
10 minutes. She was distraught and going into shock. One of
her friends placed her in another car and drove off with her."
As this story continues to unfold, we shall find out more
about the accuracy of these statements. If they are proven
untruthful, all those involved should suffer the credibility
consequences. But at this point, Grubman's PR advisors deserve
credit for getting these strategic statements out so quickly
and convincingly to everyone covering the early morning proceedings.
4. Above all, express regret.
Axiom #1 of crisis communications is that "you can't
pour perfume on a skunk." Stated another way, if you're
on the wrong end of a crisis, you're going to get, pardon
me, "slammed" in print. There's no way you can avoid
it.
But………it is obligatory, whether guilty or not,
immediately to express concern and regret and sympathy for
the poor people who were injured.
Expressions of humanity, especially when people's lives or
livelihood are involved, are never inappropriate.
(This is a lesson that today's CEOs, in the midst of firing
lots of employees, would be wise to work into their public
statements.)
Sure enough, the first words out of Counselor Rubenstein's
mouth were that his client "sincerely regrets the accident
and has enormous sympathy for those injured and their families."
He added that some of those injured "were friends"
of Grubman.
Two days later, a tearful Lizzie Grubman herself, tracked
down by the ever-vigilant Cindy Adams, repeated the same mantra,
"I feel so badly about the people who were hurt. This
was an accident. I did not intentionally leave the scene or
intentionally hurt anyone."
Now cynics (as if there were any reading odwyerpr.com) might
argue that such sorrowful sentiment is hollow and transparent.
Perhaps. But you have to admit, it is certainly superior to
expressing no sympathy at all.
Ask the Lewinsky's and the Levy's.
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